The Simpsons (TV Series) Duffless (1993) User Reviews

Very Good Episode(SPOILERS)

[I_Am_The_Taylrus · 9/10 · 18 February 2007]

SPOILERS

Season Four of the Simpsons is a fantastic season and probably the second best season. This plot is very simple and you would to think it would be one of the First Season episodes of the Simpsons, being as the plot is so simple. This is a great episode that you can enjoy and the ending is fantastic, too. Some of the greatest episodes are in Season Four, such as Last Exit To Springfield and Lisa's First Word. This is definitely one of them. The sub-plot of this episode is also very simple.

Here is the main plot. Homer skips works and goes to the Duff Brewery. He is arrested for DUI. His license is revoked. He has to go to a class for alcoholics. Marge begs Hoemr to quit drinking for a month. He agrees. His life becomes boring and dull and not entertaining at all. After the month he goes to Moe's for a drink. He changes his mind and goes bicycling in the sunset with Marge.

The sub-plot for this episode is that Bart destroys Lisa's science project. She makes a new one, entitled Is My Brother Dumber Than A Hamster? It turns out that he is. Bart finds this out and becomes upset. When the science fair day comes Bart has a project with a hamster flying an airplane. He wins the fair. Lisa thinks that he does not deserve to win, but nobody cares.

Overall, this is a fantastic and simple episode of the Simpsons. It also contains one of my favorite lines. "My name is Hans. Drinking has ruined my life, I'm thirty-one years old!" That is such a twist because Hans Moleman looks like a raisin and looks more like a eight-one year old. It is such a weird and nonsensical line. Anyway, this is one of the best episodes of Season Four and the ending is so sweet, especially with the music.

9/10

Hamster dance! It's another Simpson blockbuster

[gizmomogwai · 9/10 · 15 September 2008]

The fourth and sixth seasons of The Simpsons are the best of the series. In particular, something amazing happened in season 4- seven fantastic episodes, including some of the best episodes of the whole series, ran back to back between December 17, 1992 and March 11, 1993. They are Homer's Triple Bypass, Marge vs. the Monorail, Selma's Choice, Brother from the Same Planet, I Love Lisa, Duffless, and Last Exit to Springfield. Duffless comes right in between two of the greatest episodes ever, so it's no surprise that it too is great.

In it, Homer is caught drinking and driving after visiting the Duff brewery, and Marge, concerned that Homer is an alcoholic, asks him to go without beer for a month. Homer unhappily takes on the challenge, but finds himself tempted at every turn. However, he loses weight, is in better health, and saves money. In the mean time, Bart wrecks Lisa's science fair project and Lisa gets her revenge by subjecting Bart to some humiliating (and painful) experiments designed to prove he's dumber than Lisa's new hamster. When the end of the month finally arrives, Homer can't wait to go back to the bar, but when he gets there he decides he can turn down a beer, and goes back home for a date with Marge.

This is a consistently funny episode with depth- it explores the problem of alcoholism and addiction, which is typically unfunny. Additionally, we can laugh at Bart failing his intelligence tests, and the hamster is cute. For those of us obsessed with continuity (and the producers of The Simpsons have been known to mock those who are), this episode may have problems- Homer beats his alcohol addiction here but in later episodes is still drinking. And what happened to Lisa's hamster? How did Chief Wiggum survive that explosion unharmed? Yet, I think the point may be that while Homer may still be largely hooked on beer, he takes a step towards being able to say no to alcohol. As the song "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" is skillfully used to suggest, he is "free." Homer and Marge riding their bike into the sunset is a notably sweet, feel-good ending.

I'd like that last remark stricken from the record

[snoozejonc · 8/10 · 23 August 2022]

After a DUI arrest Homer gives up beer for a month.

This is a strong episode with a decent message and plenty of humour.

The moral tale at the heart of the plot is quite sweet and gives Homer a nice little arc.

All the comedy works for me, particularly some of the school scenes.

Duffless

[MrFilmAndTelevisionShow · 8/10 · 29 January 2022]

I feel like the Bart-Lisa story could have made for a better A-Plot with Homer's struggle making for a more interesting B-Plot, I think Lisa testing Bart in a increasing number of funny ways vs a hamster is more interesting than Homer giving up Duff, though I think his story was great, and the ending happy it would have made for a great B-plot.

In Heaven There Is No Beer

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 4 May 2022]

Homer gets a DUI and loses his license. Marge challenges him to avoid beer for a month, which he does, at great sacrifice. There are many pitfalls and temptations along the way. The subplot has Lisa doing amazing science projects only to have Bart destroy them. Good work all around.

Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head

[safenoe · 8/10 · 26 April 2024]

I loved it when Duffless, from the fourth season of The Simpsons, ended with the classic Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head, as Homer and Marge cycle away, and this was an allusion to the famous scene from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and this was so moving and inspirational init, and that's what really appealed to me about The Simpsons when I became an instant fan when it debuted all those years ago, but I wonder if now the younger audience would get the allusion to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but still for me it's the first 10 seasons that represents the golden era of The Simpsons.