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| Showing someone how a magic trick works just because they're cute. Lisa Simpson, everyone. |
The Simpsons go peach picking and wind up picking way too many peaches. After what I assume are days of eating nothing but peaches, Homer is able to get Marge out of the house for a bit while the kids dispose of the remaining peaches. Lisa winds in an odd part of town, but is scared off by an angry raccoon. She knocks on a door for safety, but it opens on its own and Lisa takes advantage by going inside. Somewhat confused by the residence's materials, Lisa is forced to hide when the house's owner starts coming back. However, Lisa hides in one spot, only to wind up in another, but still the man is able to quickly find her nonetheless.
The man reveals himself as "The Great Raymondo", a former magician of some note. Lisa becomes interested in Raymondo's tricks, and after displaying her skill a bit, Raymondo is reminded of his late wife, and decides to start teaching her. At some point, Raymondo sees a new-era magician on TV, Cregg Demon, and is saddened that the guy has bastardized the once mysterious art of magic. Lisa takes her new skills to the school, performing as "The Great Simpsina", impressing all. Eventually, Raymondo teaches Lisa his greatest trick that he learned from Houdini himself: the milk can escape, where he locks himself inside a milk can but finds a way to get out anyway. Lisa performs this trick flawlessly at school as well. A boy particularly likes the trick and talks to Lisa afterwards. Infatuated, Lisa decides to show the boy the secret of the trick: while the locks are real, the can is rigged to open up at the middle as well. The boy reveals he's actually the son of Cregg Demon, and passes on the trick to his father so that he can perform it in due time. Raymondo learns of this, and angry that Lisa would so casually reveal any magic trick, let alone the big one, kicks Lisa out of his house and likely his life.
Homer sees a saddened Lisa in her room, and decides to take things into his own hands. He confronts Raymondo, but gets caught in a trap. Even still, he convinces Raymondo to forgive Lisa. Raymondo visits Lisa to do just that, and two agree to go to the magic convention where Demon announced he'd do the trick and stop him for some reason. When they get there, though, they're just too late, but Demon is unable to free himself from the milk can. Raymondo refuses to help as part of a magician's credo, but when Lisa tries to step in and help, she's stopped by several other magicians: Ricky Jay, Penn & Teller and David Copperfield. They reveal that they replaced Cregg's trick jar with a real jar because they also believe Cregg is ruining the art of magic, so they simply want him to die. Lisa tries to help anyway, but the magicians prevent her from doing so. Raymondo steps in to protect his apprentice, and is able to subdue all four with a single cut of a rope, bringing down stage lights on the magicians. Raymondo is then able to free Cregg, who decides to get out of the magic business. Later, Raymondo hosts a magic show once more, but he lets Lisa become the star of it while he goes backstage to dance with an Ether-influenced vision of his wife.
Quick Review
This ends up being one of Season 22's weaker entries. The opening act with the peaches was just weird, especially as the episode had no proper opening. The best parts of the episode were Grampa's rant about Raymond, as well as the magicians that appear near the episode. Otherwise, this episode fell victim to the "tell a story, not a comedy" routine that hadn't reared its ugly head much lately.
Final Score: 6.5
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