It's been a good few years since I last covered anything from The Simpsons TV show and will with the show now back to getting rave reviews from both fans and critics alike. I thought that that now was the right time to take a look at another episode from the show with the episode being one that actually got some hate from the fans back when it first aired and so then me as I review the episode that gives a side character some much needed back story with the episode in question being called simply just "The Principal And The Pauper" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is when a secret about his past is reveled Principal Skinner has to make a life changing decision. Now then then in of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad as it was a really good plot that does give the Principal Skinner character some much needed backstory as nothing all that much about the character had been revealed up until this episode and to the episodes credit it does so in a way that is genuinely quite shocking and yet also in keeping with the style of the show as the show up until this point in time was all about doing new and creative things with it's characters and that's something that the plot of this episode does wonderfully with the episode even giving some of the spotlight to Agnes which makes sense and seeing her have this heart to heart with her son was something that worked well and wasn't just thrown in because the plot needed it to happen as it felt like something that the character would do with it being something that does add to the plot of the episode rather take away from it with the only real issue regarding the episodes plot is the fact that it doesn't give us the chance to really get to the real Seymour Skinner as the plot just has him appear in a few scenes and that's really it where as a character that's this important to the plot of the episode really should have played a more active role in the plot of the episode itself with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Dan Castellaneta Homer Simpson , Groundskeeper Willie , Mayor Quimby and Abe Simpson. Also starring in this episode is Julie Kavner as Marge Simpson , Nancy Cartwright as Bart Simpson , Nelson Muntz and Ralph Wiggum , Yeardley Smith as Lisa Simpson , Hank Azaria as Superintendant Chalmers , Harry Shearer as Principal Skinner / Armin Tamzarian , Kent Brockman and Judge Snyder , Marcia Wallace as Edna Krabappel , Tress MacNeille as Agnes Skinner , Maggie Roswell as Miss Hoover and Martin Sheen as Sgt. Seymour Skinner.
Now then in of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. Which is something that really does make a whole lot of sense as the overall majority of this episodes actors have been with the show playing there respective characters since the very episode of the show and are STILL playing them all of these later and as such it really would make sense that they would know how best to perform there respective characters as they've had several years to perfect playing them at this point in time with it really being hard to say just who exactly was the best actor in this episode and really anyone of this episodes actors could make a very viable claim that they are best actor in this episode and it would totally be justified as all of this episodes actors are just that good with a slight edge going to both Tress MacNeille as Agnes Skinner and Harry Shearer as they both really do get a chance to shine in this episode and really get the chance to show us just what it is that they can both do as actors with the acting that's in this film episode really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so good that all this episodes actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
Doing the animation for this episode is the legends and the greats that are currently over at Akom Production Company and Film Roman Productions. Now then in of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good as while there was nothing that really stood out in this episode from an episode from an animation point of view all of the characters do have some really nice fluid movements to them with there even being a lot of known characters in group shots or in the background something that the show wouldn't typically do and yet here they are in this episode with this episodes animation even having some small details like the fact that when we see the helicopter flying in the flashback scene we see the wind coming from it's blades pushing down the grass below it which was a nice little touch and it's something that the makers of this episode really didn't have to include at all with the episode having lots of little touches like that that do help to make this episodes animation so much more better then what it really had any right to be as by all rights the animators that worked on this episode really didn't have to put in alot of effort into giving this episode some good quality animation and while yes granted this episodes animation isn't as good as other episodes it still doesn't change that the animation in this episode is still not only good but also of a really high quality as well.
As was stated at the very start of this review this episode does delve into the backstory of Principal Skinner by not only revealing that he was in the army but also the fact that he's not really Seymour Skinner. With him only taking up that name due to the fact that he believed that his commander in chief and his mentor was killed in combat and so he took up that name not only to spare his mother the news that her son might be dead but also to honor his memory with this aspect of the episode being one of a few reasons as to why the fans of this show are very mixed about it with some calling it the best episode ever due to the fact that it does show us a human side of Principal Skinner with others hating as it's taking a character that we've known since the shows first proper episode and not telling us that he's not who we all thought that he was with even show creator Matt Groening and Skinner's voice actor Harry Shearer not even being that big of a fan of the episode with Shearer even being quoted in a 2001 interview as saying "That's so wrong. You're taking something that an audience has built eight years or nine years of investment in and just tossed it in the trash can for no good reason, for a story we've done before with other characters. It's so arbitrary and gratuitous, and it's disrespectful to the audience." with him being quoted at a later date as saying "Now, the writers refuse to talk about it. They realize it was a horrible mistake. They never mention it. It's like they're punishing the audience for paying attention." with Groening simply stating that he thought that the episode was a mistake which does track as then showrunners Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein do state on the DVD commentary for the episode that it did take a while for them to get Matt to agree to the episode.
On paper this episode really could have worked and really could have been a fan favorite episode as it does have all of the right ingredients. All it really needed was to focus alot more on Sgt. Skinner as that would then give us the audience a reason to care about his character and not do anything that goes against what we know about the character of Seymour Skinner in the first place which this episode could very easily do as his backstory was delved into in other episodes of the show but weather or not it does is something that I can't say as i've not seen those episodes but they do retcon the fact that Seymour knows Ned as according tot this episode he's never met him before this is despite the fact that in an earlier episode of the show he teamed up with Bart to get Ned ousted as school principal so he would there for know who Ned Flanders is and given that both Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein wrote that episode you'd think that they would that but it seems not as they don't even mention it in the DVD commentary for the episode as they spend quite literally the entire commentary just defending the episode and not really giving us any interesting piece of information about the episode outside of the fact that it's an episode that was due to air as the last episode of season eight and that's really it with this episode being one that does work if you haven't watched that many episodes of The Simpsons but at the same time tho this is an episode that despite having a really good premise to it just doesn't work all that well.
What is really shocking is the very idea that Agnes might have secretly known all along that Armin Tamzarian wasn't her real son. As when he comes to tell her that her son has died before reversing course and then claiming to be her son she then has to direct him to where her sons bedroom is something that she wouldn't have had to have done if that really was her son as he'd already know where his bedroom is so maybe she saw something in Armin Tamzarian like the fact that he is also dealing with the grief of loosing someone close to him just like she's dealing with the grief of potentially loosing someone close to her and in that way they both did kind of need each other not to reveal that they know the truth as a way for them both to move on with this even leading to sweet moment between the two near the end of the episode where she states that not only has she known him far more longer then her real son but that she was actually more of a mother to him because of it with that statement being what convinces Tamzarian to return to Springfield and that was a nice little thing to have as it should have been Agnes that convinces him to return as she would know him the best and given that we spend the vast majority of this show with her bossing him around it was nice to see a more caring side to her character as well as we get to see that she really does care for Armin Tamzarian like an actual son something that we really hadn't seen before now with it being something that does work in the context of this episode as at that moment he didn't need to be yelled at by her he just needed to be mothered by her and that's exactly what we got in this episode.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly twenty two minuets and forty four seconds. Which is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this show to have and to this episodes credit it really does have more the enough there in of plot to really cover that amount of running time however tho this episode really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as the Sgt. Skinner character who is also meant to be a leading character in this episode plot isn't given that much screen time to actually show us why we should care him and to get across just what exactly he's like as a character as we don't even get to find out all that much about him outside of the fact that he's just several years working in a sweat shop in China and that's really it and this is something that does harm the episode as it means that us the audience aren't given a reason to care about his character and therefor when the characters quite literally wheel him out of Springfield in the back of train we feel nothing and while seeing some of Tamzarian's backstory was nice it would have worked just as well if we got to see things from the point of view Agnes as we don't know what she was thinking or feeling the moment that she saw Tamzarian answer her door and start to tell her that her real son might have been killed as that is something that could have added something to her character as well and while her role in the episode is fine without knowing what she thinking or feeling at that moment it is something that could have added some extra emotional weight to when she talks Tamzarian back into coming back to Springfield but I really will it that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is comedy that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us un this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. However tho at the exact same time this episodes comedy wasn't as good nor as clever as it was in earlier episodes of the show as there aren't that many actually laugh out loud moments in this episode which is something that might make sense as this episode was more drama focused then comedy focused but at the same time tho this show was always a comedy and therefor the focus should always be on giving us good jokes and this was something that the makers of this show did understand even during this ninth season of the show and yet for some strange reason this episode just doesn't have that many actually funny moments in it with the best joke in the episode being when Kent Brockman does a segment on the real Seymour Skinner only for those that he works with to put a picture of Armin Tamzarian and when he corrects them on this they put up a picture of the real Skinner only now it's upside to which he just calls them all stupid and that's really it and even that joke isn't that good as even the episodes ending joke with the characters vowing to never mention Sgt. Skinner ever again and pretend that Armin is the real Seymour Skinner isn't as funny as it really could have been as while it's in there characters for them all to say something like that it's just not as good of a joke as it really could have been in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall while this might not the best episode of this show it's certainly not the worse one either and it's not that truly deserves all of the hate that it got as the premise is solid enough it just needed to be executed a bit better is all but because it wasn't it does mean that the episode wasn't as good as it really could have been tho and that is something that really does let this episode down by quite a bit in my freaking opinions anyways / at least Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6.5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used n this very review from the official The Simpsons fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great the official The Simpsons fandom wiki page really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them being better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on the official The Simpsons fandom wiki page are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.
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