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Alright, now the third season is cooking with gasoline. “When Flanders Failed” is a high-quality episode, the first one from season three of The Simpsons. It’s also the episode that really helped shape Ned Flanders, but also the dynamic between Homer and Ned that I really enjoy.
There had been “Dead Putting Society,” but that is not the Ned we come to know, or the frenemy dynamic of Homer and Ned. Ned has decided to leave his steady job to open a store in the mall for left-handed people. As a real-life southpaw, I can appreciate the notion. Homer, feeling resentful of his next-door neighbor, wishes for Flanders’ business to fail. Beyond that, he actively avoids mentioning it to lefties he hears lamenting.
We get some schadenfreude from Homer, and also one of the first instances of Homer glomming things off of Ned, though in this case he buys them at a yard sale. Eventually, though, Homer has a change of heart and rallies the town’s lefties to the Leftorium to save Flanders’ business. Ultimately, while Ned and Homer have their disagreements, and are very different people, they will look out for one another.
It’s a fun dynamic that has yielded a lot of good comedy, including here. Also, Bart pretends he is taking karate classes, and that’s all good as well. While “When Flanders Failed” is not a great episode, it is very good, and also an important one for shaping the future of The Simpsons.
