QUICK SYNOPSIS

When Bart accidentally burns down the family’s Christmas tree and gifts, he claims that a robber stole everything. As a result, the town gets them a new tree and pitches in to raise funds.

POINTLESS GUEST STAR(S)

Alex Trebek is pretty pointless, but they get a good joke out of trying to shake Marge down for money after getting negative points on Jeopardy.

WHY THIS EPISODE SUCKS

Remember “Marge Be Not Proud” from Season 7? Bart stole a video game and almost ruined Christmas until he pulled through at the end. It was an after-school special if any episode was one. Now imagine if, instead, Bart burned down a Christmas tree, actually did ruin Christmas, was directly involved in getting the whole town to turn against the family, and got all their belongings looted. Definitely not the after-school special vibe anymore, is it?

I like this episode for exactly that reason. Everything breaks bad and gets worse and worse until the end when the family is content to spend Christmas chasing each other around the house for a washcloth, the only personal item they have left. Once in a while the family loses. Something goes too far and they don’t necessarily get what they deserve. And no one learns anything. I’m not sure how often an episode like this happens anymore; one with a dark ending that causes that cynical pang in your stomach that something is completely warped and wrong with Springfield. “Homer’s Enemy” is another great example of an episode that ends on an unsettling note. Maybe even “Bart’s Comet” or “Marge vs. the Monorail”. I could keep going.

I didn’t like all of it. The Jeopardy! bit was shoehorned in for sure to get Alex Trebek on the show, as previously mentioned. They reused a couple of jokes: Homer parks across three handicap spaces, sound familiar? And some of the plot smacks of dumb, like Bart dragging the melted Christmas tree mess out to the yard out bury it. Is this just a nod at how stupid and not forward-thinking Bart actually is? Or is it writers being lazy? It’s starting to get hard to tell.

The episode is saved by tone. A net positive, and the last good Christmas episode.

IMDb TRIVIA FUNHOUSE!

The story for this episode was pitched as “It’s a Wonderful Life in reverse.”
I don’t know enough about It’s a Wonderful Life to know if it’s true, other than the near-suicide and the Jimmy Stewart, but this episode didn’t have enough near-suicide and Jimmy Stewart. Strike one.

Lisa strangles Bart for the first time.
It took nine years for her to wrap her little hands around Bart’s throat? Wasted time, Lisa. Strike two.

This is one of the few episodes to gain a TV-G rating.
Strike fucking three.

When Homer arrives at Try-N-Save, he parks across three disabled parking spaces.
Hello there, Trivia Contributor! Are you a writer for later-era Simpsons where you explain every joke right in front of us??? What an honor!

FINAL GRADE
B