They Saved Lisa's Brain (S10, E22-225)

America will be in smoldering ruins before it even thinks about adapting metric time.

Plot Summary
The family goes to a grossout contest where the saddest act wins a trip to Hartford, Connecticut.  However, when the judges give the award to themselves (for being seen in public with the actual sad acts), a riot ensues.  In the chaos, Homer is able to 'earn' the second place prize: erotic photography, yeah.  The grossout contest and its ensuing riot greatly depresses Lisa, who writes a letter asking for betterment and change to a local newspaper.  The newspaper prints the letter, though Lisa is unable to find anyone in town who actually read it.

Soon, she gets a mysterious letter paper-planed to her telling her to visit a specific house.  There, she meets the Springfield chapter of Mensa, consisting of Dr. Hibbert, Principal Skinner, the comic book guy, Professor Frink and a typical businesswoman, Lindsey Naegle.  Lisa's letter garnered their attention, and they accept Lisa into the organization where intellectual thoughts can be discussed.

One day, the group tries to have a public meeting at a gazebo they reserved, however the gazebo is occupied by boozehounds, and Chief Wiggum makes no effort to fix this.  Lisa encourages the group to do something about it.  They attempt to confront Mayor Quimby over the gazebo issue, but the way in which they pressure him makes Quimby think they're on to much worse, and he flees town.  After checking the town charter, which states that in the case of the mayor's absence, leadership goes to a group of intellectuals, in this case Mensa.

Meanwhile, Homer goes to get erotic pictures taken of himself, which takes place in his home.  After a botched attempt thanks to Bart's meddling, Homer gets the photos taken in the basement which is dressed up for the occasion.  Later, Homer gives the photos to Marge, and though she is initially turned on by the photos, she is soon distracted by the basement designs shown in the photos, and goes to dress up the basement herself, much to Homer's disappointment.

Although Mensa is able to change a few ways the town operates, making it more efficient, each member's own agenda starts to get in the way of progress.  They host a public forum to announce more changes, but as each member tries to implement policy based on their own preferences (Frink banning every physical sports, comic book guy forcing mating just once each seven years, etc), they start to argue with one another.  Stephen Hawking comes in to berate the group, noting that power has corrupted them, which prompts the crowd to start another riot.  Hawking is able to save Lisa, and as he ponders that even the smartest of people can still act childish, he and Homer go out for some beer.

Quick Review
This episode wasn't doing much good for most of its time.  Though the opening grossout plot was fine, the Mensa plot had little going for it in terms of hilarity, and Homer's erotic picture subplot wasn't doing much better.  The appearance of Stephen Hawking, though, was superb and it really saved this episode.  Sure, it sets up his animated character both here and also in Futurama as a know-it-all type who gets places by stealing ideas from others, but he still provides a level of comedy in this episode that just wasn't there otherwise.

Final Score: 8.0