Warning: Contains spoilers for The Simpsons season 34, episode 3.In The Simpsons season 34, episode 3, “Lisa the Boy Scout," a pair of cyber-terrorists threaten to ruin the reputation of the animated sitcom by releasing clips of the show from the past that were deleted for being too ridiculous. Most of the clips were obviously fake, with increasingly outlandish premises, such as Martin Prince being an undercover cop and everything in the show being a dream that Homer had while comatose after he fell into Springfield Gorge. Some clips, however, are scenes from actual episodes that, over the years, have become the most divisive. This makes "Lisa the Boy Scout" double as an acknowledgment of some of the show’s weaker years.
Below is a list of every past episode that The Simpsons season 34, episode 3 makes fun of, accompanied by the reasons for each bit of mockery. Some episodes on this list are disliked for rehashing storylines that have been done far too often over the years. Others became disliked for being far too ridiculous, even for The Simpsons, and many of them are disliked for featuring gross visuals that were greatly out of place for the show.
Dial ‘N’ For Nerder
The first Simpsons episode made fun of in "Lisa the Boy Scout" is season 19, episode 14, “Dial ‘N’ for Nerder," focusing on its B-plot. It's yet another story about Homer going on a diet. When Marge suspects him of lying about it, she hires a TV show crew to try and expose the truth. They eventually film him treating a spit of lamb like a woman he's having an affair with. In addition to repeating a story that had been done far too often, Homer treating cheating on his diet like an actual affair felt like a gross exaggeration of his character, especially when previous versions of that same plot showed him to be more honest with Marge.
The Marge-ian Chronicles
The next episode The Simpsons season 34, episode 3 mocks is season 27, episode 16, “The Marge-ian Chronicles," which revolves around Marge and Lisa entering a contest to go on a trip to Mars. The focus is primarily on Marge's relationship with Lisa, yet at its core, the plot is still a rehash of the classic season 5 Simpsons episode of Homer becoming an astronaut, so another one brought down for having a story that had been done before. Even worse, the duo didn’t even go to space, let alone Mars. It's one thing for The Simpsons to set up a crazy story, but not following through on it just makes the entire episode feel like a waste of time.
The Scorpion’s Tale
Another Simpsons episode that season 34's "Lisa the Boy Scout makes fun of is season 22, episode 15, “The Scorpion’s Tale." This one sees Lisa invent a drug that could nullify negative emotions, but it’s eventually revealed that a side effect of the drug is lubricating a person’s eyes so much that they pop out of their sockets. In addition to the goofy nature of the twist, including a random crossover with the story from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, it's followed by a montage of people getting into various antics with their eyes hanging out of their sockets, all of which makes for a rather gross visual for the show.
Husbands And Knives
The next episode to be made fun of in The Simpsons season 34, episode 3, is season 19, episode 7, “Husbands and Knives." It's yet another one about Homer and Marge’s marriage being in danger, this time from Homer thinking that Marge’s success will lead to her wanting a better husband — a very tired storyline. Homer decides to improve himself by getting his stomach stapled, after which he has to tie his excess skin behind his back. That leads to a dream sequence of Homer getting plastic surgery that makes him look like a muscular monster. Both actions make for another episode with particularly gross imagery, and while that's acknowledged in "Husbands and Knives," the episode is still hard to watch near the end.
The Fat And The Furriest
Another episode The Simpsons season 34, episode 3 makes fun of is season 15, episode 5, “The Fat and the Furriest." This one sees Homer try to take down a bear that previously attacked and humiliated him before ultimately bonding with the animal. The premise isn’t the most out there for an episode of The Simpsons, but both the initial encounter with the bear and Homer’s eventual friendship are depicted in an overly cartoonish manner that makes it hard to take seriously. Worse than that is how everyone in Springfield begins ridiculing Homer for being afraid of the bear. He is more than justified in fearing for his life, so his treatment in the episode comes across as being far too mean-spirited to be funny.
Saddlesore Galactica
One of the more noteworthy episodes to be made fun of in "Lisa the Boy Scout" is The Simpsons season 11, episode 13, “Saddlesore Galactica." After adopting a horse at a fair, Homer and Bart train him to be a racehorse, so they can afford to keep him. In a surprise twist, Homer learns that all the other jockeys are actually elves who threaten to kill him if he and Bart don’t lose the big race. The basic premise rehashes the older episode of Homer buying Lisa a horse, something made even worse by how Comic Book Guy points that out and is berated for it. The Simpsons has done meta-humor before and after “Saddlesore Galactica," but its usage here just comes across as a lazy attempt to excuse the episode for rehashing old stories and little else.
What really brings the episode down is the twist of the jockeys being elves. Not only does this development come completely out of nowhere, but the nature of it is far too bizarre for something outside a quick gag, and it comes across as an utterly outlandish way of ending the story. Both the twist and the lazy meta-commentary are disliked to the point that “Saddlesore Galactica” is often viewed as one of the worst episodes of The Simpsons — if not the worst — and it’s even commonly credited with when the show truly started to decline in quality.
Treehouse Of Horror XXVIII - MMM Homer
The final episode that The Simpsons season 34, episode 3 makes fun of is season 29's “Treehouse of Horror XXVIII," specifically the segment “MMM Homer." Its premise revolves around Homer developing a taste for his own flesh and eating himself throughout the story. While The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror episodes are supposed to have horror-based elements, “MMM Homer” ends up taking that too far with how unsettling and macabre its story is compared to other installments. The ending doesn't help with that, either, as not only does Homer wind up dying, but his actions turn all of Springfield onto cannibalism, something the segment tries to frame as a happy ending. All in all, it's an episode of The Simpsons that gets dark to the point of being uncomfortable, and that does it very few favors.
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