Reception
In its original broadcast, "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish" finished twenty-seventh in the ratings for the week of January 21–27, 1991, with a Nielsen rating of 14.1, equivalent to thirteen million viewing households. It was the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week.
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson said that despite a "potentially gimmicky tone", the episode provided "a lot of fun moments along with a little emotional content as well. The show usually balanced sentimentality cleanly, and that occurred here; it avoided becoming too syrupy and featured just enough emotion to make an impact. It also contained some great bits, like Bart and Lisa’s karaoke performance of the 'Theme from Shaft'. It also ended on a hilarious and incisive note." Jacobson's favorite line of the episode was the sushi restaurant hostess's "This is our karaoke bar. Now it is empty, but soon it will be hopping with drunken Japanese businessmen." The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, wrote: "Again, a playful dig at racial stereotypes. Homer comes over as a reasonable man who wants to live his last day in style, and the closing twist is easily as good as the farewells leading up to it." Jeremy Kleinman of DVD Talk said that the episode is "rich with sentimentality and Homer's expression of love for his family as he fears that his time is up." He also commented that while all of the chalkboard gags on the show are "funny", this episode "features a true gem" as Bart writes "I will not cut corners" once and then puts ditto marks below. Ed Potton of The Times wrote: "The writers offer black humour by the bucketload, but the grim reality of Homer's fate is never in doubt; his eventual collapse is deeply affecting. A great example of fierce satire being offset by a potent emotional core." Doug Pratt, a DVD reviewer and Rolling Stone contributor, said the first half of the episode has "fun skewering Japanese restaurants and such, while the second half is reasonably successful at emphasizing character while sustaining the comedy."
In a review of the second season, Bryce Wilson of Cinema Blend commented: "The worst moments of this season are merely uninspired, never truly horrible. Slight misses like “Dancin' Homer”, “One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish”, “Bart's Dog Gets an F”, and “The War of the Simpsons” are a bit flat. But even in their lowest points, humor is easy to find." Jeremy Roebuck of KVUE named this episode, along with "Bart Sells His Soul", "Homer the Heretic", "Simpsons Bible Stories", and "She of Little Faith", one of the best Simpsons episodes with a religious theme. Dawn Taylor of The DVD Journal thought Homer's line to Bart, "I want to share something with you, the three little sentences that will get you through life. Number one: 'Cover for me.' Number two: 'Oh, good idea, boss.' Number three, 'It was like that when I got here.'", was the best line of the episode.
Read more about this topic: One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish
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