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| Gordie once held many records, including "smoothest smile in the NHL". |
After showing the class a rather delightful movie showcasing the many talents of Zinc, Mrs. Edna Krabappel is left feeling lonely as the kids rush off to their after school activities and such. That night, she sees the personals page and decides to try it out, but with little luck.
One day, the school is visited by a traveling group of master Yo-Yo practitioners. After an act where the group whirls and whizzes Yo-Yos by Skinner, the entire school gets Yo-Yo fever by the next day. Everybody has a Yo-Yo now, and Bart in particular becomes quite skilled at using it. However, an attempt to perform a move during class causes Bart to destroy the class fish tank, killing the poor fish inside. Bart is given a month's worth of detention and has his Yo-Yo taken away.
During one such detention day, Mrs. Krabappel has to leave to catch happy hour at the teacher's lounge. Bart takes the opportunity to reclaim his Yo-Yo from the teacher's desk, but also notices a magazine featuring the personal Edna left. Quickly, Bart writes up a fake love letter towards Edna, using the name "Woodrow" based off President Woodrow Wilson. Somehow, Bart's letters capture Edna's heart, and she writes back, including a rather racy photo of her. In a later letter, Bart includes a photo of "Woodrow", which is basically a photo of NHL legend Gordie Howe circa 1969, and Edna falls more and more in love. Finally, Bart decides to "reel her in", and "invites" her to dinner. After seeing her stood up at that restaurant, Bart laughs at a prank well done and then goes to watch the theatrical masterpiece "Ernest Needs a Kidney". Afterwards, Bart looks back into the restaurant to see Edna still there, in tears. And then the guilt finally comes in.
In a subplot, the dog freezing outside necessitates a dog house, which Homer decides to build. In the process, of course, his numerous bumblings lead to him swearing up a storm, which is overheard - and later repeated - by Todd Flanders. Ned "confronts" Homer over this, but Homer brushes him off. Marge recommends the use of a "swear jar" to curb Homer's swearing, however Homer swears so often, mostly during his poor and painful construction of the dog house, that Marge was able to use the money to just buy a dog house instead, and some extra beer for Homer for all the trouble.
As Bart can no longer deal with Edna's depression, he swallows his pride and tells his family about what's happened. Its suggested that "Woodrow" send a farewell letter to Edna. Despite some of Homer's declined suggestions such as "Welcome to Dumpsville" and "I am gay", the family is able to come up with a perfect farewell, enough to leave Mrs. Krabappel in better spirits.
Quick Review
There are quite a few episodes, mostly in later seasons, that focus on Bart's love life. Hell, the Season 24 premiere kinda pointed that out. Though such episodes were few and far between early on (off hand I can only think of one episode from the first 10 season where he had an actual 'girlfriend'), there were also a few episodes that either leave Bart infatuated with a girl or, in this case, using love as a means to pull off another prank.
This ended up being a much better episode than what I was anticipating. The Homer subplot and the Zinc movie at the episode's beginning contributed a lot of the quality of the episode, but even the main plot had a lot going for it, and the family getting together to write that last letter was a wonderful segment as well. Bart the Lover is another superb episode from Season 3.
Final Score: 9.4
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