But it only begins with how America should have free health care, regardless of how the cost would mess with the tax breaks wealthy corporations desperately need. She bemoans the unfair comparisons between the neighboring nations. Homer and Abe went to Canada to score prescription drugs in the past, but for the most part the country hasn’t been given much more thought than the syrup you pour on your pancakes. The first clue we get to how The Simpsons is going to take on Canada is Lisa’s medical attention gets to her immediately on the other side of the Falls she’s fallen into. They’re not the exact same songs, but stylistically recognizable, with a touch of mirth. Each of the themes behind the classic TV shows are variations on the source material. It even has a Frank Sinatra-style signoff “Benedict Arnold fought here, baby.” The musical satire doesn’t start with the song in the episode. It is as memorable a parody as their Capital City theme.

The “New York, New York” takeoff is dead on. It begins in a place that will never decline because it was never that great, upstate New York, and in doing so they remind us about one of the things that makes the series great: its music. This episode doesn’t quite go either way. The Simpsons have a long history of visiting other countries. Even some of the most middling episodes of The Simpsons contain flashes of brilliance, and “D’oh Canada” bristles enough to rise above this. The series reached its peak and now only occasionally climbs to the same heights it did in its heyday. Even those who don’t follow them know them, and those of us who know them, know them well enough to forgive them. Thirty seasons in, The Simpsons have been part of legendary television for quite a while. The opening couch gag puts the family in a sequence of TV classic comedies which include The Honeymooners, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Brady Bunch and Cheers. On The Simpsons, season 30, eisode 21, “D’oh Canada,” the Simpsons leave America to visit America junior. This The Simpsons review contains spoilers.

The simpsons season 30 episode guide