Despite the title, this episode does not contain 22 short films. Try counting. You’ll come up with 19 or so. Mostly the title is a reference to a movie called Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould. Otherwise, that 22 is just a number.
I think I just blew your mind!
One day, Bart and Milhouse are spitting on passing cars from a highway overpass when Bart gets to thinking that other people have lives. That’s deep.
Milhouse doesn’t think like that or he might feel guilty about what he’s doing. And we may not want to think about Milhouse’s day when he starts on the overpass, then is seen driving somewhere with his family, and then is back on the overpass.
What follows are a series of short sketches about different members of the community. Most are unconnected, and aside from Lisa and the problem of gum in her hair that attracts unwanted advice from everyone from Marge to Sideshow Mel to the Capital City Goofball, and some version of Pulp Fiction playing out between Chief Wiggum, Snake Jailbird, and Herman, there isn’t much in the way connecting anything. A character from one sketch will wander off past another one, and the next thing you know Bumblebee Man is finding his own house crashing down on him or Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel is getting his own theme song. Cletus can call his ma from that telephone pole, you know.
But if I must take a moment to discuss things, as the oldest of four children, and someone who is very tall, I got poked a bit regarding Nelson’s sketch. See, that sketch includes a very tall man in a very small car. And my siblings used to say I was that guy because I drove a very small car for years. And they claim he talks like me, has mannerisms like me, and uses large words like me.
You know, I think I can see it now…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWct_KYGRQo
Of course, that guy wins in that segment, so I’m not sure why they thought that was so funny.
But really, its a fun episode with random stuff going on, and barely any Homer. I think we’re done here for now.
And maybe Professor Frink would hurry up and get to the show on time next time.
This is without a doubt the greatest episode that doesn’t have Treehouse of Horror in its title! I love every minute of it as it is so fun to just see all of the different characters around town, some in serious situations, some in comedic ones. Every story feels different, yet works so well. I also love the way they do the transitions to different scenes like the bee flying to Smithers, and the flickering lights moving to the light at Moe’s.
Everything works so well that I can not believe I never realized this episode’s brilliance back when it first aired.
As with everyone, the Skinner/Chalmers skit is top notch, but my favorite is the one from Pulp Fiction with Wiggum and Snake. Although having Milhouse be the one to accidentally knock Herman out is pure gold.
I do agree that it would have been cool to have had more episodes like this, but this one feels so special because it is one of a kind.
You know, I’ve been writing these for something like three years now, and I am almost done season twenty-nine which does have some sequels and remakes of more classic episodes, and I gotta say…I do not want them to revisit this one. All the show does when it does a new version of an old episode is show how much the series has aged and how much episodes like this one are so much better than anything they are doing now. I don’t necessarily think modern Simpsons episodes are bad per se, but they are definitely not as good as they used to be and the show suffers more from comparing it to its own highs than anything else.