I'm aware that there are some people who like this episode, but for me, I cannot stand this episode. Let me list the reasons why;
1. It's yet another clumsy Homer and Marge marriage crisis episode: we're supposed to see both Homer and Marge as in the right; The problem is that they fight over something that happened in their high school years, where after a bad date which ends with homer getting drunk, and Marge realizing she got pregnant with Bart, making Homer believe that she's only staying with him due to that.
1 1/2. Homer's behavior; adding to the above point, he acts incredibly irrational, thickheaded, and incredibly brainless in this episode, trying to think he has a point when really he doesn't, as his behavior from that date was due to his alcoholism, which he still exhibits and doesn't even bother to quit. Hell, right before his date with Marge later in the episode, he got drunk, missing his date.
2. The gay stereotypes: this episode has a ton of gay stereotypes that have potential for to set up a good joke, but many of them ultimately fall flat, relying on gay stereotypes without any subversion or set up, making said jokes feel lazy and hollow. From what I've heard, the guest star from the episode Simpson and Delilah was supposed to come back, but even he felt the jokes were rather stale and plot made no sense, and I have to agree with him on that point.
2 1/2. Grady and Julio: They aren't characters, they're stereotypes. They were created at a time when adult shows want to be "in your face" about stuff like this, but the problem is that they are nothing more than gay stereotypes, without any sort of spin towards addressing said stereotypes. If anything, due to this, Grady and especially Julio's "characteristics" became more offensive as time goes on, with Julio actually becoming more stereotypical as time goes on.
3. The jokes: Like many modern Simpsons episodes, the jokes are rather dull, from the aforementioned stereotypes, to several tasteless jokes, from the beginning where Homer mocks Ned for his wife being dead, to a few easy jokes about single men in a scene where Homer goes to Bachelor's Arms at Kirk's place. There were a few jokes I liked, like how Homer mistook Lenny's face as a puzzle piece at the beginning, and how an old man mistook a gay's club for a army's reunion (Dunno why, but I liked that part), but were not enough to save this episode overall.
The only parts I liked, aside from the two jokes, is Weird Al's cameo, charming as always, and is probably the shining light towards this episode, "...even if it's for a brief cameo" (Fun fact, that line was supposed to be referencing King of the Hill and it's timeslot, but it had to be changed due to that show moving to a different timeslot).
Overall, this episode is a mess, and I wondered how it won an Emmy over Futurama's Jurassic Bark, a far superior episode over this one.
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