The Girl Who Slept Too Little (S17, E02-358)

Oh, that Dr. Nick.  What hijinks will he get into next?

Plot Summary
The Simpsons suffer a rude awakening when they hear construction behind their backyard.  Learning that a stamp museum is being built there, Homer and the rest of the family decide to put a stop to it.  They succeed, but now the stamp museum is going to be built where the cemetery is, and the cemetery is going to end up behind the Simpson backyard.

Lisa is the only one whose window faces the cemetery, and is deathly scared of what she sees at night, even though she continuously tries to tell herself nothing is scientifically off.  Regardless, each night now Lisa is forced to her parent's room, causing strife within the family.  As Homer and Marge go to seek help for Lisa, Lisa decides to confront her fears by spending a night at the cemetery itself.  However, after a rather freaky visit by Dr. Nick, who is robbing graves, and getting freaked out by other noises (which is just the police looking for a grave robber), Lisa stumbles and knocks herself out on a grave.

In her dream, Lisa learns that everyone of all ages and IQ get scared every now and then, and all she can do to quell her current fear is, hey, closing the blinds on her window.  Lisa wakes up surrounded by her parents who went into the cemetery to find her, and is confident everything will turn out okay.

Quick Review
This episode has its moments, notably the long-awaited return of Dr. Nick, but as a whole this episode wasn't as funny as it could've been.

Final Score: 6.8

Trilogy of Error (S12, E18-266)

Not even Linguo's superior grammar correction stands a chance against the mafia.

Plot Summary
The events of a rather eventful day are shown through the perspectives of three different Simpsons.

Homer's Day
Marge tries to treat the family to some oddity for breakfast.  As Bart goes off to meet with Milhouse, Homer and Lisa find an excuse to leave the breakfast table.  Homer takes a look at Lisa's science project: a robot capable to fixing someones grammar: Linguo.  Homer makes a mistake when it corrects his statement about beer, pouring beer into it, and Lisa runs off to fix it.  Homer then smells brownies being made, and goes to the kitchen.  Marge baked them for after dinner, but as Homer tries to grab a piece as Marge is cutting it up, she accidentally slices Homer's thumb off.  Marge tries to call 911, but when Chief Wiggum mistakes the accident as attempted murder, Marge gives them the fake address of 123 Fake St. to keep the police off her back. 

After Homer gets his thumb back from the dog, who had stolen it, Marge and Homer quickly go to Dr. Hibbert's to have it reattached.  Upon learning its too expensive (and Hibbert's suggestion to cut off the other thumb for symmetry's sake falling on deaf ears), the two try to go to Dr. Nick's instead.  However, Marge gets distracted and rams the car into Rainier Wolfcastle's car.  As Wolfcastle goes back to destroy Marge's car in a fit of rage, Homer and Marge sneak away and drive off in Wolfcastle's car.

With the ice maintaining the thumb melting, the two stop off at the nearest place to get more: Moe's.  Though Homer is able to get the thumb into pickle brine which works apparently, Homer gets sidetracked at Moe's and gets super drunk.  When he remembers about the thumb, he goes back outside but finds Marge gone.  He hitchhikes a ride from Cletus to Dr. Nicks, but finds Nick's office on fire, Nick flabbergasted that "inflammable" means flammable.  Just then, Cletus' truck is stolen, and Homer is left without hope.  As he's about to say goodbye to his thumb, an explosion occurs nearby, and the head of Linguo falls right next to Homer.

Lisa's Day
After Homer put beer in Linguo, Lisa goes back to her room to fix it.  The delay causes her to miss the bus, with Martin Prince eager to get a shoo in science fair victory with Lisa absent.  Determined to make the fair, Lisa goes get her bike, but finds it missing.  She tries to get a ride from Marge, but she's left with Homer to Dr. Hibbert's.  Lisa decides to just run to school, but nearly gets run over by a limo driven by Krusty's monkey Mr. Teeny.  To make up for it, Krusty has Teeny drive Lisa to school (after Wiggum fails to get directions to 123 Fake St. from Teeny), but Teeny makes a mistake and takes Lisa to West Springfield Elementary instead, a mistake Lisa doesn't learn until its too late.  On her way out, Lisa befriends a young boy who shares her intellect and loneliness, and the two spend hours just twirling around.  Lisa realizes the time and makes her bitter farewell with the boy she's come to like.

Running around again, Lisa winds up at Moe's.  Surprised Homer isn't there, she finds Chief Wiggum monitoring a sting operation, but unwittingly blows it by letting the mafia know his informant is wearing a wire.  Escaping before Wiggum can offer her the job of informant, Lisa escapes from the back just as Homer comes in from the front looking for ice.  She finds Marge, and after Marge realizes Homer has gone off on a tangent, decides to take Lisa to school.  The car runs out of gas, though, but the two are able to secretly hitch a ride on the back of a truck, Cletus'.  As the truck stops at Dr. Nicks, and Homer and Cletus check it out, Marge decides to steal this car as well and takes off.  It looks like Lisa is about to get to school just before the day ends, but Bart pops out of a manhole, and Marge might not be able to stop in time.

Bart's Day
Bart meets Milhouse at the front door, who reveals to Bart he's found something pretty darn amazing.  In the backyard, Bart has Milhouse take Lisa's bike to get to where they need to reach faster.  Milhouse takes Bart to a cave where he goes to cry, where they are several burlap sacks full of fireworks.  The two go around town setting off fireworks everywhere.  An attempt to create a rocket-wheeled bike backfires, and the wheels flies off - ultimately to Dr. Nick's office which sets off inflammable ether.  As the two continue wandering with their fireworks, they hear police nearby and hide in the nearest building... located at 123 Fake St.  Wiggum and pals bust in and find the two boys with the fireworks.  With Milhouse wanting not to become currency in prison, Wiggum makes a deal with them to find out who is smuggling those fireworks in.

The boys return to the cave, with Bart wired up.  They learn its Fat Tony and the mafia behind the illegal fireworks, but Wiggum for some reason blows their cover, and the mafia go in to kill the two.  Bart is able to set off a small firework and the two make their escape into the cave.  They find a way up, at a manhole, but just as Bart surfaces, Marge is about to run him over.  She stops just in time, only giving Bart a small knock on the head, but the boys continue their escape of the mob.  Marge sees this and chases after them, but as the boys are walled off, Marge desperately tosses Lisa's Linguo at the mob.  As the mob loudly ponder what the thing is, Linguo begins correcting their broken English.  However, there is just too much to correct, and Linguo overloads, overheating into sparks that sets off some fireworks Bart had run off with nearby, causing an explosion.  The explosion sends Linguo's head flying to where Homer was, and the mafia mostly defeated.  The police come in to arrest the mafia and Homer meets back up with the family.

However, Homer's thumb is all but gone and Lisa no longer has a science fair project.  Fat Tony overhears the dilemma and decides to help out.  At the school, Lisa reveals her new science project which is mostly just Legs sewing Homer's thumb back on, and successfully at that.  Homer's thumb is saved, Lisa gets first prize, and everything turns out okay regardless of the absurdity of it all.

Quick Review
I really liked how this episode is set up, and the various links between the events that occurred in one act or the other in an "oh that makes sense" sort of fashion.  Things like 123 Fake St. being a real address and Dr. Nick's confusion over the word "inflammable" really add a nice touch to the episode as well.  Its one of the season's best.

Final Score: 8.4

So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show (S04, E18-077)

Insert some kind of "Bartbeat" in place of "heartbeat" joke here.

Plot Summary
In what is generously called an episode, Homer keeps messing around with Bart on April Fools Day.  Determined to get back at Homer, Bart investigates to determine Homer's weakness.  Learning quite easily that beer is that weakness, and that a shaken can of beer can make one look quite the fool, an April Fool as it were, Bart takes a can of beer and shakes it up hardcore at a paint store.  Homer eventually goes to open the can up, but before Bart can declare the joke, the can blows up, and Homer is knocked out.

At the hospital, while the clips start coming in, its learned that Homer may never walk again.  Attempts to help him do so seemingly fail, however Homer sees a candy machine and, after reminiscing about that land of chocolate, is able to walk to it.  However, the machine gives him difficulty and after Homer shakes it around, it falls on him, ironically choking him with bars of chocolate.

Now in a coma, the family has a moment with Homer.  Bart, in grief, admits to his unconscious father that he set up the can, that it was all an April Fools joke.  Having heard it in his coma, Homer is able to wake up, and choke the boy in rage.  With his miraculous recovery, Homer tries to pull one last joke on the family, except its May 16th and Homer had to lose 5% of his brain.  Good times.

Quick Review
As the title implies, this is the first of a few clip shows featured in the series, finally happening after 76 episodes.  As such, I find it a bit difficult to score such an episode as most of its content is comprised of clips from older episodes.  Should I grade solely the new material, knowing full well the episode will be scored low from there not being much new material?  Instead, I still give credit to the types of clips that are used and, hey, they're still funny even if the context for them are much more flimsy than previously.  As a result, we end up with what is perhaps the best clip show of all time. ...okay, not really.

I also find it funny that the show aired on April Fools Day, which is also the episode's theme.  It's like: "hey this was a pretty cool start to the show huh?  I wonder what's gonna happen to Homer and- APRIL FOOLS IT'S A CLIP SHOW, TAKE THAT SUCKERS".  As I've said, though, what little new content there is turns out to be most excellent and connects the many clips very well for the most part.

The original content by itself (the April Fools Day plot, the appearances by Barney, Grampa, Mr. Burns and Dr. Nick), is very strong and if it had been laid out as a full episode I'm sure it would've been one of the classics.  Even though it actually just serves as a reason to insert old material into a new context, its still funny stuff.  Some of the clips work well in this episode, others are brought up somewhat weakly, not that it derives from the clips any.  This score may seem high, but for a clip show episode, this ends up being superb.  I don't expect any of the other clip show episodes from the series to get this high a score.  Well, maybe the 138th episode spectacular, but that'll be for later.

Final Score: 8.7

Homer's Triple Bypass (S04, E11-070)

Damn, I wish I had pizza when I was born, don't you?

Plot Summary
How can this episode, one with such a serious life-or-death theme, still find a way to be so funny?  Even with all the tense, emotional moments this episode provides throughout, there are still enough jokes and such where, from a strictly humorous standpoint, it's as funny as most other Season 4 episodes?  Its just another example of the magic this season has provided thus far.

In the episode, years of eating poorly finally catch up to Homer, and his heart is beginning to give out, though Homer pays it no mind (even mistaking it for a bad transmission at first).  At the plant, though, Mr. Burns finally has enough of Homer's lazy antics and fires him in person, the act of which gives Homer a heart attack.  Ultimately pulling through, later tests reveal that Homer requires open heart surgery to clear a blockage near his heart.

The cost of the procedure - $40,000 - is far too high, though, and Homer is left looking for alternate options.  Homer has no work insurance - the plant workers having given it up for a pinball machine - and attempts to get some elsewhere fall through.  After failing to get money from a few religious denominations, Homer sees a commercial from Dr. Nick Riviera, who offers to do any surgery for under $130.  With no other options in sight, Homer decides to take this route.

As Homer stays in the hospital to prep for surgery, Dr. Nick tries to do a crash course on open heart surgery only to find the tape he was watching on it has been taped over.  As friends and family show great concern over Homer's condition, the day of the operation finally arrives.  Ill-prepared, Dr. Nick struggles at a certain point of the operation.  Lisa, attending the operation and having studied up on the surgery since learning of Homer's condition, is able to guide Dr. Nick along, and the operation ends up being a complete success.  Homer's heart has been helped and its even able to beat to the tune of the Simpsons' theme (or a part of it, anyway).

Quick Review
As I've said, this episode turns out to be very funny despite the serious nature of the episode.  The whole "Cops: In Springfield" bit was excellent, and Homer's various friends and associates provide laughs throughout their appearances.

Final Score: 9.2

Bart Gets Hit by a Car (S02, E10-023)

Bart gets hit by a car.

Plot Summary
Bart Gets Hit by a Car begins with Bart getting hit by a car.  The driver of the car, Mr. Burns unsurprisingly, eventually gets the boy to the hospital.  After a flirtation with the afterlife (and the proclaimation from the Devil that Bart won't die until the Yankees win a pennant - in a hundred years - whoops) Bart regains consciousness and he (and the family) notices a strange man in the room.

That man, who is voiced by Phil Hartman making his first guest appearance on the show, is the "lawyer" Lionel Hutz.  Although Bart ended up with only a broken toe and a bump on the head, Hutz is willing to exaggerate the truth so that Homer can sue Mr. Burns for tons of money.  The family hesitates at the offer, however the next day Homer is offered $100 from Burns himself, which he turns down.  Its at this point he goes all in with Hutz, who promises Homer a payout of a million dollars.

We also see for the first time the "doctor" Nick Riviera, who gives a completely different diagnosis for poor Bart.  Turns out, Bart is actually very ill!  With that "knowledge", Homer goes ahead and takes Burns to court.  Early on the jury is on Bart's side, what with Burns already vastly hated and all.  Feeling the pressure, Burns invites Homer and Marge to his manor to make a settlement offer: $500,000.  Burns leave the two alone to discuss the offer, but he and Smithers instead spy on the two, there they overhear Homer angrily reject the offer but, more importantly, Marge saying that with the fake doctor and all, they should probably take the offer while they can, which Burns quickly rescinds upon gaining his newfound information.

So the next day Burns pulls the obvious next move: putting Marge on the stand.  Obligated to tell the truth, Marge lets everyone know that Dr. Riviera is probably not a real doctor and the Bart is actually pretty okay.  With that knowledge, Homer is forced to take Mr. Burns' next settlement offer: $0.  Then the episode takes a weird turn as, after losing out on a million dollars because Marge told the truth, never mind the shady means he took in his attempts to get the million, Homer is implied to be wavering on a decision on whether to kill himself.  Marge realizes this, and forces Homer to look at her to determine whether he still truly loves her.  He does, and the marriage is saved, again.

Quick Review
The episode, which had been alright most of the way, did end on that weird note.  Supposedly the ending was pitched by James L. Brooks, trying to add a little emotional distress to an otherwise zany affair.  Frankly, I didn't like it.  Regardless, up to that point there was a lot of good going for the episode, including the introduction of a few great recurring characters.  Still, its going to receive the weakest score of Season 2 and I doubt there'll be another episode that'll score as low for awhile.

Final Score: 7.0