"Old Money" is the 17th episode from the second season of the long-running American cartoon series "The Simpsons and this is as of now my favorite episode from the first two seasons. This shows you how old it is already as this episode aired back in 1991 originally, so over 30 years ago now. Of course, you find the names Groening and Brooks here in terms of the production, but also familiar names in terms of voice acting. I think there is a lot of heart to these minimally under 23 minutes and for once you see Abe, the family's grandpa, at the center of the story. At his retirement home, he meets an elderly lady (voiced by the late Emmy winner Audrey Meadows because of the singing part probably) and romance ensues. But only for a brief while because, when the other Simpsons decide to take the old man on a trip with them and they have to wait for rangers to come free them in the morning when their car will not move, the elderly lady dies, but she leaves all this money to Abraham and the second half of the episode is then about the decision what to do with all this money. We see Bart ask for it and of course so does Homer in a not exactly subtle way while Lisa comes up with the altruist solution, but still wouldn't object if she got a little pony.
The ending then is the feel-good solution where Abbe does not give it to any of his family members and also not to Otto, Moe or even Mr. Burns who are asking for the money, but decides to take it and make his retirement home a more beautiful and modern place. Nice decision. There were a handful funny moments here like when the two old people laugh at the beginning, but they exaggerate, so the laughing turns to coughing or when the old lady says something about her eye(ball). Here and there, you get another moment that will make you smile, but also here and there we get stuff that is not as great as the rest like the entire casino scene towards the end. It was funny (in a slightly painful way) though when Homer says to the retirement home employee he does not care for the money, only for his father and the employee then says he heard that a few times before and it proves that it may not be entirely true with the way Homer reacts when he finds out his father is at the casino.
Another thing I did not find too credible was when Abe is really against his son, but then all of a sudden shows up at his family's home again and the conflict is literally over immediately. Well, after getting a chair at least. But none of these moments or inclusions were really bad and the good, maybe even the great, here is far more frequent I'd say. This also explains the very high rating I gave here and I just think that this episode just worked very well from the emotional perspective, no matter if we are talking father-son relationships, romance at an old age, helping the underprivileged or also the brief elaboration at the beginning about what to do with your elderly, how to take care of them. This was the only time Marge had a bit of material in this episode. Other than that, she has almost no lines at all. So this is all then. Big thumbs-up for this episode and I highly recommend watching it and it is also not important if you have seen any of the previous episodes or later episodes. It is worth it in any case.
The ending then is the feel-good solution where Abbe does not give it to any of his family members and also not to Otto, Moe or even Mr. Burns who are asking for the money, but decides to take it and make his retirement home a more beautiful and modern place. Nice decision. There were a handful funny moments here like when the two old people laugh at the beginning, but they exaggerate, so the laughing turns to coughing or when the old lady says something about her eye(ball). Here and there, you get another moment that will make you smile, but also here and there we get stuff that is not as great as the rest like the entire casino scene towards the end. It was funny (in a slightly painful way) though when Homer says to the retirement home employee he does not care for the money, only for his father and the employee then says he heard that a few times before and it proves that it may not be entirely true with the way Homer reacts when he finds out his father is at the casino.
Another thing I did not find too credible was when Abe is really against his son, but then all of a sudden shows up at his family's home again and the conflict is literally over immediately. Well, after getting a chair at least. But none of these moments or inclusions were really bad and the good, maybe even the great, here is far more frequent I'd say. This also explains the very high rating I gave here and I just think that this episode just worked very well from the emotional perspective, no matter if we are talking father-son relationships, romance at an old age, helping the underprivileged or also the brief elaboration at the beginning about what to do with your elderly, how to take care of them. This was the only time Marge had a bit of material in this episode. Other than that, she has almost no lines at all. So this is all then. Big thumbs-up for this episode and I highly recommend watching it and it is also not important if you have seen any of the previous episodes or later episodes. It is worth it in any case.