Todd, Todd, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me? (The Simpsons)

Plot
Todd rejects his faith, blaming God for the death of his mother. Ned decides to kick him out and make him live with the Simpsons until his faith in God is restored.

Why It's Forsaken

 * 1) Ned Flanders is at his absolute worst in this episode as he kicks out his son Todd for one of the stupidest reasons ever, not for doing anything really wrong but for not believe in God anymore. This also makes him out of character as prior episodes had him be loving towards his children no matter what but here he attacks on Todd just because he rejects his faith.
 * 2) It's just another generic religion-based episode of The Simpsons.
 * 3) The running gag of the choir repeatedly singing the obvious in this episode serves no purpose except for filler and gets really annoying fast.
 * 4) Ned's infamous line: "Son let me put it this gently......WE'RE ALL GOING TO HELL!"
 * 5) Lisa has no real purpose other than trying to convince Todd to become Buddhist.
 * 6) It's basically a Todd torture episode as Todd is kicked out of the Flanders home just because he doesn't believe in God anymore.
 * 7) Somewhat bad ending: Ned only accepts Todd back into the home because he believes in God again.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Todd, and to an extant, Marge are the only likeable characters in this episode.
 * 2) Homer seeing his mother again in Heaven was heartwarming.
 * 3) * Bart praying that Homer will live is also a nice moment.
 * 4) Ned receives his comeuppance when it's his near-death experience that scares Todd back to believing in God, not the Simpsons. Adding onto that, in the epilogue, while Maude's ghost kisses both Rodd and Todd goodnight, Edna's ghost just laughs at Ned.
 * 5) "The Flanderseseses" intro is pretty funny and a nice parody of The Simpsons intro.

Reception
Despite getting a 6.5 on IMDb, several viewers criticized it for being mean spirited to Todd and Ned Flanders for out of character behavior.[citation needed]