The Very Hungry Caterpillars is a clear parody of the COVID lockdown, which on its own isn't a bad premise for a plot. This was a major event everyone experienced. The episode just wasn't executed well. First, I didn't find it funny. COVID had such a dramatic impact on our daily lives that there was definitely more opportunity for comedy than to have an entire sublot revolve around Maggie's addiction to ranch dressing. Second, I felt the characters were out of character. Normally peaceful Marge snaps and goads Homer into breaking into Ned's house. Ned himself snaps, which has only happened a bare handful of times in the history of the series, and attempts to murder Homer. That scene played out like it was from a Treehouse of Horror episode. Finally, Lisa gets heavy anxiety from caterpillars, despite being the "brain" of the family and normally being into anything science/nature. In season 19 Lisa even helped Martin Prince with his butterfly project in Dial N for Nerder, but now for some reason she's disgusted by caterpillars. I didn't feel the plot of the episode justified these characters being so out of character.
This episode was very mediocre. I didn't find either of the two sublots (one about Maggie and ranch dressing, the other about Skinner and a baby quilt) to be funny, and I didn't feel the episode justified Marge, Ned, or Lisa being so out of character.
This episode was very mediocre. I didn't find either of the two sublots (one about Maggie and ranch dressing, the other about Skinner and a baby quilt) to be funny, and I didn't feel the episode justified Marge, Ned, or Lisa being so out of character.
