"Wallace was remarkably sensitive and ahead of the game on this front: this is a guy who talked in the 90s about loving The Simpsons but finding its ironic mien ultimately somehow soul-deadening, unwatchable in anything other than small doses. He also got how easily that irony could become non-earnest, not a reaction, and turn into a pointless, morbid game of references and sarcasm that never actually says anything."
