My Big Fat Geek Wedding (S15, E17-330)

Call me whatever, but I'm fairly sure this isn't how Klingon couples get together.

Plot Summary
At long last, Principal Skinner and Mrs. Krabappel are going to have their wedding!  For some reason, Marge is hosting Edna's bachelorette party at her house, while Homer leads the charge for Skinner's bachelor party... at Moe's.  Its there that Skinner reveals he's getting cold feet.  The next day, at the wedding, Skinner tries to flee but Homer stops him.  Edna witnesses this and realizes that passionless Skinner wouldn't make for a good husband, and so she leaves him at the altar.

For some reason, Marge consoles Edna while Homer tries to lift Skinner's spirits.  All the while, Marge and Homer are having marital spats of their own, which conflict with Homer's efforts to get Skinner back with Edna.  Hard on the rebound, Edna takes a liking to the comic book guy, and it sure doesn't take long for those two to 'get busy'.  Noticing Skinner outside in Homer's latest attempt to get him back with Homer, the comic book guy notes he'll be taking Edna to the Bi-Mon-Sci-Fi-Con.  Marge learns of Edna's rebound, and though she and Homer still aren't getting along the family goes to get Edna back on track.

At the convention, they family notices Edna walking into a side room.  Comic book guy, dressed in Klingon gear, proposes to Edna right in front of a bunch of other 'Klingons', but Skinner barges in, dressed as Catwoman, to stop it.  As he and comic book guy start to fight, Edna stops both of them.  Edna refuses to get back with Skinner, but also realizes she and comic book guy just wouldn't work either.  The matter is settled, and Homer quickly sets up a 'second wedding' to patch things up with Marge.

Quick Review
Thus ends the seven-year saga of the relationship between Seymour Skinner and Edna Krabappel, a saga which included three episodes (including this one), and a few other references to the fact that they were once together.  Also thrown into the mix is your standard Homer-and-Marge-are-having-marital-problems episode, as well as a few clunky comic book guy-related references.  Combined, it makes for a decidingly bad episode.  There aren't that many jokes, period, and even fewer that are actually funny, and there are a few cringeworthy moments peppered throughout that makes this episode somewhat awkward to watch.

Final Score: 5.8

Special Edna (S14, E07-298)

I'd make a particular comment here, but I don't want to get tortured.

Plot Summary
The relationship between Principal Skinner and Edna Krabappel is strained, as Skinner is continuously taken away from dating Edna because his mother forces him back home for some tedious thing or another.  The series of blow-offs get to Edna, and she becomes depressed.  Bart notices this and can't help but find some way to make Edna feel better.  After a pity date of sorts, Bart still feels like there's something more he can do, and takes Lisa's suggestion to nominate Edna for Teacher of the Year.  The nomination committee decide to nominate Edna on the single basis that she's had to deal with Bart Simpson, and Edna's spirits are restored after learning of her nomination.

As the awards are in Orlando, Edna is given a free trip there, as do the Simpson family as Bart was the one who nominated her.  Skinner becomes worried that if Edna wins the award, she'll quit teaching, thereby having no reason to stick with him or something, and decides to go down to Orlando to stop her from being courted by other men.  However, he brings his mother along (technically she brought him), which only infuriates Edna further.  Once again worried that Edna will leave him upon winning the award, Skinner blackmails Bart into sabotaging Edna's chances of winning.

During the awards, where three teachers including Edna still need to prove themselves deserving, Bart goes on stage and pretends that Edna never taught him how to read.  Skinner, attending the awards with his mother, instantly feels bad about this and goes on stage to set the record straight.  He apologizes to Edna for how he's been acting, and to prove that his mother doesn't control him (mostly), he proposes to Edna right there, and she accepts.  The two remain a couple (for another season, anyway), and Homer decides to sneak into the price-gouger that is Disney World.

Quick Review
The jokes in the episode, which were mostly either "Skinner's mom" jokes or "Epcot is lame" jokes, didn't work out all that often, and the ending of the episode seemed kinda rushed.  It seems like the episode tries to focus on telling its story, then loses track of time and wraps things up rather hastily, all the while forgetting that it was supposed to be funny as well.  That's what it seemed like to me, anyway.

Final Score: 6.8

Grade School Confidential (S08, E19-172)

Lucky for the rest of us we won't ever had to worry
about being a 44 year old virgin, right?  Am I right?

Plot Summary
Martin Prince is having a birthday party, and invites everyone including his teacher Mrs. Krabappel and Principal Skinner.  Bart and Milhouse decide to go out of boredom.  There, Krabappel and Skinner have a talk, as the two wonder how their lives have come to this.  As Skinner is hounded again by his mother, who is apparently the next door neighbor of the Princes, Edna and Seymour hide out in a tea party house Martin just happens to have.  The two come to realize their feelings for one another.  Around this time, every kid at the party gets sick, as the oysters served at the party instead of cake turned out to be pretty bad.  Bart is the only one who didn't eat those oysters (well, neither did Lisa but she faking it to leave the party), and is able to spy on something very interesting: Skinner and Krabappel kissing in the tea house.

The next day, Bart is about to spill the beans on what he saw, but Skinner is able to stop him just in time.  After failing to provide a competent "excuse" for what Bart saw, he and Edna decide to make a deal: have his sordid permanent record switched with a mostly clean file (Milhouse's), in exchange he keeps the newfound relationship secret.  Bart agrees to do so, and Edna and Seymour continue their relationship.  At first everything is fine, but things quickly turn to panic as the two are met by Superintendent Chalmers at a movie theatre.  To quickly throw off suspicion, Skinner hastily grabs and brings Barts along to fool Chalmers into thinking its some kind of field trip.  From there, both Krabappel and Skinner abuse Bart to further their love.  After an incident where Skinner has Bart 'relay' his feelings for Edna, Bart has had enough.  He gathers everyone he can in the school, and leads them to a janitorial closet.  Having everyone's faces set to 'stunned', he opens the door to reveal Skinner and Krabappel making out in the closet.

Kids are an exaggerating kind, and as they go home they tell their parents all sorts of exaggerations as to what they saw, from "seeing them naked" to seeing them "making babies, and I saw one of the babies, and the baby looked at me".  Chalmers quickly hears of the rumors, and demands that Skinner and Krabappel split up, or lose their jobs.  Skinner refuses to give up his love, and as a result he and Edna are given the end of the day to pack up and leave.

Bart feels guilt for what's happening, and decides to rectify matters.  He convinces the two to barricade themselves in the school until they get their jobs back, and is able to get the news to cover it behind a phony escaped octopus tale.  Chalmers demands the two to leave the building, and the police try their best to force them out with music and lights, but only make the scene more romantic.  With the standoff becoming more of a stalemate, the two decide to confront the masses.  As the two try to question why their love must be sacrificed just to keep their jobs, the townspeople relay the rumors their kids told them: that they were "making babies" in the closet.  Skinner furiously denies those allegations, stating (eventually) that he is still a virgin.  The townspeople realize that nobody would even try to claim himself as a 44 year old virgin unless it were true and as such the rumors must not be true, and thus lay off the two, allowing them to regain their jobs.

Afterward, the two tell Bart they're breaking up anyway given the stress of having a private relationship blown up to the public.  Just as you think the status quo had been restored, turns out the two were simply lying to Bart, and are now having their relationship under more secrecy than ever.

Quick Review
It may not look it if you don't delve too deep into the episode or its dialogue, but there's a lot of good, funny jokes in the episode that many may miss if they're not careful.  More humorous portions included Martin's party, and that period of time when Bart was being used by the two for their own lustful affairs.  Its another strong episode in a strong season.

Final Score: 9.5