While most episodes of a handful of anthology-style episodes. Most of these anthology episodes, like “Trilogy of Error” or the “Treehouse of Horror” specials, tell three stories. But season 7’s “22 Short Films About Springfield” tells a whopping, well, 22 stories.
The episode’s title is a nod to the movie Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould. There are technically only 21 shorts unless the couch gag counts, so it’s listed here as well.
A Bee Flies Around Town
After Lisa’s hair attracts some bees, the audience follows the perspective of one bee as it encounters various townspeople before leading into Smithers’ hilarious segment. The following Smithers-centric short is one of the best, but the bee isn’t a particularly interesting character.
Bumblebee Man’s Wife Leaves Him
In Bumblebee Man’s short, he has a bad day at work, his house collapses, and his wife leaves him. While it was interesting to get a glimpse into his personal life, Bumblebee Man is a one-note character even by The Simpsons’ standards.
Couch Gag
In the episode’s couch gag, the Simpsons appear as Sea-Monkeys, sit on a clam-shell couch, and watch a treasure-chest TV. It’s a memorable twist on the familiar image, but doesn’t really provide a laugh. Still better than the bee, though.
Milhouse Goes To Android’s Dungeon
Desperate for the bathroom, Milhouse comes into Comic Book Guy’s store, gets pressured into a purchase, and then leaves before he can actually use the bathroom. Comic Book Guy’s uncaring attitude is fun, but Milhouse’s next segment is even funnier.
Lisa Gets Gum Stuck In Her Hair
After Bart unwittingly throws gum into Lisa’s hair, Marge struggles to get it out with unconventional remedies like peanut butter and mayonnaise. This is a fun setup, but the gum-in-hair treatments get even more outlandish in a later segment.
Prologue
In the episode’s prologue, Bart and Milhouse spit on cars from a highway over and wonder if the people in the cars are doing anything interesting. This scene masterfully sets up the thesis of the episode: everybody has a story to tell.
Cletus Gives Brandine A Pair Of Shoes He Found
After finding a pair of shoes hanging from a telephone line, Cletus gets them down and offers them to Brandine as a gift. This was one of the early episodes that solidified Cletus as a fan-favorite ancillary character.
McDonald’s Vs. Krusty Burger
Chief Wiggum, Eddie, and Lou are the focus of the first of several nods to Pulp Fiction when they eat in Krusty Burger.
Instead of comparing European McDonald’s and American McDonald’s like John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson's characters, they compare McDonald’s itself to Krusty Burger, a meta-reference to the fact that there are no McDonald’s restaurants in Springfield.
Lisa Gets A New Hairstyle
Lisa rotates through a montage of different hairstyles – including Princess Leia-style buns – as the barber tries to cut the gum out of her hair. There are some funny alternatives, but the hairstyle she ends up with is really nice. Unfortunately, the air is immediately taken out of Lisa’s tires by a classic “Hah-hah!” from Nelson.
Epilogue
In the epilogue, Bart and Milhouse continue to spit and squirt condiments onto ing cars and conclude that there are some interesting people in Springfield after all. This scene beautifully wraps up the thesis of the episode: everybody has a story to tell, and audiences only ever get to hear a handful of them.