Trust but Clarify

"Trust but Clarify" is the fifth episode of the twenty-eighth season of the animated television series The Simpsons, and the 601st episode of the series overall. It aired in the United States on Fox on October 23, 2016, making it the first episode to air in October the week after the annual Treehouse of Horror. The title is based on the phrase "Trust but verify", used in relation to nuclear verification. This episode was written by voice actor Harry Shearer.

"Trust but Clarify"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.Season 28
Episode 5
Directed byMichael Polcino
Written byHarry Shearer
Production codeVABF19
Original air dateOctober 23, 2016 (2016-10-23)
Guest appearance(s)

Dan Rather as himself

Episode features
Chalkboard gagThe first episode of the second 600.
Couch gagHomer reluctantly visits an art museum with Marge and Lisa. Then, in a scene drawn in the style of modern art, he finds himself on the couch with an abstract version of Maggie. Homer instead becomes drawn in Ben-Day dots.

Plot

Grampa hangs with other war veterans at a bar when "The Late Late Late Night with Jimmy Jimmy" is on with Kent Brockman as its guest star. At the show, Kent starts telling war stories such as when he crash landed a falling helicopter on a sinking container. Another war veteran at the bar however confirms that Kent's story was false. As result, Kent apologizes about all the fake stories he told on air. He is fired for it and replaced by Arnie Pye.

Meanwhile, Krusty the Clown introduces a new product: Krustaceans, a candy that even Krusty thought it was good. However, Lisa soon finds out that the candy is extremely addictive and leaves a tingling sensation, so she teams up with Bart to discover why. They manage to break into one of the Krusty factories, steal samples from the product and take them to Professor Frink where they find out it contains Formaldehyde.

Lisa tries to put the story on Channel 6, but they refuse to air it. Kent is depressed because he is unable to find a new job at the news scene and contemplates suicide. Lisa asks him to cover his story about Krusty's new product. He is reluctant, but at a meeting, he is encouraged to take Lisa's story as an opportunity for a comeback, so he and Lisa record Krusty admitting that his product was bad and manages to get his job back. This time, Kent gives the credit to Lisa.

Homer is envious as a power plant employee that barely speaks English got a corner office, so Homer's Ambition tells him to dress better to make higher chances of getting a promotion. Homer asks Marge for help and they buy a suit for Homer. The next day, Homer goes into Mr. Burns' office giving him reasons for him to get a promotion, but he fails. Homer's Ambition is beaten by his apathy, alcoholism, anger and awe and thrown out Homer's ear, so he decides to go to Moe's Tavern.

Reception

Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B- stating, "In the end, 'Trust But Clarify' is pretty forgettable in the grand scheme, although hardly negligible. It’s not fair to the episode to measure it against the higher expectations caused by Shearer’s heightened involvement, but it’s also not unreasonable to think that the multi-talented Shearer’s writing credit here might have nudged it into some more interesting territory, either."[1]

"Trust but Clarify" scored a 1.5 rating with a 5 share and was watched by 3.36 million viewers, making it the most watched show on Fox that night.[2]

gollark: We are in historically unprecedented times.
gollark: What? Biological problems are much easier than social ones. Bodies may be horribly convoluted poorly understood and highly stateful systems, but so is society, and at least you can do small-scale testing in biology.
gollark: Excellent.
gollark: Is this that sentient regex from a few days ago?
gollark: Just switch to radio telescopes.

References
  1. Perkins, Dennis (October 23, 2016). "The media's on trial in Harry Shearer's first-ever Simpsons script". The A.V. Club. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
  2. Porter, Rick (October 25, 2016). "'Bob's Burgers' and 'The Simpsons' adjust down: Sunday final ratings". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
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