There Will Be Buds

"There Will Be Buds" is the sixth episode of the twenty-eighth season of the animated television series The Simpsons, and the 602nd episode of the series overall. It aired in the United States on Fox on November 6, 2016.

This episode was dedicated to longtime Simpsons writer Kevin Curran who died on October 25, 2016 from cancer complications.

Plot

During the season opener game of the Springfield Neutrinos peewee football team, an excessive amount of special effects smoke fills the field causing the entire team to suffer concussions from blindly running into each other. At a town meeting, Kirk Van Houten tries to pitch the idea of coaching a junior lacrosse team, but nobody is willing to listen until a reluctant Homer Simpson, pressured by Marge Simpson, vouches for him.

The team is formed with Kirk and Homer as coaches, Kirk does the actual coaching while Homer sits on the sidelines cutting oranges. Their team wins games easily, making it all the way to the championship match. Kirk begins to see Homer as his new best friend while Homer, although impressed by his excellent lacrosse coaching skills (which Kirk explains is due to his former lacrosse career ending in the mascot unintentionally breaking his wrist with his armor during a high-five), becomes increasingly annoyed by all the time they are forced to spend together. After a musical number during which he hears Homer call him a loser, Kirk then disappears just as the team needs him for the championship game.

When Lisa Simpson looks at Homer he looks nervous and asks him to tell the truth. Homer finds out from Luann Van Houten that Kirk has withdrawn money and left, and instantly realises that he went to a strip club to drown his sorrows. Encouraged by Marge, the team, and eventually the rest of the crowd, Homer goes to search for Kirk and finds him at Clubbb Sinnn talking the strippers. When Homer tries to get Kirk to come back for the game, he initially declines, but agrees when Homer gives him a sincerely encouraging pep talk. Then the owner reminds Kirk that he owes back $15,000 for the time he has spent in the club and proceeds to have the club's security block the exits. Fortunately for Homer and Kirk, the club's strippers are sympathetic to their situation, as they are all mothers with young children, and allow them to use a helicopter from the club to get to the game just in time and the team wins. For winning the game, the team goes for pizza as Homer and Kirk high-five, only to get broken bones and end up in the hospital.

During the credits, Kirk does a MyTube video that someone keeps skipping to different parts all the way to the end.

Reception

Dennis Perkins of the The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+ stating, "The episode looks great. The cozy familiarity of Springfield’s yellow-dominated color scheme is so universal that it’s easy to overlook the show’s visuals. But the design and blue-and-gold palette of the kids’ uniforms is striking, and there’s a nicely thought-out fluidity to both the brief snippets of in-game action and movement all through the episode. The clearly defined motion and purpose of the lacrosse sticks makes for some truly funny and excitingly-designed sight gags, too...Matthew Faughnan’s direction makes it all crisp and fun to watch. It’s one story, well-told. A Simpsons episode with a little time to breathe (this one skips the theme song and couch gag entirely) is often a good sign."^[1]

"There Will Be Buds" scored a 1.4 rating with a 5 share and was watched by 3.14 million people, making it Fox's highest rated show of the night.^[2]

References

External Links

• "There Will Be Buds" at the Internet Movie Database
• "There Will Be Buds" at TV.com