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| Lisa sure does succumb to pressure pretty easily. |
The Simpsons are watching TV late one night after returning from a book release, and Marge sees an ad for ballet lessons. Lisa is curious, and Marge tells her that it was her dream as a child to grow up to become a ballerina, but had to abandon the dream after she lost her balance due to her improper breast growth. Still, with the new opportunity, she gives it another go. However, the instructor there is less than impressed with Marge's effort, and shoos her aside. Lisa protests, but the instructor notices Lisa's posture and movements seem to be perfect for a ballerina, and admits Lisa into his ballet school.
Meanwhile, Homer reveals to Bart a hidden secret of his: a homemade beef jerky operation. Soon, he tries to sell his batch to Apu, but is stunned to learn all of his jerky is gone. Homer and Bart track who ate his prize, and after confronting Flanders over it, Bart finds the real culprits: a pair of raccoons. Homer catches them inside a hollowed tree, but finds that the raccoons are part of a family, a family that looks suspiciously like the Simpsons, that are being fed from Homer's jerky. Homer relents and lets his new friends eat up.
Lisa is having trouble with ballet at first. During a break outside, she asks the others how they cope with the pressure, and they reveal their secret: smoking. Lisa refuses to join in, opting to breathe the "fresh air" instead, though all she inhales is the second-hand smoke. However, afterwards, Lisa dances much better, and she learns it was the second hand smoke that helped her out. The next time around, Lisa can't catch a whiff because its a windy day and, in desperation, attempts to upgrade to first-hand smoke. Just then, Homer arrives in time to stop Lisa from smoking, and angrily takes her home. He attempts to tell Marge about it, however Marge has fully embraced Lisa's new role, living her dream through Lisa, and learning of anything bad will likely ruin her. Homer opts to not tell Marge, but tells Lisa she can't inhale any smoke, not even second handed, having Bart keep a close eye on her to make sure. The next time around, sure enough, Lisa partakes in second hand smoke, so Bart informs Homer, and the two meet up to concoct a plan.
The day comes for the girls to have a dance recital. Lisa can't get her form together, so during the next break, she inhales some more smoke with the other girls in the locker room. Homer and Bart are nearby, ready to pull off their crazy plan: they have their new raccoon friend infiltrate the locker room and remove from it all of the cigarettes the girls were smoking. After the first act, the girls panic upon learning their smokes are gone, and when the second act begins, the girls are unfocused, jittery, and bordering on madness. Lisa stops the play right there and then, and informs the crowd of the dangerous hobby that ruins lives: ballet. She quits, and Marge realizes that she shouldn't force her dreams onto Lisa.
Quick Review
This episode was okay for the most part. While the episode was focused on Lisa, most of the episode's humor came from Homer, whether it was from his beef jerky scheme or near the end of the episode when he puts a stop to the smoking shenanigans with his raccoon friend. That latter scene in particular really brought the episode's score up, as I hadn't laughed that well at a scene in quite some time.
Final Score: 7.3
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