"The Simpsons" Bart Gets a 'Z' (TV Episode 2009) Poster

(TV Series)

(2009)

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6/10
Bart Gets a 'Z'
studioAT10 April 2021
As with a few episodes the ending here felt a bit rushed, but on the whole this was a lot of fun, with some nice moments indeed.

I enjoyed it.
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8/10
Great one
User648282830 September 2021
Great episode and a great mrs krabbaple one aswell.
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7/10
This is Actually Good!!
e_daneva7 March 2024
Bart Gets a 'Z' is a good episode of season 21. I can't believe this episode was actually good!! Most Simpsons fans say that Season 11 is where the Simpsons became bad, and then once the modern age came along it became even worse. Well this is when the modern age starts, Season 21. So far Season 21 has been as good as Season 20. In fact, the first two episodes of this season ( Homer the Whopper, Bart Gets a 'Z' ) are better than the first two episodes of season 20 ( Sex, Pies, and Idiot Scrapes, Lost Horizon ). And I actually like Season 20. I would consider it the 3rd best season in the middle age ( Season 11-20) after Season 12 and 15. I expected this episode to be okay, and it exceeded my expectations!! The next episode doesn't look that good, but I'm happy to have one really good episode and one good episode before it. The thing that makes this episode so good isn't the humor. It's the depth. It might just be me, but I feel like there hasn't been an Edna Krabopil episode in a long time. The last Mrs. Krabopil episode I remember was called My Big Fat Geek Wedding, and it was the last episode of Season 15. To me, this episode gave Edna even more depth than in the awesome Season 3 episode Bart the Lover ( My favorite Krabopil episode ). This episode shows me why Edna is so depressed and also gives a realistic view on depression. Edna feel like a real person and not just a cartoon character who was made 21 years ago. I wish more episodes had the amount of depth this episode had. Besides the drunk line joke, this episode didn't have much humor. It wasn't unfunny, it just didn't have a lot of jokes. I love how this episode gives lots of depth to Bart too. Bart always had a lot of depth, but I liked how they made a layered story about Bart too. Even the new "cool" teacher had a little depth. That guy probably struggles with teaching kids, so he just gives up and doesn't. If this episode had depth and sharp humor too, I would probably rank this like 8.6 out of 10. Since this episode doesn't have that sharp humor, I would rank it a 7.4 out of 10, which is what my final score is. Even though it doesn't look good I'm excited to watch the next episode of the season, The Great Wife Hope. I'll make sure to post my review on here in about 4 days at least. I can't wait to see if the next episode is really going to be bad.
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"The layers of badness reach almost to the center !"
elshikh44 December 2011
Warning: Spoilers
I didn't like this episode, and for more than one reason.

(Edna Krabappel) is a very sad character. To some extent the show's writers didn't have mercy on her. She obviously isn't happy with her job. She was dumped by the coward (Smithers). And she makes up for her middle-age crises, and living with no passion in work or life, by smocking and drinking heavily. To make matters worse and worse, (Bart) saw, in one of his trips to the future, that she would turn into old alcoholic miserable prostitute!

In (Bart Gets a 'Z'), they - the writers - aimed to play the same game of let's curve but not break. Namely toying with the character a bit, teaching it - and us - a lesson, then bringing it back to point 1 in the next episode. This awful round; they didn't teach anyone any lesson!

After getting fired because of a (Bart)'s prank, Mrs. (Krabappel) made a muffin shop, but eventually didn't complete it. She returned somehow to her job, but didn't actually accomplish anything. Even her perception of "The Answer" was meaningless; simply a revenge out of the class's kids! So this episode doesn't offer much in terms of (Krabappel)'s positive progress. In fact, it assures that nothing can be done to delete or delay her heartrending prospective fate. And if that was intended, then it's part of the show's belief that some characters are born to be doomed, which is seriously very black side in a lovely optimistic show such as this!

The transformation of the new teacher was idiot. Originally, that character wasn't built fairly. He seemed cool, creative and most of all in love with his job. So how come that he gets drunk in the school, saying the strange things he said at the end?! He should have shown some of "that" earlier, by some way, so when he would go off, it would have had some logicality. Because this way it has "forced" written all over it instead, as any pretext that makes (Krabappel) get back her job!

It's clear that The Simpsons' image hasn't been the same after The Simpsons movie. The cadres became tighter, and the nice many details got lesser and lesser. This is undoubtedly made the pace slower, since the visual density, with its distinct lively spirit, left the screen. It's not about the absence of one of the trademarks of the show at its golden age, only. It's about being TV-ish in the worst sense too.

Save the first sequence of (Paul McCartney)'s Another Day, couple of (Homer)'s lines, and some impressively sorrowful vocal performance by (Marcia Wallace) as (Krabappel), this is dramatically and visually unsatisfying. It looks made just to have a good laugh on the books / DVDs of think good and do well. I didn't have a laugh though, seeing that this episode didn't think good or do well itself.
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