Bill Plympton contributes second couch gag to The Simpsons

Bill Plympton is one of the biggest names in American animation, with a distinctive style that is as unlike The Simpsons' animation style as it may be possible to be. Which is why the two Plympton couch gag clips are really stunning displays of what is ordinarily a silly throw-away weekly gag. Plympton is famous for rigorously insisting on hand-drawing his comics and cartoons, and is considered the first person ever to hand-draw every frame of a full-length animated movie (1992's The Tune).

This week's couch gag kicked off the episode titled "Black Eyed, Please" which was otherwise an entirely forgettable (occasionally even regrettable) episode. Plympton went noir for this one, with a scribbly, black-and-white style that was well suited to its film noir theme. The scribbly pencil work and shading makes each frame of the short film seem to pulse with life, so much so that the rest of the episode looks flat by comparison.

Although it follows a series of standard noir conventions, there is something uncomfortable - even unwholesome - in the way the characters transform, and are transformed by Plympton's animation. We first see Marge in disguise as a frumpy old lady (or possibly a reporter?) until she whips off her disguise and becomes a sex bomb with attenuated limbs and a distinctly feral gleam in her eye.

Couch Gag from "Black-Eyed Please" | THE SIMPSONS | ANIMATION on FOX

The one-minute cartoon also features Bart as a wedge-shaped goon, and Lisa who seems to be blowing a saxophone - until it transforms into a double-barreled shotgun that she turns on Homer (here playing the role of the private investigator).

The family faces off against each other, a four-way stand-off, which is broken when Maggie flips on the lights and we see that the characters are all just innocently assembling at the sofa. Marge is actually holding a tray of drinks, Bart is only carrying a container of popcorn, and so forth.

We even get a denouement which is as entertaining as it is truly Simpsons-worthy. All in all, an excellent outing for the humble couch gag.

Image copyright The Simpsons/20th Century FOX Television