Top 10 Simpsons Season 18 Episodes 

I was gonna comment how it was a nice coincidence this Season 18 video ended up being 18:18 in length. But the RU-vid preview says it was 18:19. That's a reference to the next season, I guess 😐

Congrats, you've officially reviewed the 1st half of The Simpsons!

"Next up: Season 19" Oh no, you don't Jims! You still have one more thing that was in production at the time to revisit first. A certain movie if you will.

"Who knew kite flying could be so scandalous?" Marge knew: "There's something about flying a kite at night that's so unwholesome."

I feel like Lenny talking about his dinosaur cake in the documentary episode is such an underrated Simpsons scene.

I'd say what makes the Bart's therapist subplot go full circle is the creepy twist that the therapist bonded with Bart so much because her son was murdered by Dark Stanley Like, that's a clever twist that remembers the setpiece of the plot

Whenever we get adorable Homer parenting moment I love it. The way he's scared to shatter Lisa's world with the ending and how Lisa figures it out and after reading the real ending she just smiles that says she liked dad's ending more

5:27 I don't know why but the subtle colour correction to make Mike Scully blush really made me laugh. That caught me off guard for the type of editing usually done on this channel. Just wanted to say it didn't go unnoticed.

"Simpsons powerscaling" is crazy lol

As someone who's never seen 24, "I look forward to the sequel where Maggie gets trapped by mountain lions" came really out of the left-field.

you're never gonna let the " Bart beats up Nelson in 24 minutes" thing go huh

24 minutes has a similar energy to it as Filmore. There really is something just magical about reinterpreting drama cop/FBI shows and films in a school setting.

Sometimes I wish The Simpsons would go for the throat with Disney like they did with Fox instead of butt kissing them in the most uninspiring ways. Fox seems like a way more chill organization compared to The Walt Disney Company in that retrospect.

"Rankings I will confidently stand by, I guess" Strong words. Strong, confusing words.

I feel like the further we go into the Al Jean era, the harder it would be to list any differences between seasons, and any distinguishing traits would become more and more of a stretch

The Marge gaming episode is fun for a lot of reasons, but I mostly liked how it was a logical evolution from the Marge gambling addiction storyline.

It's says a lot about Rome-old and Juli-eh that I don't remember the A plot with grandpa and Selma at all, like I have no memory of ever seeing it, not even after listening Jims talking about it, but I know the box fort b-plot by heart

You Kent Always Say What You Want is also a reminder of an earlier time on RU-vid, with stars instead of thumbs. And now we can’t even see downvotes.

Nelsons' HAW HAW moment is friggin' great during the box fort episode.

Counterpoint: Ice Cream of Margie should be on the list just beause the Ice Cream Truck that Otto pimped up looks fly as heck and it should be on a Hit & Run remake

The blob segment of Threehouse 17 has unnerved me for years... Even more than stuff like Nightmare Cafeteria

We have reached the point where I no longer recognize any of the episodes being talked about.

Dropped everything I was currently doing and immediately clicked on this video. Sorry students, I’ll mark your maths assessments another time 😂

🎶 Men with hoses, Moe exposes, thrashing crashing overload Spend one hour with Jack Bauer the 400th episode 🎶 That jingle has been in my head for 18 years

I love how they often fit the Grumple into the background when possible. Even in the second to newest TOH in Simpsonland. You can tell the writers love The Grumple too.

Gotta' just say how much I appreciate the work you put in with subtitles and song links - thank you!

I'm so glad you're reviewing this range of seasons. These were the ones *I* grew up watching when I would watch it with my parents as a kid. I haven't seen a lot of the Seasons 1-10 so I don't often have an opinion on one or another episode, but these ones I remember virtually all of them and I'm glad I can sort of cognitively participate instead of just taking in your thoughts.

17:01 Rewatched “Bart Gets Hit by a Car” after hearing this, it’s so true. Homer randomly falling out-of-love for Marge for not lying in court seemed like a desperate attempt to fill run time. Although, I never realized how good they were at selling drama in season 2; I fall for it every time with the perfect music cues and storyboarding.

Say what you will about Season 18, it holds a bizarre place in my heart. Nostalgia? Very likely. Springfield Up is such a good episode. That backstory of the Crazy Cat Lady REALLY caught us off-guard.

I'm excited for future retrospectives, because this is pretty much where i fall off when i rewatch. I've never seen most of season 20+, minus a few big recommendations like Pixelated & Afraid and Sky Police

Homer as the blob used to give me nightmares as a little child. It was one of the first Simpsons episodes I ever seen.

man the gil episode hit too hard cause I know Marge's pain of having trouble saying no to people

The Godfather parody ep will always be top tier for the truck, truck-truck, and truck-truck-truck joke alone, on top of being a good ep.

1:57 It feels like ages since you've used this music for the background. It was hearing it in your older videos, that I found the source and have been listening to it for years. Anyways, thanks for all of these retrospectives and congrats getting half way so far. It's a long but enjoyable ride.

Grumpily grumpily grew, your blood will make my stew

Me forgetting that this season happened more than years ago, why does that WOW parody episode still hold up?

I knew for a fact that "The Haw-Haed Couple" was gonna be high on the list, it's so memorable. Next time in season 19 we have the one episode I consider a great potential series finale for the show, even if I'm glad it wasn't.

speaking of liking an episode for it's B plot. you should make a best and worst B plots video! or point me to them if they already exist and i've just forgot about them, i guess.

Why do parodies of 24 always come out so well? The Boondocks did one too, and it's awesome.

Drake ain't safe on a Simpsons RU-vid video

I think the biggest knock for "Marge Gamer" lies in other animated shows doing MMO episodes around the same time. "Marge Gamer" gets compared to the likes of American Dad's "Dungeons and Wagons" with its art style shift and South Park's machinima-powered "Make Love, Not Warcraft". If anything, it makes Marge's plot feel more quaint in comparison to those.

Once you get to season 20, I’d love to see a ranking of your top 10 list from worst to best (hope that makes sense- each top 10 you’ve done from 1-20 is ranked against each other as collective sets of episodes). It’d be cool to see where things rank especially when they’re supposed to be the best/better Simpsons episodes. Great video as always- excited for new content to come!!

As always love your videos, but the Sadgasm episode just convivences me that The Simpsons should've grown up.

What I like about the bit where Homer changes the ending is that it reminds me of how fans write fix it fics for canon they don't like, and how that can be a sort of restorative process. Whether or not the story went "as it should have", it is fun to come up with your own version and share it with others that may have shared in your own disappointment. (It's specifically the bit when Lisa says that she prefers Homer's version that I find so adorable and wholesome.)

I'd say.... I'm already halfway there.... halfway there.... halfway there....

I really admire you finding a top 10 in this miasma. PS. That’s certainly one way to pronounce Declan 😂

I really do love these episodes rankings, they always remind me of episodes and parts I love but forgot about.

This list, along everyone with every preceding list from the past 10 seasons, really does prove what I think is the over-riding truth of the show post golden age. It's not that the show simply stopped being good all together at a certain point, it's that the hit to miss ratio for episodes has a very clear downward slope starting with the peek in 6/7. There are still good (and even sometimes great) episode every season, it's just there are fewer of them every year.

This is a season I like but it also has the first Simpsons episode I remember not liking, "The Boys of Bummer" due to how the town treated Bart for not catching the ball which is over the top. These are my top 10 from this season. I could have put a few of the episodes I put at 10 to 6, Little Big Girl, Marge Gamer and 24 minutes on my top 5 but I liked my top 5 just a little more. While The Haw-Hawed Couple didn't make my list, I liked the Angelica Button B-Plot with Homer and Lisa. "Moustache power activate!" My top 10: 10. Little Big Girl 9. Springfield Up 8. You Kent Always Say What You Want 7. Marge Gamer 6. 24 Minutes 5. Jazzy and the Pussycats 4. The Wife Aquatic - I am not sure why I like this episode so much but I have watched it a lot since it first came out. 3. G.I. (Annoyed Grunt) 2. Moe'N'a Lisa 1. Kill Gill Volume 1 & 2 - I have this on my top favourite episodes I like to rewatch now and then.

Season 18 was the last season I watched as it aired. It's been fun watching all your reviews and being reminded of all these old episodes again, it's going to be interesting watching you review the later seasons that I've really never seen.

Been here for years brother, love your channel. keep fighting the good fight

The chrono trigger music - *chefs kiss*

0:08 Bro thinks he’s on the team😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

I don't know why, but that clip from the _24_ episode of Bart driving with his butt absolutely slays me every time I see it.

Love how i regularly had nightmares from the dark stanley bit i still cant watch it today, whilst feeling like ive never seen the yokel chords episode

Homerazzi doesn't make it to the finals but the Santa's Little Helper episode does? That's paddlin'.

This is a very mixed bag season of the series overall, not as bad as some later seasons but you can really see the writers straining during the preparation for the Simpsons Movie during this point. Struggling for ideas and throwing whatever character dynamics and story ideas they can at the wall, It doesn’t always work and you can see the messiness but glad to see there are still some gems scattered in it.

Never liked a vid so fast as after the Grumple praise. Elite taste again, Jims

I still remember the first time I watched Marge gamer. I was in middle school and I had grown up with my dads probably 12-13 seasons of the Simpsons on DVD but I didn’t have access to them at home (haw haw child of divorce). And so during one summer I tried to find watchable episodes on RU-vid, and literally the only one I could find for like a month straight was Marge Gamer. And it was the first new Simpsons episode I had seen after years of obsessively watching my dad’s dvds with him and watching every rerun I could find, and I was absolutely enthralled to find “new” content for this show I loved. I watched it so many times that summer I swear. It’ll always have a special place in my heart.

15 to 19 I have a lot of fondness for. Id be as bold as to say I overall enjoy the teen Simpsons years over the tween years. Episodes like your top two here, Eternal Moonshine, Girls Just Wanna Have Sums, SCCATAGAP, Heartbroke Kid, Dont Fear The Roofer... seal that for me.

just clicked on the video. cant wait to see boys of bummer at number 1! edit: what the fuck

Totally agree on the box fort subplot - any time we see the kids actually being kids gets a lot of bonus points from me. Also, don’t @ me but Kill Gill should be higher.

love the music selection in this video

To this day, "You Kent Always Say What You Want" stands as my favorite episode of the season. There's something I just love about media commentary episodes, and seeing Kent Brockman get outed not by his swearing on-air but by a ring of Splenda in his coffee stands as a testament to how reactive corporate executives are.

24 seconds is definitely number 1 without a doubt.

24 Minutes had to be my favourite cause my mum and I are 24 super fans ever since I was a child So this episode, we absolutely loved it any episode with Kiefer Sutherland in it

Happy Birthday Liam Neeson, Bill Hader, Tom Jones, and (would-be) Prince

The Warcraft Marge MMO episode is DREADFUL bro. Your bias for her kicking in overdrive lmao

As an Australian I can confirm that we do celebrate Jerry Van Dyke’s birthday as shown in Kill Gill Vol 1&2.

Season 18 is a very complicated season, and there are some fallback moments in it. Again, I have stood up for “Little Big Girl” and continue to do so! There is something very compelling to me about the Bart and Darcy romance. I like how she embraces a lot of his rebellious nature, and I even think that though a lot of people say that dream scene is confusing and disturbing, for me, I find it sweet to see Bart imagining himself as a good father figure. This is why I defend this episode! As for most of your top picks, I agree that a lot of the B-plots are fantastic, especially the box fort story and the ones with Lisa and Homer! Overall a very nice list, but the ice cream episode is definitely a favorite of mine and would be much higher in my personal ranks. Also thank you for speaking up for 24 minutes! Actually going back through my memories of the series, I think it would be totally fantastic if you did a video analysis on the top ten or less or even a ranking video for the full list of Springfield Elementary drama episodes! This seems like a fantastic potential video for your channel! Please consider this request! Good luck with all your work and I look forward to hearing what you think about season 19!

The Box Fort is one of my all time favorite moments from this show period!

I honestly disagree with you on the Gil episode. I don't get the vibes at all that Marge usually has trouble saying no; if anything she's usually the wet blanket who tries to stop the family's wilder antics when no one else is willing to. And the episode is just plain depressing to me on top of that. Good list regardless though.

Do the simpsons movie retrospective next but remastered

Yokel Chords is also noteworthy for one of the great throwaway social commentary gags in Simpsons history: "Brandine? I thought you was in Iraq, preventing 9-11!"

What realjims needs to do, is once he has done a top list for every season of the Simpsons, he should take all the #1 eps, and rank them from worst to best

Inspired by the Box Fort (also one of my favorite B-Plots), why not do your personal top 10 B-Plots? I don't expect you or anyone to have an exhaustive list of B-Plots so this would have to be more about choosing from the ones you remember, but I figure your favorites might come to mind easily. Edited to add: The line "by pressing Alt+F5 repeatedly" is delivered so well; it's just a perfect unexpectedly matter-of-fact delivery, it's up there with Avatar's "Looks like it's 'boiled in oillllll.'" line for "throwaway lines that are elevated by their delivery."

I'm surprised you liked 24 Minutes so much. Even though I love 24, I think Simpson's take on it was really-really mid. Sure, it gets the format right (even though split-screens go a little bit too long, a second or two longer than in 24), for some reason this episode always felt too safe. Especially compared to South Park's take on the concept (it really felt like Parker and Stone were big fans of the original, so their jokes were on point; in 24 Minutes - not so much).

Great review Jims. Good luck reviewing season 19, which was the 1st one I ever saw. I was born in 1996. It was insufferable.

I agree with most of the takes here and watching season 19 currently for that One Piece and Simpsons podcast I do and it has me excited to hear your thoughts! As always it has been a blast, and the preview says 18:18 to me.

I just want to say I'm so happy the Marge gaming episode turned out to be in the top 3 That one became one of my favourites of all the time and I'm glad i'm not the only one thinks is a pretty good episode despite the ronaldo appearance (funny enough he also voiced himself in spanish and is just as bad, worst star cameo ever) Like you said it's a miracle that it turned out well enough we can still remember it fondly even after all those years Oh and the sequence with marge running to the house with Maggie in that kent episode has to be one of the funniest gags for me in the entire season idk why

14:03 I think Bart (or any other kid for that matter) could in theory beat Nelson, but two conditions need to be met: A) Nelson needs to be on low-guard B) The aggressor needs to be super pissed-off

i'm really excited for this series to get into the seasons I'm less familiar with

The first half of the show is now ranked! This ranking is good. Below is my ranking (with only certain placements being explained) I only liked my top 4-5 episodes for season 18: 1. "Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em" - Overall an enjoyable episode well executed. Homer got what he deserved and it was funny. Also my bias for my enjoyment of the marital episodes play a role in the ranking in some way. 2. "Ice Cream of Margie (with the Light Blue Hair)" - Other than how it ended and how Homer treated that lactose intolerant kid, I really like this one. The ice cream stick montage with "Feels So Good" playing is awesome, and I love Homer and Marge's partnership in the first half. Also funny you mentioned "Bart Gets Hit by a Car" since that's a top 25 episode for me. 3. "Crook and Ladder" - Really funny episode that's unique and fun. 4. "Marge Gamer" - Another good episode. I think the Homer and Lisa plot started late honestly and Ronaldo's guest appearance was bad and unnecessary. Otherwise I really enjoy the Bart and Marge story and Homer and Lisa's is pretty good. 5. "24 Minutes" - Another unique episode, although I haven't watched 24 and it was lacking in the joke department imo. 6. "The Wife Aquatic" 7. "Stop! Or My Dog Will Shoot" 8. "The Haw-Hawed Couple" - I enjoyed "Sleeping with the Enemy" but personally I disagree with your opinion on this episode. Nelson is too weird for my taste and it didn't really entertain me that much. A shame since Nelson is one of my favorite characters. 9. "The Boys of Bummer" - I know this should be ranked lower and I don't like this episode either but I honestly think this is mostly tame compared to episodes ranked lower on my list. It's mostly the town being awful to Bart and it has a horrible b plot. 10. "You Kent Always Say What You Want" - One of Ned's worst appearances ever. 11. "Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Three Times" 12. "Jazzy and the Pussycats" 13. "Homerazzi" 14. "Moe'N'a Lisa" - Too many guest stars. It really ruined the episode and it already wasn't good to begin with. 15. "G.I. (Annoyed Grunt)" 16. "Treehouse of Horror XVII" - A bad ToH. The Golem segment was easily the worst of the three with it's bad premise and uninteresting violence. The Blob segment was just Homer eating over and over and it got repetitive fast. The last segment is very forgettable and I only remember Kang and Kodos' cameo and the townspeople getting in mud. 17. "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer" 18. "Yokel Chords" - Cletus is not an interesting side character at all and it's a forgettable episode. 19. "Rome-Old and Juli-Eh" - One of the worst premises ever with no humor and I honestly thought that b plot was in a different episode (although I'm not a big plot fan). 20. "Kill Gil, Volumes I & II" - Annoying episode with a bad character (Gil) being the main character. It drags on forever and I'm really not a fan of the fact that Marge went to Arizona to confront Gil even after he left the house. 21. "Springfield Up" - I hate documentary episodes and Declan Desmond. The former is why I hate "Behind the Laughter" which I know a lot of people enjoy. 22. "Little Big Girl" - Really close to a bottom 10 episode in the show for me for its awful story and uncreative story. On top of that "Bart getting a girlfriend" episodes with the exception of "Bart's Girlfriend" are not really good at all.

They played this era of Simpsons on reruns for a long time, these episodes are very nostalgic for me.

My heart skipped a beat when I heard another OCRemix of a Wild ARMs track being used in one of these. I suppose "False Wedding on the Sea" was a good choice considering the episode!

Let's be honest, most of us are here (following this channel) because of the Nelson character study video. So I don't think there was any doubt what the number one episode would be.

My top two are 24 Minutes and Revenge, though I’m unsure which I like more.

The Gil and MMO episodes were legit early teen favorites. Definitely quite nostalgic.

13:58 That Prank Call "I Made a Doody" will never not be hilarious and is the highlight of the episode

17:04 "I'm laughing in the last one because the cat fell down the stairs" that joke made me cry laughing when I first saw it

Nice video

I can't believe they named a Treehouse of Horror segment after a Futurama episode.

14:05 LEGENDARY REPLY

Episodes like the haw-hawed couple always made read bart nelson and milhouse as at least bi which i feel like the show would never actually do but will forever be my head canon

We all already know what number 1 in the Season 19 top 10 will be so really. It'll be about that number 2 spot

While I'm not a fan of it either, the one where the entire town drives Bart to suicide over a baseball game I find horrifically plausible. I get that the episode is making a commentary on how sports and sports rivalries are too important to small towns like this. I bring it up because another Fox animated show made a FAR worse episode on the same concept. American Dad's "Bazooka Steve." Worse in the sense that it wants its cake and to eat it too. Steve helps a dangerously concussed football player out of the stadium, causing the Langley Falls Bazooka Sharks to lose. Once he's outed as the "angle" that helped Johnny Concussion, not only does the entire town hate him, even his family gets in. But that's not where the episode loses me. Steve flees town to a tropical island and winds up having a job as a basket weaver. He then gets into an islander sport (pushing boulders into a volcano) and the episode changes its message. Instead of calling out the bloodthirsty sports fans, Steve comes to the realization that the working class has such pathetic lives that they absolutely need sports to have something to look forward to. So basically even the EPISODE makes you want to call out Steve for being an a-hole for not having a football player freaking die on the field. It doesn't even work as a counterpoint. It's just message whiplash. But at least it's funnier than the Simpsons one for being over the top.

The top 2 are definitely the ones I remember the most from this season.

I never liked the Kill Gil episode. Gil is too grating and Marge is too passive. Not on my favorites. 24 Minutes would probably be my #1 episode for the season, but I'm a 24 fan so that makes sense. Love the cougar reference. This does feel like a season where you could do a bottom 5 list, too. Pretty obvious what #1 would be here, but with some of the episodes, it's not that the idea was bad, but it's how horribly they botched the execution. Bart losing a game? Fine, okay, that's interesting. How they did it? Ended up as one of the darkest moments in the series' history.

8:30 Damn Lydia's catching strays there

It's funny; with the exception of the TOH, which I adamantly hate, almost all of the lower half of your list would be my picks for the best of this season, lol. Though your upper picks are fairly unobjectionable and I like them too. Eternal Moonshine will be an easy pick for the best of season 19, at least.