Lisa's Rival (S06, E02-105)

"In America, forced to get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..."

Plot Summary
It seemed like a typical day for Lisa Simpson.  Trying to practice her saxophone so she can win first chair in the school band, trying to stop people from leeching answers off her for tests, that sort of thing.  Suddenly, her 2nd grade class has a new student: Allison Taylor, who seems to be as intelligent as Lisa is, perhaps even more so.  Having been "moved up" from the first grade, Allison is also skilled with the sax, and the two are going for the same position in band, which Allison ultimately does win in a heated jam session.

Lisa tries to get over the defeat and become friends with Allison, however on multiple occasions she feels inferior to Allison and has difficulty accepting her as a result.  Its learned that a diorama contest is coming up, and Allison has already completed hers: a nifty rendition of The Tell-Tale Heart complete with a ticking floorboard that simulates that heartbeat that drove the killer insane.  Lisa, further threatened by this, can no longer deal with this and enlists Bart's help to ruin Allison.

In a humorous subplot, Homer stumbles upon a crashed sugar truck, with its sweet contents spilled onto the street.  Tricking the driver away, Homer piles as much sugar as he can into his car with the intention of selling it at an inflated cost despite the sugar having crash wreckage within it.  Guarding the pile in the backyard from ill-intentioned tea enthusiasts, Homer is troubled when a large quantity of bees take over the sugar, defending themselves from Homer "somehow".  Later, a pair of beekeepers realize their bees are gone, and track them to Homer's backyard.  With the bees not willing to separate from the sugar, the beekeepers are about to give Homer $2000 for the sugar and bees, when suddenly rain starts to fall.  The sugar "melts" from the rain, prompting the bees to leave, and Homer left without any financial reward for what was once a mountain of white gold.

"Diorama-rama" arrives, and Bart is not only able to provide Lisa with a sabotaged diorama, but also a good distraction to allow Lisa to swap the fake with Allison's real diorama, storing that in a floor compartment nearby.  The fake diorama, with is just a cow's heart in a box, leaves Principal Skinner disgusted and reconsidering his decision of moving Allison up a grade.  Just then, Lisa's guilt begins to take hold as the floorboard holding the diorama begins to beat like a heart.  Going mad from the noise, Lisa relents and reveals the location of the real diorama.  Skinner, though, is not impressed with Allison's diorama, nor Lisa's.  Instead, he gives the 1st prize to Ralph Wiggum, who brought in several in-package Star Wars figures, winning the Principal's heart.  Lisa later tells Allison what happened, and they alongside a gloating Ralph walk off the best of friends.

Quick Review
The main plot of Lisa's rival was alright for the most part, with Bart's involvement and Skinner's demeanor at the end being the highlights of the episode (as well as The Fugitive reference after Bart falsely sold Milhouse out to the feds).  The sugar subplot featuring Homer was the star of the episode, though, as Homer's obsession from start to finish with his really impure stolen good provided a lot of comedy the entire time.

Final Score: 9.0