“Hey, Lisa! Make friends with this!” – Bart Simpson
“Hey! . . . Help! . . . Help!” – Milhouse van Houten
I just finished my traditional Fourth of July watching of “Summer of 4Ft 2”, and I wanted to note just how awful it is when Milhouse gets spat on in that spinning ride. He takes a lot of abuse in this episode (even by his standards), and this might be the worst part. It’s Milhouse at his most Milhouse: caught up in other people’s problems and helpless to do anything but suffer horribly for it.
When the episode cuts back to the outside shot and all we can hear is him screaming “Help!”, it’s a testament to Pamela Hayden’s delivery that it’s both blood curdling and hilarious. He’s in agony, but since he’s Milhouse, there’s nothing he can do but take it. On a lesser show it would be uncomfortable, here it’s so perfectly in character that it can only be funny.
(Sorry about the lack of Reading Digest’s lately. As many of you probably guessed, my stupid real job is once again sucking up all my free time and productivity. Oh, and happy 4th of July!)
