Following on from another huge success in Season 7, and this time not having a huge cliffhanger to build off to start the season, there was pressure on this season of the show to continue the good work, and luckily for us it does.
Kicking off the season with a compellingly Treehouse of Horror episode, season 8 sets off strong and never looks back.
While some episodes this season were quite forgettable, there was also a significant amount of stand out episodes for me, whether it was through the quality of them or the controversial or memorable storylines.
Some of my personal favourites this season were: Frank Grimes’ instant hatred of Homer in ‘Homer’s Enemy’, Sideshow Bob turning to the good side in ‘Brother from Another Series’, Homer’s confrontation of his homophobia in ‘Homer’s Phobia’, the X-Files riff in ‘The Springfield Files’, and also the Homer and Burns centric ‘Mountain of Madness’.
There are many other strong episodes and again all the major characters get a chance to shine, and the supporting cast also get increasingly more story as the show settles in and becomes truly comfortable with that it is.
This continues the huge success of the golden age of ‘The Simpsons’.
Rating = 4.5/5
Howe's World of Film and TV 