TV Recap / Review: Learn the History of the Quimby Family In "The Simpsons" - "Sashes to Sashes"
Tonight saw the debut of the seventh episode in the 37th season of The Simpsons, entitled "Sashes to Sashes" (a play on the term "Ashes to Ashes" from a common Christian burial service prayer), and below are my brief recap and thoughts on this installment of the long-running animated sitcom.
Speaking of funerals and The Simpsons having been around for a long time, "Sashes to Sashes" opens with the death of a very minor character named Mrs. Alice Glick, who first appeared in the second-season episode "Three Men and a Comic Book." But according to the Simpsons Wiki article I just looked at, Mrs. Glick was already killed off on the show in season 23's "Replaceable You." I guess continuity has never really mattered much on The Simpsons, and even less so after more than three and a half decades.
Anyway, upon her most recent death, Mrs. Glick leaves a sizeable amount of money to Springfield Elementary School, under the condition that it be used to revitalize the school's flailing music program. Unfortunately for Lisa Simpson (voiced, as always, by Yeardley Smith) Joe Quimby the Third (Tress MacNeille)-- the son of Mayor Diamond Joe Quimby (Dan Castellaneta)-- uses this as an opportunity to pitch a three-day music festival at the elementary school, as a springboard for him running for class president. Lisa plans to run against him, but her classmate Devin (returning guest star Cole Escola from Broadway's Oh, Mary!) doesn't think she can garner enough votes to win, suggesting Lisa's straight, white, cis brother Bart (Nancy Cartwright) as an alternative.
Longtime Simpsons fans will also note that this is not the first time Bart Simpson has run for class president. That happened in "Lisa's Substitute," also from way back in season two. Regardless, the campaign between Bart and Joe Quimby III in "Sashes to Sashes" is intercut with the history of the Quimby family, which owes a lot to movies about immigrants such as The Godfather Part II. We see Joe Quimby Sr. (voiced by Domhnall Gleeson from Star Wars: The Force Awakens in his youth and the Irish actor's own real-life father Brendan Gleeson from In Bruges as an elderly man) leave his very poor family in Ireland after stealing their only turnip and journey abroad to Springfield, USA, where he lives in an extremely poor part of town sifting through animal excrement to make a living.
Meanwhile, the competition between Bart and Joe III heats up as the latter launches attack ads making use of the former's name rhyming with the word "fart." Lisa heads to the library to dig up some dirt on the Quimbys, but unexpectedly discovers a photo of her mother Marge Simpson (Julie Kavner) as a flower girl in Diamond Joe's first wedding. So we get some more backstory about how Joe Jr. came to meet Marge's aunt Beatrice (Carrie Coon from The Leftovers), marry her, and then immediately lose her after Joe Sr. insists that he sleep around in order to "improve" his image as he runs for mayor.
This all comes to a head with Marge taking Lisa to visit the now-elderly Beatrice, who seems to be a fair amount older than present-day Mayor Quimby-- I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around that-- and finally putting a decades-long family squabble to bed. Similarly, when Joe III ultimately wins the school election, defeating Bart, he renounces his own position, with the class presidency falling to Martin Prince (Grey DeLisle) since Principal Skinner (Harry Shearer) insists that the current hall monitor is next in line. The music program is saved, Diamond Joe is proud of his son for breaking a toxic family pattern, and the end credits play over an original song from one of the made-up musical acts that would have been booked for the festival that never happened. I was kind of underwhelmed by this episode, though I liked the idea of exploring the scandal-laden Quimby family background via flashbacks. Unfortunately I just didn't end up laughing very much, and the class presidency storyline felt a little stale. There's always next week!
New episodes of The Simpsons air Sunday evenings on FOX.