The Simpsons – Season 34 Episode 16 “Hostile Kirk Place” Recap & Review

Hostile Kirk Place

Due to some sort of bizarre electric explosion at school, episode 16 of The Simpsons season 34 starts with Principal Skinner announcing the school will remain closed for weeks.

Homer is watching late-night ads on TV when Marge enters and stops him from buying stupid items. The next scene shows Bart and Lisa trying to wake up a dreaming Homer. They ask him to teach them since the school is closed. Marge reads them a chapter titled The Great Endeavor.

Milhouse’s father, Kirk, is concerned that his son’s school is teaching the history of the Springfield’s forefathers who were nothing but failures. Meanwhile at Moe’s, Homer is badmouthing Shaq O’Neal due to his role in advertisements that have rendered him broke. An angry Moe reprimands Homer and unwittingly motivates him to take inspiration from Shaq.

Homer thinks if he could only learn the art of selling unwanted items, he would be as affluent as Shaq. After setting Homer right, Moe tells Kirk to stand his ground no matter the situations.

Just as the school is reopened, Kirk barges in and demands the curriculum be changed. Kirk suggests the school should omit bad things from the town’s history, and instead they should only focus on positive aspects. Other parents support Kirk, and Milhouse, all of a sudden, is proud of his dad.

Homer has come up with a new product called the Me-Shirt for Americans who he reckons are frustrated all the time. The Me-Shirt flashes slogans that help in stabilising the anger, or maybe not. In no time, the venture starts showing results, and Homer clads Kirk and other protestors in Me-Shirts.

Kirk’s mission to eliminate the bad history gains tremendous traction. But his ideology goes off the rails as he is blinded by overwhelming support and power. He even burns all the history books.

Marge is concerned about the future of the kids so she goes to meet him in person and explains the importance of history for kids. Despite her best efforts, Kirk doesn’t get it right. During a concert in honour of the abolition of bad history, the gazebo collapses to the ground. Homer emerges from beneath the rubble and comments on the importance of science rather than history.

The Episode Review

Right off the bat, the latest Simpsons episode bombs badly. The storyline doesn’t appear to have a solid body, and as a result, the narrative goes haywire. The episode lacks formula, humour, and everything that’s known to make watchers enjoy this long-running sitcom. What’s here  though is loads of pointless, fun-less silliness. Well, it might be the season’s worst episode so far. Hopefully, there will be a turnaround.