Given how many plaudits the early episodes of the Simpsons get from fans, it is kind of strange that people dont really hold the debut season in particularly high esteem. The episodes are all excellent, but there is obviously a lot of development going on as the show starts to find its feet and its aesthetic style. Because it doesnt look as nice as later episodes, and because the characters havent been firmly established, people seem to forget just how outstandingly original and ground-breaking these episodes were on the whole. There are few better examples of this than with The Crepes of Wrath. The Crepes of Wrath is ranked an astonishingly low 141st place at IMDB, and while its ranked considerably higher at Rolling Stone its still only barely squeaks into the top 100 (its put at 99 there). But this episode is brilliant and really deserves more credit. It's not only packed with some great laughs at the expense of the French (and come on - EVERYONE loves laughing at the French), but it also tackles the issue of child abuse in a way that is somehow both sensitive and blunt. When you take into consideration that this was only the seventh episode being produced, its hard not to accumulate an enormous level of respect for the show runners and writers who had the courage to use their platform to draw attention to a serious issue in this way. Also, the episode has one of my single favourite lines ever uttered on any show ever: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQPv5oUfsbg
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