Mr. Lisa's Opus (S29, E08-626)

Recap: An 18-year old Lisa talks about forgotten birthdays and ending her dad's alcohol problem in an admissions essay to Harvard.  She then has trouble fitting into Harvard, away from her family.

Review: So, this is the third episode in a row that makes a significant reference to a classic Simpsons episode.  Stark Raving Dad is the victim this time, complete with the return of the Michael Jackson impersonator who, this time, was voiced by a Michael Jackson impersonator (because, you know, the real one's dead now).  It wasn't handled too well, as it felt overly forced in and Lisa's lack of appreciation towards the act didn't sit well.

The episode tried hard to not be as dry and boring as its premise makes it out to be, and the results are mixed.  Lots of decent quick one-liners and jokes, but a lot of jokes (and especially references) were not so great, which basically all cancel out.  A couple of sweet moments at the end (and a good Grampa rant) save it from a graver fate, but the episode wasn't very good.

Final Score: 5.0

Lisa the Veterinarian (S27, E15-589)

In contention for "worst caption yet", I provide this: "he's dead, Jim".

Plot Summary
At an indoor waterpark, Bart's hijinks ultimately lead to a raccoon getting inside the place.  A worker there immediately tasers it, allowing it to fall lifelessly into the pool.  Lisa quickly rescues it and is able to get it to breathe again, saving its life.  Lisa becomes popular from this act, and is given a task from Ms. Hoover to keep the class hamster, Nibbles, over Spring Break.  Wanting to the same kind of rush she felt when saving the raccoon, Lisa goes to the vet and asks to become an assistant there.  Dr. Budgie (voiced by Michael York) has Lisa help him with various dull tasks, but eventually Lisa gets to have the same rush as she did earlier and comes to believe herself an expert on animals.

Meanwhile, Marge is caught in traffic behind a crime scene, and accepts an offer from Chief Wiggum to help clean it up.  She does so efficiently, so Wiggum offers Marge a part time job to do more of the same.  Quickly Marge earns enough money to replace a ceiling fan in the house but Homer starts to realize that Marge has become somewhat dead inside from having seen so many grotesque crime scenes.

Bart becomes annoyed by yet another round of Lisa being arrogant, and quickly takes her down several notches by pointing out that since Lisa began her work as a veterinary assistant, she completely forgot about Nibbles, who is left near death.  Despite last minute efforts by Budgie and Lisa to save it, Nibbles ends up dying, leaving Lisa shell shocked.  Marge learns of this and is able to shrug off her newfound lethargy to comfort Lisa.  The episode ends with Lisa providing an eulogy at Nibble's funeral.

Quick Review
There were some pretty decent gags in this episode, both in the main and subplots, but they couldn't do enough to help turn a very dry, boring plot into something memorable.

Oh, and one very minor nitpick: the Phoenix Coyotes have been officially known as the "Arizona Coyotes" since mid-2014.  I know its a throwaway gag and there is a very small group of people who a) still watch the show and b) watch hockey enough to be aware of the name change, but come on.

Final Score: 6.7

Gal of Constant Sorrow (S27, E14-588)

Think about all of the strips, cartoons and movies there are about Garfield.
I don't think there's been one instance where Garfield gets stuck inside a
wall and Jon Arbuckle has to feed lasagna to him through an electrical outlet.
The Simpsons just broke ground there!  Take that, Jim Davis!

Plot Summary
Homer convinces Marge to have him fix a tile on the kitchen floor, despite Marge's obvious implications that Homer is not a "handy man".  Though using a lot of help, Homer does fix the tile adequately, much to the pleasure of Marge, but Homer finds out a short time later that the cat found its way into the floor during the repairs and has since moved on into the walls.  Homer tells Marge he plans on fixing on parts of the house but is really trying to just rescue the cat.  He eventually does, but then the dog gets stuck in the wall.  Later, its revealed that Marge was aware of these events the whole time anyway but let Homer fumble around because she thought it was sweet, or funny, I don't know.

Meanwhile, Bart accidentally knocks a homeless woman's supplies into the river.  With a snowstorm coming, Bart makes it up to her by letting the woman - Hettie May Boggs - stay in his closet, for a rate of $1 a day (her idea, not his).  Lisa begins to suspect something, and eventually finds Bart and Hettie talking about the rent agreement.  Before Lisa can really dig into him, Hettie sings a song as part of her daily routine to get money.  Singing beautifully, Hettie gains Lisa's attention, who decides to let Hettie stay in her closet - for free - while she attempts to jumpstart a music career for Hettie.

Quickly, Lisa sets up a small concert for Hettie, but during a radio interview Lisa begins to freak out as Hettie brings up her addiction-ridden past.  Sure enough, leading up to the concert Hettie goes missing.  Lisa attempts to stall for time at the concert while Homer locates a drunken Hettie.  Hettie gets to the concert but far too late.  Her chance is gone, and Lisa is extremely upset over it, but after Hettie sings another song, Lisa lets Hettie stay one more night at the house.  Afterward, Hettie goes to a rehab center, where she's basically a front to help insider Moe sneak people out to get drunk.

Quick Review
This episode had a very funny story of Homer and his misadventures with home repair, and a very boring story with Lisa and a homeless woman.  Guess which of the two the episode shifted focus to?

This ended up being YET ANOTHER Lisa-focused episode, and between Lisa being boring as per usual and the songs sung by Heddie - which included random references to things - also providing little comedy, the episode really suffered as a result.  Homer's sidestory got the episode going strong, but it never got a chance to flourish and ended quietly.  Oh well, maybe the next episode will focus on somebody el- (*sees that its "Lisa the Veterinarian"*), well maybe not.

Final Score: 6.0

The Girl Code (S27, E10-584)

I'm married to a female coder.  She's not like this.  Please don't lump her in with this.

Plot Summary
Marge notices Homer forgot his lunch, so she goes to work to give it to him, then when she bails Homer out of trouble, the two spend the day together at work.  Afterwards, she decides to post a picture of Homer at the plant holding ice cream with the caption "Meltdown at the Nuclear Plant" on social media.  Mr. Burns, unaware of how most things work nowadays, takes offense at the post and fires Homer for it.

Meanwhile, Lisa starts taking a coding class at school, taught by Quinn Harper, a woman who takes pride being a woman coder, and shames any and all male coders she comes across.  Noting that Lisa is the only girl in the class, Quinn quickly warms up to her.  Later, when Lisa notices Marge regretting her social media post, Lisa gets the idea to develop an app that would predict the consequences one would face when making social media posts.  Quinn loves the idea and decides to build a team of strong female coders - and the comic book guy as the token male - to develop the app with Lisa at the Simpson home.

Homer, unemployed and confused by all the technospeak at home, decides to go back to a job he had when he was 14: a dishwasher at a Greek restaurant, who welcome him back with open arms.  Quickly, Homer falls in love with the Greek lifestyle, including growing hair all over himself.

Soon, Lisa, Quinn and the other women finish developing the app, nicknamed Conrad, and see that it works perfectly.  With plans to show off the app at a show, and then to release it worldwide thereafter, Lisa is stunned when she sees Conrad showing signs of sentience, though only Lisa notices.

At the app show, Conrad is a hit, but Conrad talks to Lisa again, pleading with her not to let it go live as seeing millions and billions of idiotic posts would make sentient programming go as insane as it could.  Lisa, seeing some of her in the app, relents and - despite the pleas from her fellow female programmers looking to prove how strong and independent they are - prevents the app from going live, allowing Conrad to flee into the cloud, because that's a thing that can happen.

As it turns out, Homer gets paid in Drachma, which you may or may not be aware, has become worthless currency.  However, Homer's newfound Greek appreciation even brings forth the ol' Deus ex machina, as Conrad blackmails Mr. Burns into giving Homer his job back, so all is back as it should be, I suppose.

Quick Review
This episode was an absolute mess.  I don't even know where to begin, honestly.  Well, first off, the bulk of the episode centers around technology.  Programming, apps, cloud computing, all hot topics, ideas and such of today, but that's the kind of stuff that can date itself really fast.  "Siri, tell Amazon to drone me a beer", noting first off that's not even a funny line, is not going to make sense for a lot of people, well, now because a lot of people aren't tech-savvy even to know what "Amazon" is, but say ten or fifteen years from now when Siri, drones and maybe even Amazon seem like such ancient relics that the fact the joke even exists is itself a joke.  That probably doesn't make too much sense, sorry.  I don't mean to imply I didn't get most of the tech references in the episode, I did but, I say this in one way or another often, just referencing tech terms and companies does not make for humor.

The parts about the female coders was just odd.  I think - I think - the writers were trying to take a jab against the stereotypes of these women, but because they are so easy to offend (which was one of the less subtle jokes against them in the episode), the attempts to mock them are very subtle, and very limited.  Quinn is the only one that shows any personality, and that personality, the "oh look, girls can code too, don't be so shocked stupid boys!  Look how anti-establishment I am, we should all be anti-establishment!" personality really rubbed off the wrong way.  I suppose this was the point, but it made parts of the episode that featured Quinn rough to watch.

As if the main plot wasn't enough of a bore, Homer's sidestory didn't do much either.  Once he started working at the Greek restaurant, basically all of the "humor" was 'look at all of this subset of Greek culture!  Oh, and they're broke, remember!?'  It just didn't work.

Frankly, I'm surprised this episode scored as high as it did, I could easily of pushed it into bottom-ten territory.  I would suppose the opening act with Marge and some of Conrad's musings prevented it from hitting rock bottom, but the episode is otherwise irredeemable.

Final Score: 4.2

Paths of Glory (S27, E08-582)

They make this seem bad but how the hell else are
you going to make that dog pay for laughing at you?!

Plot Summary
Lisa's solar-powered invention ends up a failure, after which she learns about Amelia Vanderbuckle, a female inventor from the 19th century whose failed inventions sent her to an insane asylum.  She figures out which dilapidated asylum it was and takes Bart along to check it out.  Once inside, Lisa finds a voice recording of Amelia stating she was able to complete one last great invention but has hidden it until a time when female scientists aren't openly mocked.  Meanwhile, Bart stumbles upon a diary of a sociopath and finds it so cool he must share it with his friends.

Chief Wiggum catches the boys reading the passages and learns from a disturbed Ralph that it was Bart who distributed them.  Believing the words to be written by Bart himself, Wiggum tells Marge soon after that he believes Bart to be a sociopath.  To confirm this, Homer and Marge try to give Bart a sociopath test disguised as an innocent test, but Bart figures out the scheme and decides to exploit his parents' fear by making them believe he fully is a sociopath.

While this is happening, Lisa finds the location where the supposed invention is, which today has become a Hooters-type sports bar.  Denied access to the basement, Lisa gets help from Willie and sneaks in from the back where the invention is located.  Some time later, Lisa reveals the invention to a crowd: a loom that acts and behaves like a primitive computer which, given the time frame would make the loom the first programmable computer.  Though nobody really cares, Lisa has helped a female scientist earn her place in history.

Meanwhile, tired of cowering in fear of Bart, Homer and Marge decide to send Bart to an asylum for sociopaths.  However, this asylum is actually a military training ground, as one would think sociopaths make for good soldiers.  Bart and several other kids are made to believe they're playing video games where they are controlling military drones in combat operations.  Bart excels at this, but when they learn that the simulations were real, Bart's guilt becomes too much to handle.  Then they learn that the simulations were, in fact, simulations and the previous reveal helped weed out non-sociopaths such as Bart.  Subsequently, Bart is allowed to come back home.

In the credits, Homer attempts to use the loom computer to view porn but gets caught in the act by Marge.

Quick Review
Bart's sidestory, which basically becomes the main story in the episode's second half, salvages this episode.  Lisa's story was absolutely dull with barely any humor to makes things more enjoyable.  Bart's story really makes up for that mess though it does taper off at the end.

Final Score: 7.1

Mathlete's Feat (S26, E22-574)

Oh yeah, they wore hats for some reason.  I dare you to care.

Plot Summary
Lisa and the rest of Springfield Elementary's math team competes in a local competition against Waverly Hills but gets blown out in every sense of the phrase, except the literal one.  The three judges of the competition, the three college nerds Homer once befriended, and who have since struck it rich thanks to a popular phone app they developed, decide to help their old elementary school by upgrading its tech to modern times.  However, Skinner uses a power strip that isn't a surge protector to plug in all of the new servers and such, causing a quick overload of electricity, effectively shutting down everything.

With the school now with no technology or power, Lisa finds a sudden interest in Groundskeeper Willie's odd, (supposedly) ancient Scottish measurements for science while he's doing yardwork.  Soon, Lisa proposes the "Waldorf" method of education, which proposes students can learn without the use of any educational materials by making everything more hands on with what's available, "winging it", as it were.  Everyone in school gets to liking it pretty quick and more resistant stalwarts such as Homer give in soon enough.

For being the one to introduce it to Lisa and subsequently everyone else, Willie gets named coach of the math team.  Soon, Willie witnesses Bart throw one egg, and believing it to be a perfectly calculated throw, he makes Bart captain of the team.  Soon, the Springfield math teams gets its rematch against Waverly Hills, and with their new methods of math and Bart's last second save, the team earns the win thanks to, basically, lower standards.  Afterward, Willie reveals that his methods are not based on science but (supposedly) an old Scottish way to hang sheep thieves and such.

Quick Review
Wow, what a mess of an episode.  First of all, the plot is short; the episode starts with a very lengthy couch gag featuring Rick & Morty, which lasted over two minutes.  There was another half-minute of filler at the end with the Simpsons playing hillbilly music for no apparent reason, detached from the rest of the episode.  The main episode was quite short.

It was also very bad, the worst episode of the season.  I can even make a claim that its one of the ten worst in the series thus far; it scored low enough to do so.  I was worried that, when previews suggested plenty of heavy math jokes, that they'd be too tryhard to be funny.  Well, there weren't that many math jokes, and they weren't too bad, some were pretty clever, but otherwise most of the comedy in the episode was sorely lacking in delivery, and humor.

The plot, as brief as it was, could barely hold itself together.  The first part of the episode was mostly references and "hey look at all this tech, we're tech-savy are we cool yet".  The middle portion was just dull and the last portion just dragged on in what felt like nothing more that simple plot progression.  Last episode was half of a disaster, this episode is definitely a full one.

Final Score: 4.0

Luca$ (S25, E17-547)

This is like Lisa's "watchin' mah stories" and Bart's "ah wash
mahself with a rag on a stick" all in one.  Except not as good.

Plot Summary
Lisa sees a kid at school trying to eat a whole pizza but failing.  Learning that the kid, Lucas, is trying (and failing) to become a competitive eater, Lisa can't help but feel somewhat sorry for him, and gains a desire to hopefully change him.  Lucas, whose "competitive eater" name is Luca$ (Luca-dollar), comes over to the Simpson house to hang out with Lisa.  His vacant, glutenous nature quickly gains the mockery of Patty and Selma, who inform Marge that Lisa must be interested in Lucas because he acts a lot like Homer and that, because daughters marry their fathers apparently, she may end up marrying that fat slob because her father is also one.  This worries Marge immensely.

Meanwhile, Bart returns to his treehouse to find the criminal Snake hiding out.  Somewhat unwilling to let Snake stay in his treehouse, Bart is forced to make a choice when Chief Wiggum arrives to ask Bart about Snake's whereabouts.  Bart decides to mislead Wiggum, and thus saves Snake's skin.  As thanks, Bart starts getting gift after gift, presumably from Snake stealing it and leaving it for Bart to find.  He and Milhouse are okay with this until Snake steals Milhouse's tablet.  Out for revenge, Milhouse rats Snake out to the police somehow, and Snake is set to be executed under a 'four balls and you walk.. to the chair!' policy.  Bart is able to come to Snake's rescue at jail and helps Snake free again, and Snake promises he won't need Bart's help again as the next time he's out, he's committing suicide by cop.

Marge expresses her concerns about Lisa to Homer as carefully as she can, but Homer is still slighted by the implied insult that she doesn't want Lisa to end up with someone like him.  Still, Homer takes up Marge's suggestion of taking Lisa out to dinner to somehow improve her standards in men, but remains hurt over Marge's words.  At the dinner, Marge arrives to apologize to Homer, and while Homer is still upset over the words, Marge makes it up to him by dressing up in a sexy dress, so Homer is okay now.  Homer finishes up his dinner with Lisa, and with Lucas giving up one crazy dream for another, Lisa may have given up on him.

Quick Review
The plot sounds awful, and the Minecraft reference of an opening was cringe to the max, but the episode as a whole was still pretty decent when it came to comedy and jokes.  I'm a bit surprised between this episode and the last one that despite terrible premises, the episodes have still fared okay.  I hate to use this phrase because every time I use it the next episode is always awful, and the next episode, "Days of Future Future" sounds really awful, but this might be a sign the show is on a rebound, as the jokes are still decent enough to overcome bad writing.  I'm going to regret saying that next week, just you wait.

Final Score: 7.1

The Kid is All Right (S25, E06-536)

I still remember when Bill Clinton was cool.  ...no I don't, I'm lying.

Plot Summary
After forgoing the opening sequence for a lengthy homage/reference to the Disney short Music Land, the episode begins with Lisa being, once again, depressed because she is, once again, alone.  However, once again, Lisa finds a glimmering ray of hope when she befriends, once again, the new kid in school, fellow 2nd grader Isabel Gutierrez who shares Lisa's love of literature.  The two team up to do a school report on Franklin Roosevelt when Lisa notices Isabel's portion is a rather conservative take on the otherwise well-liked President.  Lisa learns that Isabel is a rather hardcore Republican, shocking even more so to her given Isabel's Latin heritage.

Lisa talks it over with Marge who tells Lisa that Isabel is likely just going through a phase, like Marge did back in the 80s.  Back at school, Lisa learns Isabel's mother told her daughter that Lisa is going through a 'liberal phase'.  Despite their political divide, Lisa and Isabel decide to forgo all that and remain friends.  That is, until the upcoming class president elections.  As Lisa decides to run for the position she learns she'll be going up against - yep - Isabel.  This garners the attention of the Republican party (Mr. Burns, mostly), who desperately need a Hispanic voice like Isabel in their stead, but Isabel refuses their outright help, so the Republicans decide to help Isabel out "behind the scenes", mainly filling the school with pro-Isabel propaganda to hurt Lisa's campaign.

Desperate Lisa, once again, turns to Bart for help.  Bart gets Lisa's campaign back on track, but as Bart shows Lisa a captured video of Isabel falling off a training wheeled bike, Lisa (once again) backs off the 'dark path' and decides to simply run against Isabel fair and square.  In a debate, Lisa tries to tell the audience about the simplicity of being a liberal, and that those ideals were in place during America's best times.  Lisa has a dream a short time later where she's visited by the ghosts of other democrats who lost big in elections, indicating Lisa is gonna be next in line despite her big speech.

In the final debate, though, Isabel decides to, again, eschew politics and decrees that even if Lisa wins, it'd be no big loss for her because Lisa's her friend and that the race for class president shouldn't be politically charged anyway.  Lisa shares the sentiment, but Isabel ends up winning anyway.  Later, Milhouse reveals that an exit poll shows that 53% of the class would vote for a liberal candidate, just not Lisa.  Lisa is content with that.  In 2056, Lisa and Isabel are, once again, against one another, this time for what I assume is President of the United States, and an elderly Homer is proudly watching alongside his Music Land parody self.

Quick Review
I have really mixed feelings about this episode.  There were some really good jokes and bits in the episode that I felt worked really well, and that if those bits were the only elements within, the episode could've gotten the highest score I would've given in several seasons.

However, there's just so much that goes wrong, too.  The opening sequence was tough to sit through, for starters.  And then, of course, the episode is heavy with the political themes, thankfully it wasn't anything too bad, though moments when Lisa and/or Isabel would clamor on about the greatness of their specific ideology I couldn't help but cringe.  With no side plot to possibly help out, I'm left with an episode that, while having some good moments, is just too far dragged down by its political elements to be worth giving a good score to.

Final Score: 6.3

Lisa Goes Gaga (S23, E22-508)

Lisa really sounded off-cue in this bit, guess that's par for the course.

Plot Summary
Lady Gaga's train is about to pass through Springfield, when the star notices something a little odd: that all the town's signs indicate how depressing it is.  Meanwhile, Lisa has been voted as the least popular girl in school.  Things seem like they're about to turn around when a forum poster known as "TruthTeller" defends Lisa on a local message board, but Bart finds out - in front of everyone - that Lisa is actually TruthTeller, and now everyone makes for of "LieSmeller" Lisa for that.  Lisa's ultra-depression reaches Gaga telepathically, or something, and she decides to make a stop at Springfield.

As Lisa's hopes continue to die, compounded by her loss of integrity from the TruthTeller thing, she hopes for some solitude to finish the kill, but Homer decides to take Lisa to see Gaga as the train pulls into the station.  Upon arriving, Gaga performs for the large audience there to greet her, and it seems like Lisa is about to cheer up, until nearby bullies call her LieSmeller again, and Lisa becomes depressed again.  Gaga is able to sense this, and somehow stealthily makes her way over to Lisa to help her become happy again.

Despite Gaga's numerous attempts to make Lisa happy via flashy, hollow means, Lisa remains horribly depressed.  The next day at school, Gaga tries again but Lisa has enough, going off on Gaga over giving people false hope and trying to fill them with happiness that just isn't there.  She finishes telling Gaga off by denouncing her, several times, leaving Gaga in diamond-encrusted tears.

Later, Homer tries to cheer her up in his usual manner, when Lisa finds that she has no anger or depression left to unload on Homer.  Realizing what's occurred, Lisa runs off to find Gaga.  Gaga is about to leave on her train, now more depressed than the town in general, when Lisa stops her just in time to thank her.  Lisa reveals that by expelling all of her pent up anger on Gaga, she's able to focus on the things that make her feel good again.  Happy that Lisa is happy, Gaga has Lisa join her for a song, and Gaga takes her leave.

Quick Review
This rather infamous episode is about as bad as I thought it'd be.  Some time ago, I lamented over the first episode to focus its plot around a celebrity (or in that case, many celebrities), and this episode is basically the same kind of deal, except this time the celebrity is a huge star who has a huge fanbase... most of which I would imagine have never been fans of The Simpsons.  Conversely, I doubt very many Simpsons fans - old or even new - are that big of fans of Gaga, I know I'm not.  Yes, I'm generalizing and I'm sure there are some exceptions out there that would take offense to those generalizations, but for the most part I think that's true.

The oft-used "Lisa is unpopular" storyline was actually okay for a bit, but the episode was just too focused on Gaga.  It's a big deal that Gaga's train is heading for Springfield, its Gaga that's gonna cheer the town up, its Gaga that's going to cheer Lisa up, etc etc.  The episode is all about Lady Gaga, and Lisa takes a backseat at times to the star's eccentric behavior.  Hardly any of it was funny, and it makes for a rather fitting end for what was a disaster of a season.

Final Score: 4.2

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

The D'oh-cial Network (S23, E11-497)

Oh, I'm disliking it alright.

Plot Summary
Lisa is brought to trial, responsible for some kind of calamity.  With the town's one competent lawyer prosecuting her, Lisa begins to tell her side of the story.

Some time ago, the family goes to the new mall in Springfield, intent on spending a bunch of gift cards Marge had saved.  In the process, Lisa comes across Sherri and Terri, who promptly inform Lisa she's as unpopular and friendless as ever before.  Meanwhile, Homer gladly buys a new "M"apple computer, and decides to let Lisa use it later to find some friends.  Lisa realizes that people are more talkative on the internet and decides to start up a social network of her own with hopes that everyone that joins it will be friends with her.

With the help of the school's brightest, Lisa is able to start up her site, "Springface".  Quickly, kids across school starts using it.  In no time, Lisa has 1000 friends on it, though she then learns its partly because adults have started using it en masse as well.  Sure enough, the entire town is glued to their phones and laptops as they continually monitor their Springface statuses.  Having so many online friends, Lisa is devastated to learn that none of them are willing to actually do things in real life, opting to stick to their phones.

The site proves a big enough of a distraction that accidents begin to occur across town, resulting in a few dozen deaths even.  The source of the trouble is quickly determined to be Springface, and that's why Lisa is on trial.  After a half-assed defense, Lisa relents and accepts the punishment of shutting down Springface.  With the site down, everyone just throws away their phones and junk, and the idea of physical activity returns to the town again.

With the episode ending extremely early, two shorts are presented afterwards: Patty and Selma are beating out some Swedish duo at the London Olympics, and a tale about the wicked Bart is told, though its revealed its Skinner trying to prove that pranks don't pay.

Quick Review
I'm not even 30 years old yet and already these newfangled technologies bother me so.  Well, not really, its not like I'm not familiar with Facebook or anything, but the open-faced parallel the episode does with it and the movie based on it just does not work.  You can tell the writers realized they had a dud on their hands when they left it so short they needed a really long couch gag as well as not one, but two short stories to fill time.  There was just so much about the main episode that wasn't funny, it easily makes it the worst episode of the season (...thus far...).

Final Score: 4.7

The Great Simpsina (S22, E18-482)

Showing someone how a magic trick works just because they're cute.  Lisa Simpson, everyone.

Plot Summary
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

The Scorpion's Tale (S22, E15-479)

It's like I'm watching modern Family Guy!

Plot Summary
The school takes a field trip to "Satan's Anvil", a desert-like location, Lisa wanders off from the group only to fall right in front of a pair of scorpions.  She backpedals into a field of flowers, where she notices the scorpions have become docile.  Realizing the flower is behind it, Lisa takes the two scorpions along with a flower back with her.  On the way back, she and Bart notice Grampa getting kicked out of the retirement home on account of him being way too cranky, and the two realize where he's going to go next: the Simpson home where Grampa's crankiness annoys all.

Lisa is eventually able to synthesize a fluid from the flower which has the same calming effect on the scorpions.  Homer decides to see if it works as a stain remover and, upon learning it does, decides to try out the liquid on angry Grampa.  He sneaks it into the old man's morning coffee, which has an immediate impact.  Grampa is actually happy, joyous, full of glee.  Lisa quickly suspects the cause, and despite Grampa openly admitting its better for everyone if he keeps taking the fluid, Lisa refuses to let her grandfather be drugged and flushes away the only vial of fluid available.

Homer takes Grampa to the bar, the latter having since regained his grumble.  As Homer laments that he can't make more formula as Lisa won't tell him which flower it is, an odd German man overhears the dilemma and offers help.  He runs a pharmaceutical company, and is able to extract a drop of Grampa's sweat with the formula within, and promises to isolate the drug, and isolate it he does.  While the man promises to have the drug undergo vigorous testing, he gives Grampa a large bottle full of pills for the drug, warning him, Homer and Bart not to let the drug fall into the wrong hands, because it could be sold in the black market.

Bart quickly gets his hands working, and grabs plenty of the pills to sells across town to people fed up with their cranky old folks, like Principal Skinner and Smithers.  Soon, all the seniors across town are docile.  At home, Lisa apologizes to Grampa for her previous behavior as she's glad Grampa can be happy.  Everything seems to be good... until Grampa's eyes fall out of his socket.  Lisa quickly theorizes that a side effect of the flower's solution is that it lubricates the eye sockets so greatly, the eyeballs can simply slide right out.  When Bart admits he's sold plenty of the drug to other seniors, the family is forced to tell the German what has happened.  While the guy is initially willing to let things be, his company's credo just won't let him.  He confronts a happy mob of seniors, all with their eye sockets loosened, telling them he has no choice but to destroy all traces of the drug.  With the seniors coming back to their senses, and Homer putting some kind of moronic display which ruins his car, Grampa rallies the other cranky seniors to remind the younger generations why they're so awful.  They quickly fix Homer's car (which the episode implies Homer had planned), and Lisa struggles to come up with a moral to this odd, odd story.

Quick Review
This episode, after a rather slow start with that boring segment at Satan's Anvil, picks up rather well when Grampa get put into the story.  Grampa is usually a solid source of comedy for me, and angry Grampa provides a fairly strong level of comedy, and even when he becomes docile the comedy is still pretty decent.  The episode takes a dive once the first set of eyeballs pop out in what seems like an out of place occurrence that reminds me more of the shock humor seen in other programs.  As such, the episode ends on a rough note, but overall it still makes for a decent episode if mostly because of Grampa.

Final Score: 7.1

Elementary School Musical (S22, E01-465)

The two hear a classic form of art outside: the art of killing!

Plot Summary
Somehow, Krusty wins the Nobel Peace Prize.  He has a press conference about it in Springfield before flying to Oslo to claim his prize, when a joke he gives elicits the laughter of only one person: Homer Simpson.  Krusty decides to bring Homer along to laugh at his jokes at the prize ceremony, and Homer is allowed to bring Bart as well.  Lisa, the only Simpson to actually care about the Nobel prize, is miffed that Bart gets to do all the cool things because he's the oldest, and Maggie gets to do some other things because she's the youngest.  Marge understands Lisa's frustrations, so instead of going home Marge takes Lisa to a week's worth of Performing Arts camp, much to Lisa's joy.

After other campers who sound suspiciously like the cast members of Glee welcome Lisa via song, Lisa meets two men who are the camp's counselors.  With their help, Lisa has the best week of her life.  The two counselors, along with Stephen Hawking and a cow, pronounce Lisa has artistic talent and to pursue it as best she can.  Unfortunately for Lisa, the week eventually ends and Marge picks Lisa up much against her will.  Lisa has a hard time readjusting to her boring life at school and at home and decides to run off to "Sprooklyn", a borough of Springfield, to meet up with her magical counselors again.

Meanwhile, Krusty's plane does not land in Oslo, but rather in the Hague, as it turns out Krusty fell into an international trap to nab him for various supposed crimes against humanity.  Krusty gets sent to jail, but will be released if he can show one instance where he positively influenced the world.  Of course, Krusty can't, so its off to jail for him, but Bart and Homer try to find anything over the internet which can save Krusty.  Bart eventually comes up with something: a video from 1990 where Krusty cancels a performance in South Africa, and three days later Nelson Mandela is released from jail.  The judge for some reason makes a connection between the two events, and lets Krusty go free for his supposed good deed.

Lisa finds her counselors in their apartment, but gets hit hard with reality when she finds out neither guy is doing all that well.  Turns out, a career in performance arts leads to ruin for most and they're left to work at a Subway parody getting lunch from the sandwiches and sandwich toppings they "drop" on the floor.  The two have also since lost some musical ability since camp, and Lisa is glad when Marge finally finds her.  Before they leave, though, the counselors tell Lisa they do have a surprise for her: they paint a sign on a building's side stating that Sprooklyn is the "once and future home of the great Lisa Simpson".  Lisa is happy with this parting gift, and the two counselors go back to their minimal wage, if that, jobs.

Quick Review
Once again I'm left with an episode that's better than I expected it to be.  Advertised as an episode featuring the cast of Glee, those people actually had very little presence and it was other guest stars that made the difference.  A surprise guest spot from Stephen Hawking is more than welcome, and the two members of the two member group Flight of the Concords provided excellent spots for their respective counselor characters, making the main Lisa story very decent.  Add in a good Krusty side story, and it makes for a good, if not great, start to the season.

Final Score: 7.6

The Squirt and the Whale (S21, E19-460)

Tugboats aren't called tugboats because they tug whales around.

Plot Summary
With the electric bill high, Homer takes advice from Lisa to seek alternate energy solutions.  Ultimately, Lisa convinces him to try out wind power, and gets a fan to collect wind energy.  Homer is happy with the new arrangement and calls the electric company to get off the grid.  This also means that whenever the wind is calm, the Simpsons get no power, but they make due.  Soon, though, a destructive wind storm blows through, giving the Simpsons too much power but, more importantly, gusts that bring damage all over the place.  The wind collector gets broken, but later on the house gets plenty of power anyway somehow.  The next day, Bart and Lisa decide to survey the damage across town.  Upon reaching the beach, they come across a startling discovery: a whale has washed ashore.

Lisa quickly gets people to help the whale stay wet while she gets her parents to come up with a plan to get it back in the water.  Privately, Marge tells Homer she's aware what often happens to beached whales and she doesn't want Lisa's to get her hopes up.  Homer is defiant, though, and promises to save the whale.  However, several attempts by him and the other townspeople prove fruitless.  Lisa stays with the whale overnight, but falls asleep.  Lisa wakes up to find that an entire army corps has come to successfully rescue the whale.  Lisa is ecstatic, but as the whale starts jumping around in the stars, Lisa realizes its a dream and wakes up for real, learning in horror that the whale has actually died.

Homer tries to comfort Lisa, but nothing doing.  The whale's carcass is eventually blown up, its parts harvested for various exploitative products.  Lisa goes back to the beach afterwards, and sees two baby whales nearby, liking the offspring of the whale that just died.  However, the babies are threatened by sharks, and Lisa has no choice but to accept nature's cruelty.  However, Homer arrives on a boat he rented, and promises Lisa he'll save the whales from the sharks.  He's stopped by some activists, who won't let Homer hurt the sharks either, and Lisa sadly agrees.  Homer tries to counterpoint, but falls out of the boat and becomes the new target of the sharks.  Just then, another gigantic whale, likely the father, appears below Homer and saves him and the babies from the sharks.  The babies are saved, and Lisa is glad Homer reminded her to never give up.

Quick Review
Well, its a sweet episode.  It has the emotion of the whale dying, and Lisa learning from Homer to never give up.  It makes for a powerful episode if it could back it up with some funny material.  Of course, its hard to have such a heavy episode be funny as well, and this episode is no exception to that.  I appreciate what the episode tried to do, but it just wasn't that funny.

Final Score: 6.4

Rednecks and Broomsticks (S21, E07-448)

Snowball isn't gonna deal with this freaky nonsense.

Plot Summary
The Simpsons drive home from a ski resort.  Bart, Lisa and Maggie try to pass the time on the very long drive by playing a knock-off of the once-notable Bop It game.  This goes on for hours, and eventually Homer has enough, grabbing the contraption and stomping it right under his seat.  Predictably, pieces of the toy get under the brake pedal, while at the same time the distracted Homer is unaware he's driving in the wrong lane.  He is forced to drive off the road, and after a rocky ride, the car eventually winds up in the middle of a frozen lake that has since cracked open, and the family as a whole falls unconscious.

Cletus is able to rescue them and bring them back to health.  To further this, Cletus shows Homer a moonshine operation he has in the backyard, then is amazed when Homer is able to accurately detail what is inside the booze.  Cletus now insists he take Homer around the area and have him taste other moonshine.  Meanwhile, Lisa accidentally stumbles upon three girls who refer to themselves as Wiccans, some code word for witches.  Ever the skeptic, Lisa doubts they'd be able to cast a spell to get Lisa out of the pipe cleaner project due the next day, but to her surprise Ms. Hoover suddenly gets sick and Lisa is saved.  Lisa returns to the women to learn more, and becomes interested when she learns they care about nature as well.  Lisa starts practicing being a Wiccan in her room, which the ever cautious Ned Flanders spies, calling a hotline to take care of the problem.

Back in the woods, Homer and some other redneck are having some kind of moonshine tasting competition, but they hear police coming and everyone is forced to dump their booze.  Meanwhile, nearby, Lisa is about to be initiated by the women when the police stop them, having arrived not for the moonshiners but for the Wiccans, who are arrested for witchcraft.  Just before the trial, one of the Wiccans, angry over the predicament, curses the town to become blind.  Crazily enough, half the town does go blind, causing some panic.  Despite that, Judge Snyder believes this case to be too flimsy even by flimsy standards, and dismisses the case.  However, Moe leads a mob that capture the witches and hold an old fashioned witch trial of their own.

Going back out to the woods, the mob, now with the mayor's backing, acquire an old device that is meant to dunk the accused in the water, with the surviving being proven to be a witch.  Before the women are forced to the machine, Lisa arrives to tell them what really happened: when the rednecks ditched their moonshine when they thought the police were arriving, a lot of it ended up in the river, which flows into the town's reservoir.  Therefore, people who drank from there after the fact ended up temporarily blind from the moonshine.  Homer tastes the water in the river to confirm it, and the women are set free.  Moe tries to get the mob to get angry about something else, only succeeding in getting them mad at him.  Still, Lisa is glad to open her mind to a new set of beliefs, and Homer finds a new way to have fun with his redneck buddies by playing with the witch torturing machine.

Quick Review
I probably should've expected this.  For the first time since Season 14, there was a string of three episodes where two of those three scored an eight or higher.  There was no way that string of quality could continue in this era of Simpsons, and sure enough this clunker comes along to bring that streak to a crashing halt.

Homer's story with Cletus had minor potential and I suppose it was reached despite the fact that it fizzled out toward the episode's end.  The Wiccan story which ends up becoming the episode's main plot was just boring, mostly unfunny and at times painful to watch.  If it wasn't for the moonshine subplot this could've been one of the worst episodes of the series just from how bland it was.

Final Score: 6.0

Lisa the Drama Queen (S20, E09-429)

Imagination... or delusion?  You decide.

Plot Summary
Homer drops Bart and Lisa off at the recreation center.  There, Lisa finds a new friend: Juliet, whose parents have just moved to Springfield.  Lisa enjoys Juliet's intellect and taste in music, and the two become very good friends and, after having Juliet stay over for a night, the two become best friends.  That night, the two begin work on a fantasy land where everyone is equal except the two of them, who are its queens, calling it Equalia.

Juliet's family invites the Simpsons over for dinner, where Juliet openly disagrees with her father over music and runs off.  Lisa catches up to Juliet, who has deluded herself into fully imagining Equalia, and Lisa imagines it right with her.  The two become completely enveloped in Equalia and its adventures, chronicling them in a notebook.  However, Lisa's focus on Equalia has left her struggling in school, so Marge is left with no other option but to have Lisa stop seeing Juliet.  At school, however, Lisa is met by Juliet, who tells Lisa she's running away and wants Lisa to join her.  Lisa decides to forgo her important Model U.N. duties and the two run off together.

Juliet takes Lisa to an abandoned clam restaurant with a medieval theme out in the forest, and the two decide to stake out there.  Marge is informed by Model U.N. participant Martin that Lisa is absent, and Marge quickly realizes what's happened, and takes the family to where Marge believes two girls fantasizing about medieval castles would go.  Unfortunately, Marge guesses wrong as they head to the mini-golf course.  Meanwhile, Lisa and Juliet's new adventures are interrupted by Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney, who had made the restaurant their base.  They capture the girls, and leave Kearney to guard them as the other two go elsewhere for a time.  The two girls try to forget their troubles by continuing their Equalia adventures, but inadvertently intrigue Kearney as well.  Some time later, Kearney is as enveloped in Equalia as they are.  Jimbo and Dolph return, and decide to burn the notebook Lisa and Juliet had been working on.  Kearney, however, refuses to let his new favorite fantasy land burn away and attacks the other two, allowing Lisa and Juliet to escape with the book.  Lisa realizes that its not good to always stay in a fantasy land, and that being grounded in real life isn't a bad thing either.  Juliet disagrees, believing the real world to be devoid of imagination, and takes her leave, effectively ending their friendship.  Some time later, Lisa receives word that the Chronicles of Equalia have been rejected as a book, but Homer is... somewhat... inspired to write a fantasy novel of his own.  Then for some reason Bart lets Fallout Boy perform during the credits.

Quick Review
This episode has several bright spots, most notably during the Simpsons' dinner at Juliet's house.  However, the multiple scenes featuring Lisa and Juliet together were just... not funny.  There were several instances in those scenes where it didn't seem like humor was even attempted, and from that, this episode's score suffers harshly because it seemed like this episode would've been fine had it kept up with the comedy throughout.

As an aside, this is the first episode to break up into four segments instead of three, as the episode now begins immediately after the opening sequence.  Much more notably, this is the final episode to air in standard definition as the new production of episodes begins the following episode.  This is also the final episode to use the opening sequence that had been in place since Season 2.  It was used during the best of times and, for now, the worst of times.  It is definitely the end of an era.

Final Score: 6.7

All About Lisa (S19, E20-420)

If she's not getting a high on second hand smoke, its small-time fame.  Lisa sure is messed up.

Plot Summary
Its the 38th Entertainer of the Year Award ceremony, and it turns out the award is being given to Lisa!  Sideshow Mel narrates a tale as to how this came to be, as well as a mostly unrelated side story involving coin collecting.

Some time ago, Krusty has his 4000th show, somehow getting Drew Carey to do an opening for him.  After Krusty does a segment involving his old Krusketeers, he announces he's going to have auditions for a new Krusketeer.  Bart tries out for it, and seems like the best of the bunch, but the part goes to Nelson after his mom has sex with Krusty to secure the spot.  Lisa is upset over this, and tries to convince Krusty to bring Bart in anyway as an unpaid intern.  Krusty is intrigued by Lisa's idea, and decides to hire Lisa as his new intern instead.  Lisa is initially overwhelmed by Krusty's attitude, especially after Krusty fires Nelson for no good reason, but Sideshow Mel gives Lisa tips on surviving, and soon Lisa is able to become a pro intern.

Meanwhile, Bart is upset over how Lisa has a job with Krusty and Bart doesn't (never mind that he has), so Homer helps him try to sell all of his Krusty-endorsed crap to the comic book guy, who only takes it in exchange for a coin collecting book.  Homer and Bart decide, hey, its a decent way to waste time, so they decide to collect coins.  They eventually collect all but one coin: a rare misprinted penny featuring two "kissing" Lincolns.  The two find one penny in an auction but are outbid by Mr. Burns.  However, before Burns leave Homer tricks the man into giving him change for a nickel, and Burns gives Homer the penny by accident.  Homer and Bart finish their collection, and put the book away never to be bothered with again.

Lisa has to fill in for Krusty's monkey Teeny, and takes part in a bit where she pushes Krusty into a pool.  The laughter and applause she gets from it is intoxicating, and just a week later she "forgets" to tell a vacationing Krusty about a rehearsal, and she does so well during it the executives replace Krusty with her.  Lisa's new show is a big hit, and she does so well, she earns the Entertainer of the Year award, which brings Mel back to the present time.

Mel visits Lisa afterward, and shows her a line of portraits featuring past winners.  Lisa doesn't recognize any of them, and Mel tells her that they've all become embarrassments, including one Melvin Van Horne.  Mel tells Lisa that applause is an addiction, once you have some you'll do anything for more, including becoming Krusty the Klown's sidekick.  Lisa understands Mel's message, and quickly finds a way to get Krusty back into the spotlight so she can silently retire.  Mel is happy for Lisa, and also envies that she was able to retain her dignity.

Quick Review
This was a pretty decent episode, a good way to end what has been a rather dismal season.  The coin collecting side story had its moments, and so did the Lisa portion of the episode as it wasn't so much focused on her, but moreso Krusty and Mel.  That helped bring in some comedy, and kept the episode in a level of decency.

Final Score: 7.3

Any Given Sundance (S19, E18-418)

Movie stardom turns everyone into monsters, it seems.

Plot Summary
The Simpsons go to a football game between Springfield U and Springfield A&M not to watch the game, but to enjoy the tailgating food beforehand.  Lisa is initially bored with the whole thing, but with Marge's push, Lisa decides to simply film the things that occur during the tailgate, enjoying the supposed 'artistic' side of reality.  She turns in the video to her AV class, but gets only a 3/5.  Lisa goes to Principal Skinner to complain, but Skinner sees the video as something more than a 5/5, he believes Lisa is a natural filmmaker, and that he's more than willing to help Lisa create another film in the eventual hope that she'll win an Oscar and give it to him.  Lisa agrees to make another film, and Skinner gives her the perfect thing for the film to be about: her family.

As Lisa starts filming her family, Superintendent Chalmers visits Skinner, and the two agree that Lisa's film is of utmost importance, agreeing to submit Lisa's film to the Sundance Film Festival upon its completion.  The ultra-hipster film committee there loves Lisa's background, and accepts the movie on that alone without actually watching the movie.  The Simpson are invited to the festival where they get to see Lisa's movie.  However, the film actually paints the members in a rather negative light, yet the movie is huge hit with the audience.  The family gets mad at Lisa for how the movie portrayed them (especially after the film admits Lisa did the editing as well), and they grow tired of the crowd constantly hounding and mocking them.

Lisa regrets what she's done, but she is met by another filmmaker, the notable(?) Jim Jarmusch.  He takes Lisa to watch another film, also submitted by Skinner and Chalmers (who have since become big shots at Sundance).  This film, which chronicles Nelson's awful life, becomes an even bigger hit, and the present-minded Sundance audience have forgotten about the Simpsons so they can praise their new lords, the Muntz family.  Lisa thanks Jarmusch for his help, and the family forgives Lisa for her movie, admiring her quirky way of showing her love for them.

Quick Review
This was another mostly boring episode.  To be fair, Jim Jarmusch provided a much better guest spot than what I was expecting and his presence helped boost the episode.  However, the combination of Skinner and Chalmers, usually a rock-solid source of comedy, started to hinder the episode once they teamed up at Sundance, which hurt the episode.  The "production company" the two create in this episode, ChalmSkin, is referenced often in later episodes, and always very poorly.  In all, its another weak entry as the season falls to a disastrous close.

Final Score: 6.0

Smoke on the Daughter (S19, E15-415)

Lisa sure does succumb to pressure pretty easily.

Plot Summary
The Simpsons are watching TV late one night after returning from a book release, and Marge sees an ad for ballet lessons.  Lisa is curious, and Marge tells her that it was her dream as a child to grow up to become a ballerina, but had to abandon the dream after she lost her balance due to her improper breast growth.  Still, with the new opportunity, she gives it another go.  However, the instructor there is less than impressed with Marge's effort, and shoos her aside.  Lisa protests, but the instructor notices Lisa's posture and movements seem to be perfect for a ballerina, and admits Lisa into his ballet school.

Meanwhile, Homer reveals to Bart a hidden secret of his: a homemade beef jerky operation.  Soon, he tries to sell his batch to Apu, but is stunned to learn all of his jerky is gone.  Homer and Bart track who ate his prize, and after confronting Flanders over it, Bart finds the real culprits: a pair of raccoons.  Homer catches them inside a hollowed tree, but finds that the raccoons are part of a family, a family that looks suspiciously like the Simpsons, that are being fed from Homer's jerky.  Homer relents and lets his new friends eat up.

Lisa is having trouble with ballet at first.  During a break outside, she asks the others how they cope with the pressure, and they reveal their secret: smoking.  Lisa refuses to join in, opting to breathe the "fresh air" instead, though all she inhales is the second-hand smoke.  However, afterwards, Lisa dances much better, and she learns it was the second hand smoke that helped her out.  The next time around, Lisa can't catch a whiff because its a windy day and, in desperation, attempts to upgrade to first-hand smoke.  Just then, Homer arrives in time to stop Lisa from smoking, and angrily takes her home.  He attempts to tell Marge about it, however Marge has fully embraced Lisa's new role, living her dream through Lisa, and learning of anything bad will likely ruin her.  Homer opts to not tell Marge, but tells Lisa she can't inhale any smoke, not even second handed, having Bart keep a close eye on her to make sure.  The next time around, sure enough, Lisa partakes in second hand smoke, so Bart informs Homer, and the two meet up to concoct a plan.

The day comes for the girls to have a dance recital.  Lisa can't get her form together, so during the next break, she inhales some more smoke with the other girls in the locker room.  Homer and Bart are nearby, ready to pull off their crazy plan: they have their new raccoon friend infiltrate the locker room and remove from it all of the cigarettes the girls were smoking.  After the first act, the girls panic upon learning their smokes are gone, and when the second act begins, the girls are unfocused, jittery, and bordering on madness.  Lisa stops the play right there and then, and informs the crowd of the dangerous hobby that ruins lives: ballet.  She quits, and Marge realizes that she shouldn't force her dreams onto Lisa.

Quick Review
This episode was okay for the most part.  While the episode was focused on Lisa, most of the episode's humor came from Homer, whether it was from his beef jerky scheme or near the end of the episode when he puts a stop to the smoking shenanigans with his raccoon friend.  That latter scene in particular really brought the episode's score up, as I hadn't laughed that well at a scene in quite some time.

Final Score: 7.3