The Simpsons Miracle on Evergreen Terrace (1989– ) Online

I'm willing to accept that 'The Simpsons' has had its ups and downs. While I don't believe the show has steadily gone downhill since the late '90s, I would say its quality has varied considerably since then, with episodes from the early Millennium being the most deplorable. Season nine (1997-1998) isn't the best season either, but having read the other two reviews completely slamming this episode, I feel the need to say something in the episode's defence. No, it's not exactly a favourite of mine either, but considering how far the show plummeted with the frankly insulting season eleven, this episode is far from the worst episode of The Simpsons' extensive canon.

In this episode, Marge refuses to let the family open their Christmas presents until 7 A.M. Christmas morning, but Bart manages to force himself to wake early. After unwrapping a fire truck toy, he then manages to ironically start a fire, causing the tree and all the presents beneath it to melt into a solidified, molten glob. He proceeds to bury the tree in the snow outside, and spontaneously invents a lie that a burglar broke in and stole their items. This eventually escalates, until the news spreads around the town, inviting all the townspeople to help them out.

This episode is sadly indicative of the changes to the show that were only just getting underway. For starters, the story is much less cohesive than the likes of what is arguably The Simpsons' best Christmas episode 'Marge Be Not Proud'. From the outset, its focus appears to be on Bart, leading to the assumption that it will build up to a heart-warming (if somewhat clichéd) ending. But then the plot takes a major diversion, instead focussing on the lie's effect on the family, and the reactions of the townspeople. The ending is also rather unsatisfying, and a little *too* mean-spirited to be considered funny. And we see the continuation of the emergence of what has since been referred to as the 'Jerkass Homer' of Mike Scully's tenure as showrunner. Sure, Homer's behaviour has been far worse, but there are instances throughout when his hostility towards his own kids becomes a little hard to swallow.

But while the story is a little disjointed and lacking in warmth, the humour (for the most part) remains intact, and aside from Homer's occasional spitefulness, the main ensemble remain more or less in character. The problem is that up until about halfway through, this had the potential to be a touching Holiday classic, but the plot takes far too many by-ways for any emotion to be realised. And the (rather cynical) conclusion, though amusing, is, again, too mean-spirited to see the episode out on a high note, and it consequently falls a bit flat.

That said, the episode is inexplicably memorable, and it remains enjoyable even if it's not a classic. While it's true there are much better Christmas episodes (before and after this season), there are much worse episodes, and I'm rather surprised at the negative reaction it arouses, as much as I detest the Scully era overall myself. This episode, and season nine generally, contains glimmers of greatness, with aspects of what the show once was, while at the same time previewing what it came to be. Is it the perfect Christmas special? No. But it's hardly what I'd call a turkey.

I'm not gonna lie, I was somewhat disappointed in this middling Christmas offering. Bart learns a valuable lesson, the town turns on the Simpsons and the holiday itself hangs in the balance. Even Alex Trebek shows up in an inexplicable cameo. But it doesn't hang together well (at all) and comes off rather haphazardly.

To its credit, I like the final message; that when the chips are down, family still have themselves. And it's got one really good gag, with Homer stepping in to show Lisa how to properly strangle her brother:

Lisa: "Why, you little-!" Homer: "Lisa, no! Your hands are too weak!"

But as a holiday episode, it feels like the laughs and the sentiment should be stronger.

6/10

Out of all of the season 9 episodes, this is probably the weakest. I ended up being bored and frustrated at the same time. It can also get confusing at times, like when the relationship with the family and the town goes from on again to off again to on again to off again. It just lead to an absolute mess, and the message of 'enjoy the things you have' is so cheesy and over done. Over all this episode contains one of the three worst things about season 9 , which is boaringness, frustration, and disgustingness. I tackled boaringness here, and I will be discussing the other two when I go into the other two episodes on my hit list, so for now I give this episode a 2/10.

So we come to the Christmas episode of season nine and, much like the whole of season nine and beyond, it's an extremely mixed bag. There are a few decent jokes in there -- Marge's negative $52000 turn on Jeopardy and Bart's toilet dream being the best examples -- but the whole thing just falls flat more often than not.

The episode sees Bart accidentally destroy the family's Christmas tree and their presents with it. He proceeds to lie to them about how these things were stolen by a burglar and so all of Springfield raises $15000 to make it up to them. Then the truth comes out and the townspeople demand their money back, which is impossible, so they loot the house stealing everything - pets included - to repay the debt.

The Simpsons are then left with just one rag between them. This is the ending to the episode and it basically reduces all the supporting cast we know and love to nothing more than selfish, unlikeable Grinches (literally, since they steal presents at Christmas). This is one of the most sickening acts on this or any TV show, but it's meant to be a happy ending (??????) because they still have each other. Happy Christmas?!?

I am shocked and appalled by this episode's ending so much so that it's the only episode from the classic years (Seasons 1-10) that I'd advise skipping. The ending is only made worse on repeat viewing by the knowledge that everything you see builds up to it.

Also we get some more development en route to full-on Jerkass Homer in this episode when he chokes Bart because Lisa's not strong enough and when he "shops" at Try-N- Save at the beginning. Truly a sickening episode in all manners of speaking. AVOID!!!

This episode is just sick! In this episode, Bart is up early and destroys the Christmas tree/gifts and hides the evidence under snow! He lies to his family, saying that it was a robber, and the whole town pays the Simpsons money that they don't need in support. They blow the dough by getting a car. When the town sees the flat Christmas tree/toys, the town gets angry and refuses to include them till they pay them back a total of $15,000! Marge goes on Jepordy to try to win, only to gain none. The town eventually steals all the Simpsons stuff till they're left with a wash cloth!

See how bad this is?! It's mean spirited and hate full just like Bart mangled bannner! Like lets take the ending. Was that charming, sweet, and funny? NOT ONE BIT!!!!! Bart was a huge liar up until the third act. This mean spirited atrocity also has a 7.4/10 while the actually HEART WARMING Cars (which was still 50 times better than this despite a bit lacking of Pixar. I still liked it and thought it was kind of sweet.) has a 7.2/10!!!!!! Its also higher than Million dollar arm, which was inspiring and really emotional and full of drama got a 7.1!!!!!! What the heck!!?? I wish this awful episode that shouldn't exist had a 1.9/10 like Disaster movie! I want to break most of the Springfield jerks after seeing this because they were never this cruel or uncomfortable to watch even when they weren't very god people before. I would rather see any mediocre newer episode than this truly sick pile of junk-fest that is completely overrated. It is also a DISGRACE to other Christmas specials that are actually heartwarming.

This horrid episode should never air again! It has bad characters, mean spirited writing, and beyond. Watch the Charlie brown and Grinch Christmas special which are actually great instead of this abomination. I don't recommend this to young or old. In fact, I don't even recommend this to Simpsons fans for how bad it is!!! It is truly awful, sickening, hateful, and one of the few Simpsons episodes I give a 1/10. AVOID IT!!!!! Rant over.

Lisa Goes Gaga is considered to be the peak of The Simpsons selling out because it just wants to joke about Lady Gaga wearing funny outfits and ruins Lisa's character because Lisa can't say what's good about her until she yells at Lady Gaga for showing off. However, there are many reasons that I found this episode to actually be worse than that. There were a few moments in Lisa Goes Gaga that made me laugh, and it still came to a good conclusion.

Now, unlike Postcards From the Wedge and Love is a Many Strangled Thing, Bart isn't so awful because he actually feels guilty about accidentally burning down the Christmas tree, but that doesn't make this episode good. It's bad because of how bad everyone else is. Not just Homer, but all of the Simpsons choke Bart for ruining their Christmas. While it was wrong of The Simpsons to scam Springfield and blow it on a car, the rest of Springfield could have handled it better by not going from helping the Simpsons to being horrible to them, and be understanding of the fact that while they were not robbed, The Simpsons still needed their help to fix Christmas. (This gets to a horrible extreme in The Boys of Bummer, but that managed to fix things by the ending.) Bart caused the problem with the Christmas tree and Homer and Marge lied to Kent Brockman about the burglar, but Lisa gets punished like the rest of them even though she did nothing. The ending tries and fails to be heartwarming because the Simpsons being glad that they still have each other on Christmas doesn't excuse the rest of Springfield for robbing them. It's just not funny that Bart in Miracle on Evergreen Terrace, Timmy in It's a Wishful Life, and Twilight in A Canterlot Wedding have to be punished for feeling guilty about screwing up when they meant well. It's just really sad and cruel.