Thursday, September 27, 2012

Lisa's Pony (S03, E08-043)

Damn, that looks cozy.
Plot Summary
Lisa's saxophone needs a new reed in time for the school's talent show in a few hours, and several of her contacts are unable to help.  She eventually tries Homer, who is available, and heads to the music shop after work.  Alas, the music shop is right next to Moe's and Homer can't help but have a quick beer.  By the time he's finished, though, the shop closes, and its owner is at Moes unwilling to help.  Moe calls upon a favor to have the music shop owner help Homer, and so he does, but more time is wasted as Homer struggles to recall the type of instrument the reed is for.  By the time Homer finally gets the reed and reaches the school, Lisa is in the middle of playing her out-of-tune sax.

Embarrassed, and moreso let down, Lisa finds herself unable to forgive Homer and Homer is able to notice that Lisa has stopped loving him.  While Marge insists Homer spends more time with her, its not long before Homer finds himself unable to continue doing Lisa's "girly things".  Homer instead opts for the quick fix: he decides to get Lisa that pony she always wanted, a move Marge is adamant against, but Homer doesn't listen.  Finding out that a pony will cost $5000 at least, Homer gets a loan from the nuclear plant, from Mr. Burns himself (thankful that Homer is unaware of what usury even is).  With money in hand, Homer buys the pony, and Lisa's love is quickly restored.

Between the loan and the need to rent an expensive stable for the pony, Homer and Marge are in financial trouble.  To get the money to pay for the pony, Homer decides to get a second job, getting the midnight shift over at the Kwik-E-Mart.  As Lisa continues to bond with her pony, Homer struggles more and more to stay awake between his two jobs while not letting the kids on about what's going on.  It comes to a head one night when the kids are staying up late and they notice Homer sleeping in his car.  Marge finally lets them know what's happened, and lets Lisa know that while nobody will force her to give up the pony, Homer has sacrificed a lot for Lisa and its up to her as to what to do.  Faced with the difficult decision, Lisa decides to sadly give the pony up, with her love for her father fully restored.  Letting Homer know at the Kwik-E-Mart, Homer quickly quits the job and walks off with his daughter with pride.

Quick Review
This ended up being a pretty good episode.  I especially like the scene where Homer, unable to stay awake on the road, hallucinates everyone on road sleeping in beds, and then Homer trading his car in for a bed that somehow makes it back to the house.  Another solid entry to this season.

Final Score: 8.7

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