The Simpsons goes to the dogs in a high concept season 28 finale

Over its impossibly long run, The Simpsons has done just about everything well. It’s also done just about everything poorly, but, hey, you do a TV show for 28 seasons. A big, high-concept season finale about all Springfield’s canines taking over the town? Why not? I mean, the show’s gone to space, it’s built a monorail, spent most of an episode as a hot pepper-induced hallucination, turned Homer into a singing star, pro baseball mascot, sideshow freak, pro boxer, art world phenom, and several dozen other splashy, episode-driving occupations. And while the most memorable Simpsons episodes traditionally incorporate some more subtle character beats into the shenanigans, shenanigans for their own sake are memorable, too—as long as they’re funny enough to justify the detour into wackiness.

(Photo: Fox)

In “Dogtown,” Homer swerves into poor ol’ Gil rather than hitting Santa’s Little Helper (they’re both eating out of the same alley garbage cans), and only wins the ensuing civil lawsuit because his slick lawyer plays on the jury’s affection for dogs. Gil’s weaselly lawyer (the weaselly lawyer) does his case no favors by citing all the adorable things dogs do as proof that dogs are worth less than people, thus inadvertently establishing