TV Recap/Review: Bart and Lisa Become Co-Parents in The Simpsons "Diary of a Chimpy Kid"

Bart and Lisa become parents to an adorable baby chimpanzee in “Diary of a Chimpy Kid,” the 2nd episode of Season 38 of The Simpsons. The title draws on Jeff Kinney’s popular children’s books and the Disney+ animated films they inspired, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, although the plot bears no resemblance. This refreshingly sweet episode finds Bart and Lisa getting along for a change.

Season 38, Episode 2: “Diary of a Chimpy Kid” - Written by Rob Lazebnik

At Sunday School, Ms. Albright (Maggie Roswell) is in no mood to teach, so she puts on an Itchy & Scratchy short to the kids’ bewilderment. “The Greatest Gory Ever Told” finds Scratchy playing Abraham and Itchy as his son Isaac. God (Harry Shearer) has commanded Abraham to murder his son, but just before Scratchy can drive the blade in, God says Abraham has proven his love, and Isaac can be spared. Itchy and Scratchy hug. “Why the hell are Itchy and Scratchy shilling for God?” Bart (Nancy Cartwright) asks.

“Why the hell are Itchy and Scratchy shilling for God?” Krusty the Clown (Dan Castellaneta) asks his lawyer (Hank Azaria), who reveals that the cat and mouse have fallen into the public domain like so many characters before them. To keep copyrights active, Krusty needs to modify his IP, and he takes a cue from Disney and the Muppets with “Krusty Babies!” Cut to Krusty directing two human babies as himself and Sideshow Mel, plus a baby chimpanzee as Mr. Teeny. But when the chimp acts up, Krusty fires him and passes him to Wayne the Grip (Ike Barinholtz) to get rid of.

On their way home, Bart and Lisa (Yeardley Smith) pass a Little Free Library with a baby chimp inside! They’re both overwhelmed by his cuteness and decide to take him home. Bart swaps the chimp with a squirrel, and off they go.

Marge (Julie Kavner) and Homer (Castellaneta) sit in the living room when the kids return home with their rescued chimp, whom they’ve named Mr. Good Boy. As Bart and Lisa introduce Mr. Good Boy to Snowball II, Homer and Marge have a quiet chat, arguing over whether to let the kids keep the chimp. Marge points out that Bart and Lisa seem to be getting along, thinking that she and Homer can avoid forcing the pet out by letting the kids get tired and want to give him up themselves.

Bart takes Mr. Good Boy to school and reveals him to his friends as evidence that the meat in the school’s sloppy joes is chimp meat. But during the stunt, a bag of flour falls on the chimp, scaring him. As Bart consoles him, vowing to be a better father, Lunchlady Dora (Tress MacNeille) enters the pantry and comments, “Stupid kids, you gotta pluck the fur before you flour it.”

At home, Lisa peruses some of the old parenting books, even though Marge and Homer didn’t seem to use them well. One of them is still shrink-wrapped: Free Range Parenting. After reading the back and realizing she could’ve grown up with less anxiety if her parents read the book, Lisa decides this is the best method to raise Mr. Good Boy, even as he eats a wad of cash from a wallet. 

As the kids give Mr. Good Boy a bubble bath, Homer and Marge question if they made a mistake letting the kids keep him. Marge promises to look for a new parenting book that can help. Homer grumbles about having to read. They eventually settle on watching a YouTube video about having chimps as pets, but Marge is pulled away when the dryer dings. She doesn’t see the part that terrifies Homer, about how adult male chimps often perceive the man of the house as a threat, sometimes ripping off his face and genitalia. When Homer goes upstairs, he finds Marge helping put Mr. Good Boy to sleep, with the chimp having taken off her wedding band. “I’m married to Homer, the biggest, strongest male in the house,” Marge coos at the baby chimp, freaking Homer out.

While chimp-proofing the kitchen, Bart hears a loud “thump” from upstairs, rushing up to find that Lisa was letting Mr. Good Boy jump on the bed and he fell off. They start to bicker over their different parenting styles, with Bart thinking he would be dead if their parents followed the advice of Free Range Parenting. 

While napping on the backyard hammock, Homer has a nightmare that a grown-up Mr. Good Boy ripped off his face and genitals. He is rushed to the emergency room, where he is operated on behind a curtain. When the curtain is pulled back, we see Homer’s face put where his junk should be. The surgeons are chimpanzees! 

Inspired by the nightmare, Homer orders a hockey mask and a codpiece online. Marge thinks he’s overreacting, but their talk is interrupted when they hear Bart and Lisa yelling at each other upstairs. They race up to find that Mr. Good Boy took one of Maggie’s pacifiers, and Bart objects to Lisa letting him suck on one. When Marge says the stress of co-parenting has gotten to the kids, they decide to do what Homer and Marge did and seek therapy.

At Springfield Elementary, Bart and Lisa learn that school counselor Ms. Story was let go due to a funding shortage, and one of her most frequent clients, Nelson Muntz (Cartwright), is using her office. They tell the bully about their co-parenting challenges, and surprisingly, they break through when they realize they both love Mr. Good Boy and want what's best for him. But when they go to the waiting room to get him, he’s gone!

Bart and Lisa race home and blame each other. Then Bart remembers his cautious parenting style led him to put a tracker on Mr. Good Boy’s collar. They use Homer’s laptop and track him to a place called Freedom Chimps, a for-profit animal-exploitation zoo run by Clark and his sister. The website even has a video of them capturing Mr. Good Boy in a laundry basket outside the school.

Marge drives the family to Freedom Chimps, saying Bart and Lisa learned that parents always feel their child’s pain. Lisa and Bart each take the blame for the current situation, and Marge beams with pride… until Bart mentions that they never had good parenting role models.

Freedom Chimps is crowded with documentary filmmakers from streamers trying to cover an inevitable scandal. Homer is anxious as the kids run to a cage full of adult chimpanzees and Mr. Good Boy. The kids toss Mr. Good Boy the key to the lock, which he opens, releasing all the chimps, who encircle Bart and Lisa. Homer drops his pants, removes his codpiece, and flashes his [pixelated] genitals at the chimps, diverting them his way. A chase montage ensues, set to Phil Collins’ “You’ll Be in My Heart” from Disney’s Tarzan. He evades them by jumping into an old tortoise's cage, where he shares the slow-moving reptile’s lettuce snacks.

Animal control arrives to take all the animals to real wildlife sanctuaries as Clark and his sister are arrested. When Bart and Lisa learn they're siblings whose animal obsession began when they found an abandoned circus bear in a trash can, they get a glimpse of their potential future. They see Mr. Good Boy being cuddled by another chimp, and they decide to let him go. Marge congratulates them, saying a parent’s job is to sacrifice to keep their kids safe and happy, and points out what Homer was willing to sacrifice to save Bart and Lisa. “Ewww,” they chorus together.

As the credits roll, we see Homer trying to feed a dollar into a vending machine at Freedom Chimps, which mostly functions as a reptile cage with a few candy bars left. When the machine refuses to take his bill, he begins to pound on the glass.

“Diary of a Chimpy Kid” Review

I have a soft spot for Lisa-centric episodes, and while I love the premise of this episode, my one complaint is that Lisa somehow seems less sharp than usual. In some ways, she did in the last episode, too, but the Lisa Simpson I know isn’t so swayed by parenting advice books. That being said, there’s a lot to love about “Diary of a Chimpy Kid.”

This episode is peppered with great gags, including Krusty the Clown’s poster in his office proudly bragging about being Emmy-eligible for 38 years, just like The Simpsons. Krusty’s lawyer shows off some of the ways other public domain characters have been used, including a Winnie the Pooh (Skinny the Pooh) GLP-1 ad featuring a beach babe Kanga. Homer also has a funny line early in the episode when he debates with Marge over whether to let the kids keep the chimp, saying he feels like Bart and Lisa have already learned a lesson like this. 

The standout moment for me, however, is when the family arrives at Freedom Chimps and finds it full of documentary filmmakers wearing hats for the streamers they create films for. With almost a year of lead time per episode, the HBO Max hat says “HBO TBD,” while the Netflix and Hulu filmmakers brag about which Fyre Festival and Theranos docs they made.

Season 38 continues on Sunday, October 18th, at 8/7c on FOX, with “Treehouse of Horror Presents: The Revengening.”

All hell breaks loose on Halloween when a killer comes to Springfield and hacks their way through town. No Simpson is safe from... THE REVENGENING!