Every Man's Dream (The Simpsons)
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 We thought that the writers would learn their lesson from the last time they manipulated their viewers. But no, they clearly didn't.
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Every Man's Dream is the first episode of Season 27 of The Simpsons. It aired on September 27, 2015.
Plot
Homer is diagnosed with narcolepsy, but instead of getting his prescription medication, he comes home drunk. Homer and Marge visit a marriage counselor and have a trial separation, during which Homer begins dating a twenty-something pharmacist, something that he soon regrets.
Why It's Every Man's Nightmare
- Like the previous season's premiere, "Clown in the Dumps", this episode is a gigantic rating trap as a way of manipulating their viewers and desperately keeping them from watching the show so that their ratings don't sag. The episode's promos and advertising made it seem like Homer and Marge were going to have a divorce and split up with different couples, but in reality, it didn't happen due to it being all a dream.
- The idea of Marge and Homer getting a different spouse is not the worst idea for an episode, but the execution ends up being terrible.
- Homer is extremely unlikeable in this episode, especially near the beginning, as he refuses to do anything because of his narcolepsy.
- The reason why Marge divorces Homer is rather dumb, she divorces him all because the therapist told her to, not to mention, the therapist does a terrible job at being one as she just makes Marge and Homer's relationship worse, as opposed to fixing their relationship.
- The plot is not only depressing, but it is also confusing and is hard to understand, it just consists of random stuff happening without a reason, much like Saddlesore Galactica and Kill the Alligator and Run.
- It also looks like an episode from Season 11 as it relied on an outlandish storyline.
- Most of the attempts at trying to be funny fall very flat, as most of the jokes here were just marriage and divorces jokes, which were not funny and are more depressing and lame.
- The extremely disgusting scene where Maggie sleeps in vomit and with her diaper showing.
- Atrocious and confusing ending: It abuses the clichéd "all just a dream" ending to hell and back, in fact, it was revealed to not only be Homer's dream, but also Marge's dream and a tattoo illusion. Even though it makes a sign that the episode was (thankfully) deemed to be non-canon, it also is very confusing and it makes the entire episode completely pointless.
Redeeming Qualities
- As mentioned earlier, the concept of Homer and Marge splitting up and finding new couples isn't the worst idea for an episode and it could've been a decent concept here, even though the execution is abysmal.
- The Beatles' album covers with the Simpson family couch gag, just like some couch gags, is more enjoyable than this entire episode.
Reception
This episode was met with a heavy amount of negative feedback from fans and critics of the show because of the depressing nature of the episode, the rushed ending and also the fact that this episode was a gigantic rating trap, it is often considered to be one of the worst episodes of The Simpsons. The episode currently sits with a 5.5/10 rating on IMDb.
This is also William Angell's least favorite episode of the series, being the only episode of the series to receive his 0/5 rating, mainly because of the ending. This was the first episode of any television show where he gave an episode a 0/5 rating, the second being the Family Guy episode "Brian's a Bad Father".
Videos
External Links
Every Man's Dream at the Internet Movie Database