The Simpsons aired its 550th episode last night and, in celebration, it decided to pair up with LEGO to try something a little different (in the words of Homer, ‘it’s not selling out, it’s co-branding!).  Homer, Marge and Co woke up in a strange 3D reality where only Homer is aware that something is a little off-kilter.  As we follow him around for the day, Homer comes to realize through flashbacks that this fantastical world is his own creation; he has created this LEGO vision as a coping mechanism for the cooling off of his real life relationship with Lisa.  Heady, emotional stuff (or as emotional as the Simpsons gets) but don’t worry, Bart gets to wreak plenty of havoc by demolishing his building block school, and the writers have fun utilizing the blocks to make sex jokes where Marge and Homer discard body parts as well as clothes.

The writers of the show were able to make the themes play out well on many levels and weren’t concerned with dumbing the show down in order to play to younger children.  Granted, since it came so hot on the heels of the behemothic Lego Movie, it  was difficult not to draw some comparisons between the two.  Visually, they looked very similar (maybe unsurprising as they have LEGO in common), but the movie spared no expense and at 90 minutes was much more able to explore its chosen themes, such as the difference in LEGO users (and people in general) between those who follow the instructions to the letter, and those who want to go off script and be creative.  Nevertheless, this episode looked like a million dollars and we can forgive that perpetual Hunger Games joke.  We really enjoyed the novelty of seeing how all the characters interacted with the blocks in a tactile way.  According to producers, it took two years to make the episode from inception, and it was a fun extravaganza. No, with ‘Brick Like Me’, The Simpsons writers didn’t reinvent the wheel, but it’s safe to say that if you’re successful enough to have reached 550 episodes, you probably don’t want to mess around with your formula too much.  Bravo, Bart and co!