I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can (S14, E12-303)

First a log, now a mountain, soon Lisa's face will be all over Springfield. *shudder*

Plot Summary
Its a new school year, and Principal Skinner starts it off with a school-wide spelling bee.  Lisa wins it, and as a reward is invited to spell at the state finals.  Meanwhile, Homer sees a commercial for a new sandwich at Krusty Burger named the "Ribwich", essentially the McRib but with just the meat and bun, also sauce.  Homer goes to try one out and it is apparently an orgasmic experience.  A short time later, Lisa wins the state spelling bee, and is invited to compete at the national finals.  Homer misses her celebration party so he can eat more Ribwiches, but learns in disgust that the sandwich, a limited time thing, has run its course.  Some guy sees Homer's plight, and informs him that he's part of a traveling group who are on a "Ribwich" tour, going from place to place where Ribwiches are offered, and invites Homer to go to the last place on the tour - San Francisco - in a few days.

The family in the meantime head up to Calgary for the "Spellympics", the spelling finals which is in constant legal battle with the Olympics, I presume.  The head of the Spellympics, George Plimpton, leads the charge through the preliminary round until there are three kids left: Lisa, a girl named Sun Moon, and an adorable young boy named Alex whom the crowd loves.  The finals are held the next day, which is also the final day the Ribwich is in San Francisco.  Though Homer's departure saddens Lisa, she is still pumped to win the finals, until she is set aside by Plimpton.  Plimpton informs Lisa that, hey, nobody cares about competitive spelling, but that the adorable Alex will give the 'sport' the momentum it needs to survive.  Lisa refuses to misspell a word intentionally, but Plimpton offers Lisa a scholarship to any one of the "Seven Sisters" schools if she takes a dive.

The next day, Homer is in San Francisco munching on his Ribwich, when Krusty comes along to inform the Ribwich group that the 'animal' that's used in the sandwich is now extinct, and throws the last ever Ribwich into the crowd.  Homer is able to snag it and gets many offers from others for it, then he realizes that no sandwich is worth abandoning his daughter.  He gives up the Ribwich for the keys to a car, and makes his way back to Calgary.

As Sun Moon is tricked out of the finals, and Alex is given a toss up word to survive, Plimpton gives Lisa a rather difficult word to spell: intransigence.  As Lisa tries to decide whether she should lose on purpose or not, Homer arrives just in time to give Lisa support.  Lisa is renewed, reveals Plimpton's plot (though nobody cares), and tries to spell the word correctly, but ends up spelling it wrong anyway.  No trophy, no scholarship, Lisa is devastated over her loss, but upon returning home she is celebrated as she has become the most prestigious person in Springfield anyway, and her face has been carved in a mountainside for the honor.

Quick Review
Another fairly decent episode, nothing too bad about it (besides the rather awkward ending), but the jokes just weren't all there.  I suppose it didn't help that I didn't find Homer's Ribwich sidestory all that funny, but its not that bad of an episode even if it is Lisa-centric.

Also, this is the first episode which indicates that Barney has relapsed back into his old, drunken self.  As you may or may not recall, Barney had sobered up back in Season 11, and had remained as such since, but because this fact hadn't been used for anything even remotely funny since, there have been jokes made which indicates Barney's return to alcohol.  This is the first such episode to make that notion, though later episodes suggest Barney still attempts to get back on track.

Final Score: 7.4