santifersan

"Lisa's Belly" may sound like another 2021 episode featuring the modern, annoying version of Lisa who overreacts to trivial issues. But to my surprise, it opens with a brilliant introduction, like a golden age Simpsons episode-with a funny, semi-realistic setup and genuinely hilarious lines and gags.

It was a pleasant experience of reliving what had been lost, and I'm surprised to find it in the same season as the infamous nightmare The Star of the Backstage.

The problem is that the episode is not memorable enough to remember that it's not about the current Lisa, but rather a revival of the golden age that, unfortunately, is tarnished by moments that remind us we're in the infamous third decade of the series. These include an overly digital and stiff animation style (I prefer the '90s animation), which doesn't help when we see, in detail, the repulsiveness of children's skin showing signs of illness.

The music by Bleeding Fingers Music continues to sound irritating when it tries to recreate Clausen's style of adding tense music to humorous or cartoonish scenes that need it. However, during the hypnotherapy scene, Bleeding Fingers Music surprises and redeems itself when the hypnotherapist spins the spiral.

For the first time, with that scene, the music by Bleeding Fingers surpasses even some of Clausen's work. It's amazing and an unrepeatable exception, since usually what this new style of music does is irritate, and at times it seems like they're trying to sound like Disney.

Seeing fat Bart for the second time in the series feels like repetition. The musical moment with Patty and Selma is the worst-once again, they resort to those annoying modern Simpsons montages, in this case, also degrade the calligraphic aesthetic of the sixties in favor of humiliating these characters for a cheap laugh that's not even funny.

Then there's a musical moment with Bart that is funny just because of how ridiculous and disconnected it is from what long-time Simpsons fans expect.

Those were the main flaws, but we cannot deny that the humor in general felt very golden age. The scene of Homer in the hammock, meant to fill time, is funny and very golden age, too. It's definitely worth watching the whole show again just to rewatch this episode and see how it is the only one where Bleeding Fingers Music redeemed itself for the first time with the masterpiece of sound we hear when the hypnotic spiral spins.

The 2/10 rating is necessary if I want to appreciate those details again in a possible future revision of my ranked list of episodes from worst to best.

"Brian's Got a Brand New Bag" stands out as a well-crafted installment due to its natural dialogues and courteous gestures among characters, which significantly enhance the humor.

However, the downside of the episode is that caution must be exercised when watching it due to its psychological impact, as it can lower the self-esteem of even the younger viewers because of exaggerated references to age surrounding a person who is only 50 years old.

In conclusion, these exaggerated jokes about the age of a 50-year-old person reduce the quality of an episode that was otherwise well-scripted and well-acted by the cast. This diminishes the viewer's happiness when such a topic is handled in that manner. Therefore, for the sake of mental well-being, it is best to watch this episode merely out of curiosity, but it would not be advisable to rewatch it multiple times unless you are particularly captivated by the naturalness of the dialogues. Fortunately, other episodes of the same series also exhibit this characteristic naturalness without negatively affecting the viewer's mental state.