The point at which a long-running series begins its decline is frequently a matter of opinion, and it's been particularly debated with The Simpsons. Prolific writer John Swartzwelder believed that the show's most consistent season was its third, while Season 4 episodes "Marge vs. The Monorail" and "Last Exit to Springfield" frequently top lists of its greatest episodes. The overriding consensus is that the series was good until Season 8 or Season 9, with several installments possibly responsible for the downturn in quality.
One frequently overlooked episode can be considered the true last gasp of The Simpsons' classic storytelling style. Though it didn't air until Season 12, "Skinner's Sense of Snow" is reminiscent of everything that was great about the series in those earlier years.
The episode had a premise so simple it's surprising that it took a decade to get to it. Bart, Lisa, and a handful of their classmates were forced to attend school during a freak snowstorm that trapped them, Groundskeeper Willie and Principal Skinner in the school overnight (the teachers conveniently away at a chalet-held caucus). To prevent the children from getting unruly, Skinner called upon his military experience to keep order -- until he was turned on and the kids took over.
"Skinner's Sense of Snow" felt like an episode out of time because it aired at a point when the reality of The Simpsons was being stretched further than it had ever been. Then-showrunner Mike Scully is often blamed for taking a realistic show that happened to be animated and turning it into a cartoon. Other Season 12 episodes included "HOMR," which revealed Homer Simpson's low IQ was the result of a crayon lodged in his brain, and "Homer vs. Dignity," which had the town showered with fish entrails and Homer being molested by a panda bear. They were two of the show's more controversial moments, although neither of them was banned overseas like a certain Season 9 episode.
Keeping the story in "Skinner's Sense of Snow" contained to a small-scale conflict -- the kids versus the principal -- forced writer Tim Long and director Lance Kramer to make sure that the developments and jokes came from a place of character first instead of characters turning into punchlines, which happened regularly as the show went on.
While not all the jokes in "Skinner's Sense of Snow" landed, the jokes that did work were bonafide classics. In the episode's best setpiece, Skinner showed the kids his favorite movie about a "Grinchy little character who tries to steal Christmas" entitled "The Christmas That Almost Wasn't But Then Was." It featured a bizarre mash-up of bad acting, a stagehand who didn't realize he was on screen and the creepy "Christmas Hobgoblins." There was also a flashback to Skinner's time as a POW in Vietnam when a fellow officer's attempted escape saw him eaten by an elephant, and the cracker factory security guard whose only reaction to a car crashing into a salt silo was that it proved his horoscope correct ("You will face challenges today").
The episode features amusing callbacks that serve a purpose in context rather than just being fan service. Bart questioned the age of his permanent record when it reads "Underachiever and proud of it." When Homer and Ned Flanders set out to rescue the kids, Ned asked about Homer's snowplow from "Mr. Plow," which Homer denied ever having owned -- despite both wearing his Mr. Plow jacket and singing his old commercial jingle to himself.
There were some tells that the episode was produced in Season 12. There's the oddness of Homer's ranch dressing fantasy and another showing of Homer's pennant collection, which the producers found an amusing running gag at the time. But despite those flaws and the fact not all of its jokes were winners, this oft-ignored gem still stands as an example of the The Simpsons' golden age well after that age seemed to have ended.