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For The Simpsons, you could call the 13th season unlucky. This was far from the prime of the show, at least in terms of quality. Around this time in the show’s run, you were as likely to get a mediocre episode as a good one. The Simpsons no longer felt like a classic TV show. However, in the mix, you can still find some…maybe not gold, but silver. To help you avoid the dreck and still stay abreast of the entire run of the greatest show ever, here are the five episodes to watch from season 13.
1. “A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love”
John Swartzwelder is the most-prolific, and the best, writer in Simpsons history. He’s an icon of TV writing. That being said, even he was not immune to a drop in quality as the show ran on. “A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love” is one of his last episodes of real quality. Mr. Burns falls in love with a woman voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus in a nice turn by the Seinfeld star, and Homer gets mixed up in it.
2. “Jaws Wired Shut”
Homer and Marge’s marriage is often fodder for good episodes, particularly when it comes to Homer’s behavior. In this episode, Homer’s antics leave him with a broken jaw that is wired shut. During his recovery, he becomes a better husband and father…but will he fall into old habits once his jaw is freed?
3. “Half-Decent Proposal”
Artie Ziff is back! A throwback to the history of Homer and Marge, Jon Lovitz returns as the voice of Marge’s snooty prom date. Now, he’s incredibly rich, and he returns into the life of the Simpsons with a proposal that he will pay for Homer to have surgery to stop him from snoring, but only if he can have one date with Marge. It’s a little much as a premise, but not so much that it doesn’t work. Plus, it’s fun to see Artie again.
4. “Weekend at Burnsie’s”
The march of time got us to a point where The Simpsons could do an episode about marijuana. Homer gets on medical marijuana, and then the episode mostly mines humor from Homer being high. At the time, it felt fresher than it may now, but it’s still funny. Phish cameos, naturally.
5. “Poppa’s Got a Brand New Badge”
This episode, well, it’s just really good. Definitely one of the top episodes from around this era of the show. Homer opens a security firm and runs afoul of Fat Tony. The reason to watch it is not sociological. It’s just about the quality.
