Feb. 9: "Pray Anything..."
What Happened: On this uneven episode, the family goes to WNBA game, where they meet player Lisa Leslie. Ned Flanders wins $100,000 after making a half-court shot during halftime. Homer, envious of Flanders' luck, asks him how things always go so well for him when Flanders partly attributes it to prayer, Homer decides to pray for good luck, in the worst ways possible. After he breaks his leg, Homer sues the church, and after they can't pay the settlement, gets the deed. When this happens, and Homer screws everything up with Springfield's religious community by driving Rev. Lovejoy out, God's wrath is incurred. God floods the town, which is saved by Lovejoy by praying to God for the end of the flood.
My Thoughts: As some characters would say on this show, "Meh." This episode was erratic at best. There were some funny touches, such as the name of Homer's lawyer: Larry H. Lawyer, Jr. And when down-on-his-luck Gil shows up. Still, this episode followed a recent trend on the show: Homer just gets stupider. I mean, he's practically legally disabled. The best episodes are the ones that don't focus on Homer and his never-ending stupidity. Surprisingly, the topic of religion didn't delve into controversy in this episode, as in many others. Despite everything, this was a funny installment: frankly, any episode of "The Simpsons," tends to have more laughs in five minutes than in any normal situation comedy on television.
Reach the reporter at joshua.spiegel@asu.edu.
