Episode no. 601 Written by Harry Shearer Production code VABF19 | Directed by Michael Polcino Showrunner(s) Al Jean | |
Original air date October 23, 2016 (2016-10-23) | ||
"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.
Contents
Plot
Grandpa Abraham Simpson is hanging 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 Simpson soon finds out that the candy is extremely addictive and left a tingling sensation, so she pairs up with Bart Simpson 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.
Homer Simpson 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 Simpson 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.
Lisa tries to put the story on Channel 6, but they refuse to air it. Kent is depressed because he was unable to find a new job at the news scene called BizzFad to the point where he thought about suicide. Lisa asked him to cover his story about Krusty's new product, but he denies. 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.
The final scene has Arnie doing his final broadcast and then giving up his seat to Kent who reads the winning lottery numbers.
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."
"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.