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| If Lisa flips her hand, she'd get what she was this episode: a big Jerk. |
Bart and Milhouse commit another series of pranks at school, but Principal Skinner catches Bart and puts him through a variety of punishments. Still, Skinner admits, the stuff Bart pulls doesn't compare to a prank pulled by a previous student. Bart wants to find out more about this mystery kid but Skinner refuses to talk more about it. Bart gets Lisa's help to investigate further and learns that something happened several years ago, stricken from the record, which turned a previously fun Seymour Skinner into the shill he is now. Bart figures out Willie was around at the time, so he questions him. Willie reveals that, ten years ago, he was a swim coach at the school, which had a pool in the back. One evening, the fun loving Skinner goes out to take a dive into the pool, going into the high up springboard and failing to see what was actually in it until it was too late: Skinner drove right into a pool filled completely with worms. The mystery student then covered the pool, preventing Skinner to escape and, because it was a Friday evening and school was out Monday, Skinner wasn't rescued until Tuesday, where then-swim coach Willie is instructed by the rescued yet adversely changed Skinner to bury the pool. Willie reveals the kid's name as Andy Hamilton and makes Bart keep it a secret.
Still, Bart visits Andy, now 19, still as big a prankster as ever. Bart tells Lisa about Andy, how he does nothing except live with his mom, which prompts Lisa to proclaim Andy and his big fan Bart as losers. Bart initially protests but does realize that Andy is wasting his life away. The next day, Bart makes Andy realize that as well and promises to get Andy a job with Krusty the Klown, having perjured himself to aid the clown. Andy agrees and starts work as Krusty's lowly assistant. Andy can't deal with it, quits the same day, and winds up outside of Bart's house for some reason, gaining his scorn and Lisa's continued mocking.
Bart gets Andy's job back and insists Andy just deal with it instead. A week passes and things seem okay, so Bart visits Andy at the studio when he notices a truck full of prank-quality worms being brought in. Bart fears the worst and rushes into the studio, finding Krusty about to jump into a small pool full of worms. Fearing Andy has struck another prank, Bart tries to save Krusty but ultimately fails. Krusty falls into the pool, but comes out ready with a worm related joke. It turns out Andy did set this up, as a gag for Krusty to use as Krusty has made Andy his lead writer. Bart wonders how Andy could've improved so quickly, learning the answer once Andy's new girlfriend comes to meet him. Lisa sees this on TV and, after learning Andy is a comedy writer now, continues to declare him a loser.
Oh, there was also a side story where Marge is shamed by other mothers for using chemically infused foods. To combat their criticisms Marge starts buying only organic foods. She tries to show this off to them, but now the mothers are even more upset that Marge uses cookware and plastic bottles containing other deadly chemicals. Marge grows tired of this and gorges herself on Homer's stash of food she finds. Homer learns of this and gets turned on, so the two end up making love or pigging out on food or doing both, I dunno.
Quick Review
The main portion of the episode featuring Bart and Andy was fairly strong with great use of several characters early on. The strength of that storyline makes it one of the best non-Halloween episodes in some time. The Marge plotline was pretty forgettable, though, and its a shame that it got tossed into this otherwise quality affair. Those oversensitive parents not only tried to drag Marge down to their level, they tried to drag my enjoyment of the episode down as well. Still, a good return to form for the show.
Final Score: 8.0
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