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| Maybe Milhouse is getting revenge over what Bart did to him and his girlfriend. |
Bart and Milhouse pull another prank at school by removing every screw inside somehow. However, Milhouse and only Milhouse is caught, but he refuses to rat out Bart, getting suspended for a week for his part in the prank. Bart visits Milhouse at home quickly, and promises to visit every day. Just then, Homer comes to pick Bart up so he can spend 'quality' time with Grampa. As Bart just stands there at the retirement home, a beautiful girl comes in and catches Bart's eye. The girl, Jenny, is a good Samaritan, so in order to impress her, Bart tries to show her he's a good boy as well. This includes him saving ducks from bullies (who are trying to impress another girl), and telling Jenny that he spends a lot of time "working with this mentally challenged guy" aka Homer.
In the meantime, Lisa begins a social studies report on what Springfield will be like in 50 years. She goes on the internet for help, when she comes across several doomsday scenarios that she takes to heart. At school, a now deluded Lisa warns everyone of the future ahead, concerning all. Later, Principal Skinner speaks with Lisa and suggests she visit a psychiatrist. Lisa does so with her parents, and the psychiatrists suggests the depressed Lisa should start taking "happy pills". Lisa agrees to do it, having lost all faith in everything anyway, and melts in forced joy as everything she sees turns into happy faces.
Bart invites Jenny over for dinner one night, and he believes everything is going his way. Just then, a rather ominous storm starts up just as someone knocks on the door. Bart answers it to find Milhouse standing there. Milhouse is distraught that Bart has yet to visit his best friend, and learns that Bart is trying to hide his past so that he can be with Jenny. Milhouse doesn't really care about that, though, and promises to make Bart's life difficult for lying to him. Sure enough, Milhouse hounds Bart with his presence and his warnings of spilling the beans to Jenny. Eventually, Bart can't take it anymore and reveals his past to Jenny. Although Bart has made vast improvements to impress Jenny, she hates that their relationship was built on lies, and breaks up with him.
Lisa, meanwhile, has a close call when she comes close to kissing an electric fan Maggie is holding that she sees as another happy face. Marge intervenes in time and tosses out Lisa's remaining pills, though the dog gets into that trash and gets enticed by Maggie's fan as well. Later, a recovered Lisa talks with a depressed Bart, telling him that its pointless to wallow in despair, and to face his problems as they are. Bart takes the suggestion to heart, and buys some flowers to apologize... to Milhouse for prioritizing a girl over their friendship. Milhouse graciously accepts the apology and the two combine once more for another big prank at school.
Quick Review
Season 20 continues a trend of decent episodes with this worthwhile effort, an episode that definitely has its moments. Lisa's side story was a bit odd, but there really wasn't anything wrong with it. The main plot is the episode's strong point, especially when Milhouse is involved, and is the reason the episode scored as well as it did.
Final Score: 7.2
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