LogFAQs > #931127064

We've just reached the 26 year anniversary of Cape Feare, the greatest Simpsons episode of all time (in my personal rankings, at least)! Though overall the episode is regarded as a classic, it does contain one infamous scene that has remained controversial ever since day one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WZLJpMOxS4

26 years later... was eight rakes too many?

Even though it was only 1993, The Simpsons had already established a healthy fanbase on the early internet. Here's what the fans who watched it live had to say about the episode that evening:

Boy did that rake sequence suck! That is the developing 'problem' with The Simpsons. Too many jokes unrelated to plot development. No matter how funny these jokes are, they disrupt the flow of events that draw you into the show. And when they're not funny (like the rake incident), ouch!
~ Ray Charbonneau

I also thought the rake sequence went on waaaay too long. I thought this whole episode was a little too cartoonish, and not enough "Simpsonish". Impossible, silly things like all the props for singing HMS Pinafore (including the playbill), driving thru the cactus patch, everybody menacing Bart (e.g., Ned Flanders ala Freddy Krueger), etc., etc. I also thought it was unsubtle cartoon humor when Sideshow Bob was announcing who he wasn't going to kill, and when he got stomped on by the parade. I don't want "Bugs Bunny", I want the Simpsons.
~ Scott A. Mankey

This was a very good episode, and I liked the Cape Fear references, but what was that with the rakes? First off, where did the rakes come from, and secondly, why was it over a minute long?
~ Marc Y. Wasserman

Would have been B+ without some unrealistic scenes and the rake sequence.
~ Juha Terho

Not everyone was a hater, however.

I thought this was a damned funny episode, which was a relief, since I was disappointed by the season premiere. I watched Cape Feare twice, with two different groups of people, and the rake sequence had me and everybody else in hysterics both times. I have no idea why it was so funny, but it was. I thought they kept the HMS Pinafore thing fresh by making various gags with what Bart was doing.
~ Jacob Weinstein

Let's see what the people (of 2019) think!


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