The Simpsons (TV Series) Pokey Mom (2001) User Reviews

Love it or leave...

[das-19 · 7/10 · 13 October 2009]

Eh, it doesn't go anywhere and the plot is inscrutable, but Michael Keaton is a talented actor and this episode has my favorite Simpsons joke:

"You kidding? Look! He painted a unicorn in space. I ask you -- what's it breathing?"

"Air?"

"Ain't no air in space!"

"There's an air in space museum!"

When it comes to season 12+, you take what you can get. And the best moments here are amazing. You can really sense the Swartzwelder in this script -- plenty of bizarre on-liners, decent pacing and a plot so absurd you'd think the time machine did it. And in between the good lines you get some pretty bad readings and some moments so dull they nearly stall the episode.

Fairly weak plot but great laughs

[Mr-Fusion · 7/10 · 2 August 2017]

Oddly enough, it's the shorted B storyline that makes 'Pokey Mom' memorable; although Marge's side of things is font-loaded with solid guest stars (c'mon, Michael Keaton's no slouch), it's the kinda thing we've seen on all sorts of sitcoms before.

The big laughs reside on Homer's end with his Miracle Spino-Cylinder; it's the direct result you'd expect from his tomfoolery and offers hilarious jabs at the chiropractic industry. I almost wish we could've seen more material from Clinico Magnifico.

7/10

Could have been a contender

[safenoe · 6/10 · 23 March 2023]

This episode, Pokey Mom, just falls outside the golden era (in my humble opinion the first 10 seasons of The Simpsons) and you can kind of see why. Michael "Batman" Keaton was an inspired choice to voice the convict with amazing artistic skills, had the humor and satire and social commentary to set up a second half.

But as other reviewers said, the second half kind of fizzled out and quite by-the-numbers. But still, any Simpsons is usually better than none.

The title is a play on Pokemon which swept the world at the time and conquered pop culture. It's hard to believe it was so long ago this happened.

Marge and the convict

[studioAT · 3/10 · 15 January 2020]

Marge helps a troubled convict artist in thankfully a better episode from S12.

With a good guest voice turn from Michael Keaton while this episodes plot runs out of steam, it's good fun.