Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
If you’re working on a show that’s in its 27th season, it’s understandable that you’d want to break up the conformity every once in a while and really cut loose. Which is why The Simpsons will periodically throw in a couch gag that feels like a side art project more than any kind of couch gag that we’re used to. Remember when Banksy was given the couch-gag reins and delivered a dystopia of sweatshopped animators? The Simpsons have previously outsourced their couch gags to Guillermo Del Toro, acclaimed animator Don Hertzfeldt, and Rick and Morty.
For this Sunday’s episode, the couch gag is another genre-buster, as Homer and his trusty couch enter the realm of 1980s action dramas. Animator Steve Cutts puts together an action spectacle that keeps the focus where it belongs: on the couch. Homer and Couch make for a fine Crockett and Tubbs, while Flanders a surprisingly appropriate mustachioed villain. And it’s all set to the couldn’t-sound-more-’80s strains of “Push It to the Limit.” Why does this sound so familiar? Have you perhaps seen Scarface?
[Watch the current season of The Simpsons on Hulu, or watch any episode on Simpsons World]
