The Simpsons (TV Series) The Squirt and the Whale (2010) User Reviews

Very Heartwarming Twenty Minutes,

[lesleyharris30 · 8/10 · 6 September 2010]

The Squirt And The Whale is a terrific Simpsons episode with a very well written storyline and loads of very funny scenes. It's a very sweet, and surprisingly deep, episode that is both heartwarming and somewhat traumatic from the moment the main story starts, a plot between Lisa and a whale is clever and I'm surprised the show hasn't dealt with this subject previously, but I really didn't expect it to be as realistic and blunt as it is, the episode is pro-animal and certainly conveys a really important message about the rights they deserve. The only flaw with the episode that i didn't appreciate was that some of the jokes were too dark, there's only a handful of them but for the subject matter these jokes were too much, such as Homer and several other Springfield residents trying to pull the whale with their heads, and the products montage, it was a bit too sinister for my liking. The scenes before the main story starts off are also very funny and provide some great laughs before the serious plot kicks off, seeing Homer trying to hack wind powered electricity was a lot of fun and the montage of the family getting use to their new electricity had me in stitches. Heartwarming and unexpected from the show, but still dosen't forget to be funny, the Squirt and the Whale is s killer episode and a highlight for the twenty first season.

Lisa tries to save a whale she finds stranded at the beach, with some help from the townspeople.

A very good episode with a heart and a soul

[robynh-4 · 9/10 · 6 June 2010]

While it can be agreed that The Simpsons have gone downhill in terms of quality and entertainment value in the last decade or so, there has always been a handful of very good episodes in some of the more recent seasons. The Squirt and the Whale is one of these episodes. The episode is not only fresh and genuinely hilarious but it also is one of the more heartfelt episodes of The Simpsons.

The episode begins when Homer is fed up with his high electricity bills and so puts a windmill in the backyard and has the house taken off the power company's power grid, making the family completely dependent on the windmill with dismal results when there is no wind. Ironically however, a violent windstorm hits Springfield giving the Simpsons so much electricity that it has an X-ray effect on them until the windmill is destroyed by the storm, along with the rest of Springfield. The next morning, Bart and Lisa check out the damage from the storm and discover a beached blue whale who Lisa dubs Bluella. Lisa befriends and cares deeply for Bluella and tries to get the whole town to help get the whale back in the water without success. Marge, who knows how deeply sensitive Lisa is about death, tries to convince Homer to not let Lisa get her hopes up about saving Bluella because the outcome of trying to save beached whales is more often than not poor.

The heart and soul of this episode is within Lisa's bonding and care of Bluella. It's so touching when Lisa sits beside Bluella and read poetry to the whale and, unless if you're a heartless monster, it's impossible not to feel sad when Lisa wakes up to find that Bluella has died.

The Squirt and the Whale is definitely the best episode of The Simpsons Season 21 so far.

Final score: 9/10

Surprisingly deep and moving....

[stevenjlowe82 · 10/10 · 1 August 2023]

Cards on the table as I was born in 1982 I was of age as The Simpsons golden years originally aired and found myself increasingly stunned and heartbroken at it's long agonising painful dip in quality. My Simpsons journey actually ended with the film but I wasn't sad as I always had the golden years to go back to.

However a friend recently challenged me to tackle modern Simpsons to get out of my TV comfort zone and try be a little more open minded to the newer stuff. So I found a list and breakdown video of 25 good modern episodes of The Simpsons on YouTube and here I am.

This first foray into modern Simpsons did not disappoint in the slightest. The jokes landed, the characters felt rounded and most of all it had heart and soul, something seriously lacking in the modern Simpsons age imo. Honestly this episode was just really really excellent and makes me more hopeful that they are gems amongst all the newer stuff.