The Simpsons: 10 Most Underrated Episodes

2. Dancin€™ Homer (Season 2, Episode 5)

'Dancin' Homer' is an absolute diamond of an early episode. Yet despite its enormous quotiness (I know that's not a real word) and its iconography, it doesn€™t quite seem to be held in as high regard as many of the other episodes that people talk about from the show€™s early run. It is currently sitting at 214 at IMDB which is just mind blowing for all the wrong reasons. There are moments in this episode with laugh out loud hilarity that is typical of episodes from that era. But aside from the humour, what is particularly great about this episode is that Homer is not a bad person, or completely stupid like he is sometimes presented in later episodes. Everything that Homer does is the right thing in this episode which increases the sympathy and empathy we have with him as viewers. He doesn€™t really make any mistakes, nor does he actually fail in the execution of what he is doing - yet his career as a mascot in Capitol City is an utter flop. Because of this, the episode becomes a haunting examination of what happens when things don€™t work out in our favour, even when we do everything right. The message is that you don€™t have to screw up to fail - and that€™s an incredibly illuminating and overlooked insight from a show that lots of people thought was just a crass cartoon.