I really like how they used a single plot that did a great job portraying Homer and Abe's relationship, which actually had some emotional moments. Its not really a new concept where Homer and Abe get into a fight and are expecting some form of forgiveness, though its fitting to Abe's character where he hasn't been a good father when Homer was young.
The couch gag was short and sweet. Kinda tired of all the Gunsmoke references at this point but at least this one went over fast. Moe's bar had some funny moments with the pickled eggs and Moe's way of preserving them. Liked the gag with Homer starting a conversation with Marge by starting with her name, which worries her. The gag with the sad dogs lasted to long though. Bart is actually wearing his lucky red hat in the car, and I really liked the sound proof window gags. The derby was for most part pretty fun with jokes like Truckasaurus II, ''Car-Rac- Obama'' and a genuine moment of Homer not being so selfish and escorting his dad to a hospital. This puts him in a much better light than how he acted in Homer Simpson in: "Kidney Trouble". Abe had some sad dying moments, which almost lead me to think he really died when Hibbert brought up his condition. Guess I should've known better.
I like how Abe acts jerkish to Homer that he already forgive him despite staying alive. Moe actually tried to bring them together which was a good scene. The escape room scenes were also fun but it felt rather short, would've loved to see them do more in the actual escape room. Got a good laugh at Abe tricking Homer to thrust a sword into a power plug, and Homer not wanting to leave the car as it shows how much it sinked in. Lisa leaving her body felt out of place, the show has done gags like these but it took the character a lot more effort and left them seizuring on the floor like Nelson once did to ''hah-hah!'' Bart. The flashback had some genuine moments with Homer and his parents. I like that they kept the kid designs from Moe, Lenny and Karl the same as in The Blunder Years.
The last act has the whole family angry at Abe, and considering the way he acted I don't blame them. Homer finding himself bonding with his family because they share the hatred towards Abe left yet another genuine moment... but Homer sang to long. I liked how the family practices to react to Abe and Lisa giving Homer the silent treatment as she prepares it to use on Abe, probably one of this episodes funniest moments. I pretty much liked the rest of the act with Abe trying to get the box with recipes back, he's willing to give his life so that Homer can get his box back... only to reveal that he was never in any danger. Its actually really fun to see Abe tricking Homer so often in this episode. Good to see that Mona's recipes went in the right hands aswell, though the waitress had no real reason to believe that the recipes where really from Homer's mother and to just hand them all over so fast.
Its a well written episode with a straightforward plot and solid bonding between Homer and Abe. The humor was not that great though, despite having some really funny moments with my favorites being the escape room scenes and Lisa's silent treatment. The pacing was for most of the part fine but it felt like they could've gone trough the first act faster to get to the Homer/Abe stuff. I appreciate that they kept the intro short and left out any sub plots, it really helped keeping the flow for the story. There's not much that I didn't like, though I find a couple of scenes like the overlong sad dog commercial and Lisa leaving her body to be unnecesary. The characterisation has been solid and I don't even mind how much Abe jerked around tricking Homer. Maybe they could've done more with the flashbacks and just leave the whole scene with Homer's bet with the pickles out. Yes, this deserves a 10/10.
