"No-one who speaks German could be an evil man"
ORIGINAL AIRDATE: 7th October 1993
EPISODE NUMBER: Season 5, Episode 2
WRITTEN BY: Jon Vitti
With so many shows still unused, why am I repeating a show already? Because it's The Simpsons, duh. Expect it to feature a lot.
The Sideshow Bob episodes are often a highlight of the series. Kelsey Grammar has helped create a villain that's charming, intelligent, diabolical and, most importantly, hilarious. The plot for this one is pretty simple. There's no grand scheme, it's just about Bob getting out of prison and trying to kill Bart. Sideshow Bob's parole hearing is a brilliant scene, where Bob explains his "Die Bart Die" tattoo is German.
Everything to do with Chief Wiggum (whose idea of "persuasive" does not match up with expectations) and the witness protection program is also great. Homer's classic obliviousness is used to great effect when he fails to comprehend even the simplest task set to him by the FBI.
Sideshow Bob proves to be a fine source of physical comedy as well as wit. It's fun watching him be subjected to a cactus patch, and elephant stampede, and a barrage of rakes (the first thing any Simpsons fan thinks of when they think of Sideshow Bob). It's surprising to hear that they struggled to find enough material for this episode, as they packed in so many laughs.
The episode also parodies the psychological horror genre really well, from the series of fake-outs at the start of the episode involving Bart's anonymous death threats, to Homer accidentally scaring Bart to death with his chainsaw and hockey mask. It's not afraid to get silly, with Bob's inconvenient penchant for writing everything in blood played for laughs too.
It would take ages to list all the memorable moments, so let's just say pretty much everything. The Simpsons' high gag rate has never been higher.
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