The Daughter Also Rises (S23, E13-499)

Lisa sure can imagine them ripped when she wants to.

Plot Summary
Bart and Milhouse watch a show on TV that looks and sounds like Mythbusters, and even has guest stars from Mythbusters but is actually called Mythcrackers.  They like what they see, and decide to start cracking myths themselves, particularly at school.  With Bart setting up each myth and poor Milhouse having to debunk each one painfully or frightfully, the two are eventually able to disprove every story, myth and tale within the school, essentially making the whole place dull.  Bart realizes his mistake, and decides to start up a new myth: Groundskeeper Willie being a werewolf, who agrees to help in exchange for Bart clearing up myths of Willie's origin.

While all this is happening, its also Valentine's day, and as a gift to Homer, Marge lets him go do whatever with Bart for the night while she and Lisa spend time at a restaurant.  As Marge freaks out at the salad bar, Lisa sees a boy reading Hemmingway through a crack between the two booths.  The boy introduces himself as Nick, and Lisa becomes enamored with the words of this seemingly adventurous boy.  Marge isn't particularly pleased by this, somewhat upset that her daughter is spending time with a boy rather than her, for some reason.  This much is proven when Nick comes over for dinner and while he seems like a good boy, Marge tries to tell Lisa to see less of him afterward.  Lisa goes to Grampa to complain, and he ends up telling her about the story of Pyrimus and Thesbie, two lovers separated by their countries but their love eternal.  Finding parallels in that story with how she met the Hemmingway-esque Nick, Lisa convinces Grampa to help her and Nick find a romantic spot.  However, on the way to said spot, Grampa is pulled over by the police for having inadvertently taken the retirement home's remote control.

Lisa shows Nick an island on a lake and the two start rowing.  However, during this trip Nick has appeared less and less romantic, especially when he seems completely incapable of rowing the boat.  He seems even less romantic on the island, but Lisa goes in for a kiss anyway.  Suddenly, she gets a vision from Hemmingway's first two wives, who tell her that marrying someone like Hemmingway is actually pretty crummy.  Lisa backs out at the last second, and Nick admits he's all show, and very little substance, and leaves.  Just then, Marge arrives, having trailed Lisa and crossing the lake via boat shoes, and she and Lisa reconcile.

Quick Review
Well, this episode's main plot was dull.  Being a Lisa story, it already had its work cut out for it, but hardly any of the bits featured within it were any funny aside from appearance from Frink and Grampa.  The side story with Bart and Milhouse had its ups and downs, but it was overall a funnier story.  Still, this is yet another lackluster episode this season, setting the bar very very low for episode #500.

Final Score: 6.0