Loan-a Lisa (S22, E02-466)

Lisa just can't deal with the sad, sad truth.

Plot Summary
Grampa decides to give the family their inheritance money: $50 each.  They go to a store to spend it where Marge finds a nice purse for $50; however the tag was covered and the purse actually goes for $500.  With friends and critiquers ready to ridicule Marge for her relative lack of money, Marge rebukes them by buying the purse anyway.  She promises Homer she'll return it the next day, but Homer decides to let Marge take it out once for dinner.  Marge tries to be extra cautious to make sure the bag gets through the dinner clean, but Homer gets just a tiny bit of cocktail sauce on it, and Marge is in a panic.  Still, she tries to return it the next day, and is able to get a full refund from it regardless.  While Marge is relieved, Homer sees a potential in buying expensive crap only to return it for full price, and decides to exploit it in a way only Homer can.  Of course, after buying and trying to return dozens of items, Chris Hansen and his TV crew are able to catch Homer in the act and he is forced to stop though more than happy to be on TV.

Meanwhile, Lisa decides to use her $50 to give to someone as part of a "micro-loan" meant for the less fortunate to start up a small business, a program set up by the notable Muhammad Yunus.  Lisa looks around, and finds someone in East Springfield looking for a loan: Nelson, who wants to start up a bike repair service.  Lisa decides to anonymous loan Nelson the $50.  Quickly, Nelson's business becomes a success and he's able to hire workers to help him out at $11 an hour.  Lisa decides to reveal to Nelson she's the loaner, and Nelson thanks Lisa for that, but then he tells Lisa he's going to quit school to focus on the shop, which stuns Lisa.

Lisa tries to convince Principal Skinner to keep Nelson in school, but Skinner is more interested in the high paying job Nelson is offering.  Lisa takes Nelson to an Entrepreneur Expo where the two meet Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook.  Lisa hopes Zuckerberg can convince Nelson to stay in school, but Mark tells Lisa that he, and several other highly successful people actually dropped out of college.  Lisa is once again defeated.  Later, though, Lisa finds Nelson's shop overrun with angry customers whose bikes have fallen apart.  It turns out Nelson has been using a water-soluble glue, meaning its not weather resistant.  Unaware of this, Nelson is convinced he needs to stay in school for at least awhile longer, which pleases Lisa.  Nelson loans Skinner $50 to get the school back on track, and spends the rest of the money to take himself and Lisa roller skating, where the two remain friends while tripping up other skaters not that Lisa is trying to do that.

Quick Review
Well, this episode wasn't all that good.  The sidestory involving Homer had some potential but it was too short and the way it ended with Chris Hanson was just weird.  What ended up being the main plot with Nelson wasn't all that funny either, and the appearances by Zuckerberg and Yunus really didn't do much for me.

Final Score: 6.3

The Haw-Hawed Couple (S18, E08-386)

Beating up a guy dressed as Doctor Octopus is much more fun with a friend!

Plot Summary
Nelson attempts to force everyone to go to his birthday party again.  Bart has enough and convinces everyone not to go.  At home, Bart brags about this accomplishment, but Marge overhears and chides Bart for his mean act, forcing him to go to that party.  There, Bart realizes that the party actually has a nice setup, with edible food and actual entertainment, but as expected nobody else is there.  Nelson greets Bart, panicked that no one else has shown up, but the two end up having genuine fun.  The next day, Bart is ready to move on as normal, however he's stunned to find Nelson asking Bart to sit next to him, as Nelson considers Bart his new best friend.

Bart initially tries to opt out, but after he's saved from Jimbo by Nelson, realizes that by sticking with Nelson he'll have some protection.  The two quickly become best friends, with Bart even receiving a vest like Nelson's to wear.  One day, though, Milhouse confronts Bart over recent events, pressuring Bart into flying kites with him.  Nelson witnesses Bart doing this, and confronts Bart over it a short time later angrily.  Nelson soon apologizes for his behavior, but Bart isn't interested in this kind of relationship and ends his friendship with Nelson, which basically means Nelson's going to annihilate him at some point now.

Meanwhile, Lisa forces Homer to read her a bedtime story.  Homer reads a tale about Angelica Button, a story rather similar to another famous wizard story, but he quickly becomes entrenched in its story.  He wants to read further on his own, but Lisa makes him promise to only read the book with her.  Still, Homer can't resist, and as Lisa is off at a friend's house, Homer reads ahead, where he learns that Greystash (whom he had inserted himself into in scenes), dies in the book's climatic battle to save the young Button.  Homer is devastated by the ending, even more so when he realizes he'll have to read the ending to Lisa, likely ending her childhood.  Not willing to let that happen, Homer makes up a new ending as he reads to Lisa, one where Greystash lives and wins, and Button is freed somehow, and the two have a happy ending.  Lisa appreciates Homer reading the entire book, and after reading the real ending afterward she still prefers Homer's version.

The 4th grade class goes on a field trip to some tide pools for some reason.  In a cave nearby, Nelson confronts Bart once more.  Bart expects a few punches, but instead Nelson lectures Bart over how bad of a friend he's been, interested in Nelson's protection but not his friendship.  Bart tries to defend himself, but the cave is flooded by the tide.  Nelson is able to save Bart, but their friendship is officially over, and the status quo is returned.  Still, Bart will treasure that wonderful week he and Nelson were friends.

Quick Review
This episode is one of the best ones thus far early this season.  Both the main plot and the secondary plot have good moments, with Homer and Lisa's sidestory particularly endearing, and while the quantity of jokes still isn't what it was, this time around the quality was there, and it makes for a good episode.

Final Score: 7.4

Sleeping with the Enemy (S16, E03-338)

Most people with peanut allergies this bad would die.  Yet, there's this.

Plot Summary
At school, Lisa is being made fun of by Sherri and Terri for having a big butt.  A talk with Homer only convinces Lisa that her big butt is because she's fat.  At the same time, Bart arrives to state that he got a 100% on a state capitals test, which is eventually confirmed by Mrs. Krabappel herself (because she left a map open for the class to see).  As promised, Marge holds an impromptu party for Bart, but its pretty lame and features mostly relatives, as well as Ralph and Martin.  Marge tries to salvage the party the best she can, but after implying Lisa likes getting fat, Marge runs off to console her, and the party abruptly ends.

Marge is unable to have fun with either kid, with Lisa's newfound struggles toward thinness and Bart's desire to stay away from Marge.  She goes to the park, where she finds Nelson Muntz trying to grab tadpoles for food.  Out of pity I guess, she gives Nelson Lisa's lunch, Lisa unwilling to eat right now.  Later, after Bart and Lisa both turn down the opportunity to go to the bowling alley with Marge, Marge finds Nelson again and the two have fun bowling.  Its here that Marge learns that Nelson's father has been missing for some time, having disappeared after leaving to get cigarettes.  Out of pity, probably, Marge decides to have Nelson do some chores for the day for money.  That night, though, Nelson's mom confronts Marge over giving Nelson 'charity', and the two get into an argument.  Later that night, Nelson somberly walks to the Simpson house, and tells Marge that his mother ditched him to get an acting job in Hollywood.  With nowhere else to go, Marge lets Nelson stay in Bart's room.

Though Bart can't really handle this new situation, Marge can't help but appreciate Nelson's charms.  One night, though, Bart overhears Nelson in the living room, singing a song about his missing father.  Bart then checks in on Lisa in the kitchen, whose dedicated efforts to lose weight go haywire when she goes on a crazed cake binge.  As Bart leaves, Nelson finishes his song and talks to Lisa.  He agrees to help Lisa with mean old Sherri and Terri, setting up a plot the next day to have the twins get hit with a skunk so Lisa can lead a mocking cry against them.  With the mission complete, Lisa and Nelson return home to find Nelson's father.  The man explains that he did go to buy cigarettes one day, but haphazardly goes to eat a candy bar full of peanuts, which he's allergic to.  His face swelling, Nelson's father goes nuts (sorry for the pun) and runs into the street.  The crazed man stumbles on a circus parade, whose ringleader practically captures the elder Muntz into the freak show, with people throwing peanuts at him to keep his disfigured, crazed form.  That's where Bart finds and rescues the man, and now he's back to provide for Nelson once again, as well as his mom who found an acting gig.  The Muntz family is back together, and everything seems okay though Homer can't get Lisa to conclude her weight problem sidestory.

Quick Review
The disappearance of Nelson's father, last seen in Season 9, became a little-used running gag, featured in a few episodes in recent seasons, but comes to a conclusion with this episode.  This episode also features several occurrences of something that's popped up in recent seasons I've come to rather dislike: Nelson haw-hawing something but then immediately explaining why he's doing it, as though the audience isn't able to figure it out on its own.

That, combined with the rather farfetched explanation of how Nelson's father disappeared hurt this episode rather badly, making it one of the weaker entries in the entire series.

Final Score: 5.6

Lisa's Date with Density (S08, E07-160)

Its like Lisa almost wanted Milhouse to get hurt.
Milhouse isn't helping his own cause, though.

Plot Summary
After the "H" on Superintendent Chalmer's Honda is stolen, Skinner does a search of every student's locker, ultimately finding it in Nelson Muntz's locker along with several other stolen items.  As Nelson is forced to return those items, Lisa chides Nelson for his behavior, while Nelson is further punished by being given a week's worth of janitorial work.  Later, during music class, Lisa spies Nelson pulling a prank on Willie, which she finds funny.  The laughter is misconstrued by the teacher, and Lisa is given detention.  After Nelson pops in to give Lisa tips on making detention less taxing, Lisa takes a moment to look at Nelson, realizing in momentary disgust that she's developing a crush on Nelson.

Meanwhile, Homer finds an auto-dialer tossed away by the police after a telemarketing raid.  Despite seeing the consequences of such actions first-hand, Homer takes the auto-dialer anyway and sets up a "Happy Dude" scheme, calling everyone in town in hopes of them giving Homer $1 each under the promise of "eternal happiness".  The plan starts off modestly, though at night the auto-dialer is set to redial on Flanders' number non-stop.

Lisa blurts her newfound crush to Milhouse, and has him deliver a message to Nelson: "guess who likes you".  Nelson mistakes it as a message from Milhouse, and promptly annihilates him.  Afterward, Lisa admits to Nelson that she was the one who wrote the message, and in an attempt to get him to like her has him visit her house (and later vice versa).  Nelson proves to be more difficult than Lisa anticipates, but Marge advises her to keep at it.

Lisa dresses Nelson up, and the two have a date up near the observatory.  Lisa tries to start up a conversation, but Nelson tires of it and 'shuts her up' with a kiss.  He comes to like it, though, and Lisa starts to believe her plan of changing Nelson is working.  Just then, Nelson's bully friends - Jimbo, Kearney and Dolph - appear and chide Nelson for his newfound feeling.  They found some expired cole slaw they want to sling at Skinner's house, and while Nelson does want to get back at Skinner, with Lisa around he refuses to go, much to Lisa's pleasure.

Later that night, after Lisa went home, Nelson meets up with the bullies at Skinner's house and throws cole slaw at it anyway.  The group is forced to disperse when the police arrive.  Nelson runs to the Simpson house to get help from Lisa, claiming they're after him for no reason, and she helps him flee.  The police arrive at the Simpson house, and open fire.  The target: the auto-dialer, which was annoying even Chief Wiggum.  The police then force Homer to come to court.  Elsewhere, the auto-dialer diversion allows Lisa and Nelson to escape, but Nelson blurts out that he was, in fact, causing mischief at Skinner's place.  Lisa finally realizes that she can't change Nelson, and two split up on relatively good terms.  Milhouse learns of this quickly and is overjoyed, while some time later, Homer uses the auto-dialer to send a court-mandated apology to everyone, while at the same time hoping they send $1 to "Sorry Dude".

Quick Review
While the Lisa and Nelson plot was okay on its own, Homer's auto-dialer subplot was superb, and both Skinner's and Milhouse's few appearances in the episode were worth several laughs as well.

Final Score: 9.2