#SIMPSONS APOCALYPSE COW TRESS MACNEILLE SERIES#

Their crisis of faith after having their minds warped by true crime podcasts is kind of the slow burn through the episode, but I feel like if they were suspicious of Abe from the start, and Homer and Bart were the clear-headed ones for once and had to try to exonerate Abe, that could have been something. Maybe he couldвЂ™ve had a conversation with one of them? What about their mom? Is she Stephanie the weather lady? Something new for us to learn about Kent maybe? Instead, we donвЂ™t really get anything meaty about Kent to grab onto since he has to share so much screen time with Marge and Lisa, who just keep fretting about whether they believe Abe is innocent or not after listening to the latest podcast. In act one, we see him returning home to find his four (!) kids listening to podcasts, further fueling his desire to switch careers. In the end, when he discovers the truth that the actress isnвЂ™t dead, he struggles and eventually exposes the truth, rejecting the siren call of flashy faux journalism, but it really felt like a limp climax without much build-up.

This seems like it should be a Kent-centric episode, but it doesnвЂ™t really feel like it. Besides the basic jokes about podcast ad breaks and tropes about sound design, itвЂ™s just Kent talking about the case, and it just didnвЂ™t seem that engaging. ItвЂ™s logical that a large part of this episode is either listening to podcasts, or hearing people talk about podcasts, but I didnвЂ™t find any of that material that interesting or funny. Meanwhile, Kent Brockman is shocked to find how popular this new medium is, and decides to get in on the craze, chronicling the latest hot story: the cruise ship disappearance of an old soap opera actress, with her new beau Abe Simpson being the chief suspect. We start off with showing Lisa obsessively addicted to listening to them, which then leads to Marge getting swept up in it herself, which was pretty sweet seeing them share a common interest. By act two, this entire episode becomes about whether Abe actually killed his new girlfriend, which of course thereвЂ™s no chance that he did, but the episode isnвЂ™t really about that, itвЂ™s how sensationalist journalism can sway public opinion, and even affect the case itself, this time via true crime podcasts.

The reaction: This show has had a handful of mystery episodes, but for the most part, the mystery itself isnвЂ™t so much the focus as the characters around it and how theyвЂ™re dealing with things. The number one suspect? Her new boyfriend, Abe Simpson.

#SIMPSONS APOCALYPSE COW TRESS MACNEILLE SERIES#

Wanting to get in on the lucrative new news market, Kent Brockman starts his own podcast series based on a recent unsolved crime: the disappearance of a retired TV actress who fell off a cruise ship. The premise: Lisa and Marge are swept up in the true crime podcast craze.

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