TV Recap / Review: Marge Has a Middle-Age Meltdown in "The Simpsons" - "Parahormonal Activity"
This evening saw the debut of the 11th episode in the 37th season of The Simpsons, entitled "Parahormonal Activity" (a play on the title of the Paranormal Activity franchise of found-footage horror movies), and below are my recap and thoughts on this installment of the long-running animated sitcom.
"Parahormonal Activity" opens with a very clever device-- using the episode's couch gag to inform the audience that five years have gone by (as indicated by the candles on Marge Simpson's 38th through 43rd birthday cakes) and that Bart (voiced, as always, by Nancy Cartwright) and Lisa (Yeardley Smith) are now teenagers, while Maggie (guest star Lindsay Lohan from Disney's Freakier Friday) is a rambunctious five-year-old.
It's a different approach to a Simpsons episode, which I appreciated, so I'm not going to do the usual type of recap here. Instead I'm just going to tell you what each character is up to in this not-too-distant future version of Our Favorite Family. Obviously we've seen visions of the future in Springfield a number of different times over the years, but to my knowledge or memories we haven't spent a full episode with Lisa and Bart as teenagers, and here they're both struggling with their own issues. Lisa is going through hormonal changes, and Marge tries to reassure her that these are only natural and beautiful, while Marge is alarmed that Bart has been exploring some "live-action adult romance" videos on the internet.
Meanwhile, Homer (Dan Castellaneta) has been enlisted as Best Man in Ned Flanders's (Harry Shearer) fourth wedding-- this time to a woman named Pam (Dawnn Lewis)-- and he's trying his best to come up with roast-like material for his big speech. Unfortunately for Homer, he's also dealing with some problems... down there... so a visit to Dr. Hibbert (Kevin Michael Richardson) results in a box full of medication to treat his dysfunction, which leads to anger and impatience issues. This is all enough to make Marge finally lose it on the day of Ned's wedding, lashing out at her family after knocking over the new smart refrigerator, which was the last access Bart had to the internet after having all of his devices taken away.
At the wedding, Homer's reaction to the medication makes him all mushy and emotional towards Ned instead of insulting him with barbs, Bart proves that he's just an average teenage boy by being awkward around Pam's sister, and Marge and Lisa make up the way only a mother and daughter can after arguing about Marge's perceived hypocrisy regarding the use of Botox treatments to removes the perimenopausal wrinkles from her face.
There are some nice family moments scattered throughout "Parahormonal Activity" (such as Bart finally being allowed to drive the car, despite the amount of damage he does in the process) but I just wish it had been funnier, and I still find myself unsettled by seeing the members of the Simpson family at older ages, which is why I've never really loved any of these flash-forward episodes. Thankfully they've only ever been one-offs, and next time we'll be back to having ten-year-old Bart, eight-year-old Lisa, and baby Maggie as comfort content on our TV screens again.
New episodes of The Simpsons air Sunday evenings on FOX.