“Friends and Family” S28 E2
Synopsis: Burns goes to his therapist that he has had for 70 years, only for his therapist to tell him that he gives up on him. The therapist tells Burns that he will never have a family that loves him, but Burns misses the point. The therapist suddenly passes. At the funeral the Simpsons talk about how the therapist helped them all to communicate, but are still having issues on the communication front. Burns gets booed out of the funeral because he is not sensitive to the family. On the way back Smithers hits Professor Frink as the doctor is crossing the road. Frink doesn’t realize a car is coming because he is wearing virtual reality head gear. When Burns finds out about virtual reality he demands to have one.
Since Burns’ therapist told him that he needs a family Smithers suggests that they program a family into the virtual reality set so he can experience it. The Simpsons apply for the role and everyone is let in, except for Homer since Burns will be the father in the scenario. The kids and Marge are worked hard for Burns amusement while Homer enjoys his free time at home. Most of Homer’s free time is spent naked, and while up on his roof late at night he meets his back neighbor who is a cool girl named Julia. He decides that men and women can just be friends. However everyone thinks that the two are dating.
Burns is getting upset with the Simpsons’ acting. When Burns sees the future scenarios he gets upset and fires Marge and the kids. Marge comes home to figure out that Homer and Julia are best friends. She becomes so upset that she starts yelling at Homer asking why she isn’t his best friend. Homer tells Marge all of the things that Julia taught him so that he can be a better husband and they make up. Burns has the ultimate virtual reality experience of dying and is satisfied.
Best Quote: “I’m taking my robe with me” - Bart Simpson.
Special Guest: Allison Janney.
The Verdict: Oh my god, Maggie talks! And won’t ever talk again because no one is listening? This is great, but also incredibly sad. It brings a realist moment into the dysfunctional Simpsons that I love to see. This episode continues with this by having the viewer see in first person point of view virtual reality. Experiencing what Frink is experiencing is a great demonstration of what is happening in that scene.
Even past the virtual reality scenes, the first person point of view bleeds into the episode and it’s really intriguing. It’s a different take on the show that the viewer has not seen before. This episode is really innovative and I applause all of the different aspects of it. It lacked haw-haws though, but besides that it was really awesome.
Ranking: Getting a selfie with the devil or an 8/10
