How Lisa Got Her Marge Back (S27, E18-592)

She's just jealous the dog's got better beats than her.

Plot Summary
Bart comes to realize that his pranks are no longer effective - everyone knows Bart's behind them, even Ralph.  Discouraged, Bart gives up the prank game for good.  Meanwhile, after a lengthy session of Lisa playing jazz, Marge is left somewhat worn out.  Later in the day, Marge admits to Homer she's never been particularly fond of jazz, and Lisa playing it does no favors for her.  Unfortunately for Marge, Lisa overhears this and confronts Marge over it that night, feeling betrayed that Marge lied to her in regards to Lisa's passion.  The two are left at odds.

In an attempt to reconcile, Marge takes Lisa on a trip to Capital City.  Homer leaves Bart with Maggie for some reason, but Bart comes to realize that Maggie is an excellent ally in pranking, and as such Bart is back in the game.  It doesn't last too long, as after Homer falls victim, he absolutely won't allow a second Bart in the family and tells Bart to leave Maggie be.

Meanwhile, Marge's attempts to gain Lisa's favor fail miserably, and the two are worse off.  The attempts include two tickets to a musical of Bad News Bears, a show Marge loves but Lisa hates.  Afterward, the two meet the 'star' of the show: Andrew Rannells (who is an actual person, not a character the show made up, much to my surprise!).  The three go to dinner together.  As Marge takes her leave for a moment, Lisa rants about Marge to Rannells, who calls Lisa out for her behavior and total disrespect towards Marge and her feelings.  Lisa haphazardly realizes her error and makes up with Marge when the latter returns, and the two enjoy the rest of their trip together.

Quick Review
There were quite a few good jokes and bits in the episode, particularly with Bart and his prank sidestory which I enjoyed.  The main storyline with Marge and Lisa started off okay, and Rannells provided a couple of laughs here and there but the main plot was too reference-heavy for it too be actually funny and most of the Lisa-heavy segments didn't provide any comedy at all.  That prevented the episode from reaching any level of decency, sadly because I did get a few good laughs out of it.

Final Score: 6.8