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| There aren't large quantities of kids that do that anymore... are there? |
A gas station is hosting a promotion where its giving away a series of toys that Maggie really likes, and she already has every one except for the rarest one. Homer decides to get Maggie that last toy, but the nearest gas station involved in the promotion is way out of town. Homer and the family go there, but Homer is unable to win the toy despite spending way too much money on gas to win several more chances. Homer eventually gives up and drives back in defeat. He takes an odd route back, but Marge recognizes the area as the one she grew up in as a child. She visits her old house, now occupied by a shut in or something, and retrieves a box full of her old stuff. Lisa notices lots of tests, quizzes and assignments done by Marge that have high marks, leaving Lisa to wonder how Marge could've ended up like she did if she had such high grades.
Lisa looks into the matter further and notices Marge's grade plummeted in 12th grade, right when she met Homer. Lisa talks to Homer about this and Homer says that even if he hadn't met Marge, some other distraction - either a boy or some kind of hobby - would've come along to take Marge off the academic path, and that it'll happen to Lisa as well. Refusing to accept the possibility of getting bad grades, Lisa rids herself of her distractions, including her saxophone. Homer tells Marge about the conversation, which really gets to Marge. The next morning, Marge confronts Lisa over her attitude, and Lisa does admit that she doesn't want to end up like Marge, leaving her mother scorned.
Meanwhile, Bart runs afoul of Nelson, but thanks to some luck Nelson mostly incapacitates himself, but the kids in school see it as though Bart beat Nelson up, taking over as the school's bully. The next few encounters with Nelson end up in similar fashion, but Nelson gets so angered with these events he promises to annihilate Bart at some point. Bart talks to Marge about it, who advises him to compliment Nelson to end his rage. Bart tries it out, and he's able to make it work after complimenting Nelson's punching skill, and the two walk away as friends again.
Lisa may be able to avoid distractions at home, but she definitely can't do anything about the distractions at school. On the bus ride home, she sees a bus coming from a gifted private school, and Lisa wants her parents to get her into that. It's too expensive of course, but when Homer, Marge and Lisa talk to the school's head, Marge demands a private word with the guy. A short time later, the head agrees to let Lisa attend on a full scholarship. Lisa is thrilled to attend the school of her dreams, but learns soon afterward that there is no scholarship; Marge agreed to wash every school uniform so that Lisa can attend. Marge tells Lisa that she doesn't want Lisa to end up like her. Lisa, feeling bad for what's happened, comes up with a flimsy excuse to not go to her new school anymore, and admits that she'd be honored to end up like Marge. The two hug, but Lisa worries about herself still. Just then, Bart and Nelson walk in after some kind of binge, and Homer reveals he got Maggie her toy, if only because he broke into the gas station and stole it.
Quick Review
Season 22 has been very heavy with Lisa-related plotlines so far. The first four non-Halloween episodes all have storylines that have a focus on Lisa, but they've mostly been okay to this point. This episode is also okay, though that's mostly because of Homer's involvement in the episode, jokes around him were pretty good, and Bart's sidestory had some good humor as well. Lisa's main story with Marge is, perhaps predictably, not that funny outside of Homer's bits, but its nice to see Lisa come in conflict with Marge instead of Homer for a change of pace.
Final Score: 7.1
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