Moonshine River (S24, E01-509)

REFERENCES!  YYYYEAH!

Plot Summary
After a failed attempt at running events, Springfield hosts some kind of ball, where Bart makes fun of Lisa and Milhouse who are dancing together.  While Lisa isn't particularly pleased to be with Milhouse, she does have a date, something which Bart lacks.  In fact, Lisa reminds Bart that he can't hold a girlfriend any longer than a week, as once they learn the 'real' Bart Simpson they always leave him.  Stunned by these realizations, Bart decides to try and prove Lisa wrong by showing that at least one of his old girlfriends still like him.  After three such girls adamantly prove they don't, and a fourth too bipolar to figure out, Bart's down to his last option: Mary Spuckler, whom Bart had befriended but only got into a relationship with to save a cow.  He visits Cletus, but the slack-jawed yokel admits that Mary ran off some time earlier after being forced to wed another hillbilly, but neither he nor Brandine know where.  One of Mary's brothers knows, though, and privately tells Bart she went to New York City, even giving him an address.  Bart tries to convince his parents to go, but Homer tries to remember the last time the family went to New York (although Homer now remembers it differently, perhaps blocking out what really happened).  Still, a bit later, Homer decides to take Bart and the family there, having tricked a family from New York into swapping their house with Flanders' home for a couple of weeks.

After arriving in New York, Marge and Lisa go off on their own to embrace the city's culture on a budget (in other words, doing nothing).  Homer takes Bart to the address Mary's brother gave him, and as Homer takes his leave, Bart meets up with a drastically different-looking Mary.  Mary reveals she's gotten some experience in writing in New York and she's happy both to be in New York and to see Bart again, just so long as she doesn't get found out.  The two spend some time together, and are about to share a kiss, but Cletus comes out of nowhere to find Mary and take her home.  Mary is able to sneak off with Bart a short time later, though, and is able to hitch a train to an unknown location.  While she's forced to be away from Bart once again, she does admit she likes him.  Because of that, Bart refuses to tell Cletus where Mary is going, and Cletus gives up.  On the way home, Cletus gives Bart a picture with Mary in it, while Marge and Lisa - the latter staging a Shakespeare play after a scheduled one had been cancelled only to be met by police for essentially "occupying" the theater - somewhat lament their difficulties.

Quick Review
Self-reference: the episode.  So many guest stars, too, equaling Homer at the Bat with ten guest spots.  Unlike that episode, where each guest played a pivotal part in that episode's plot, Moonshine River's guests were often cameos.  The guests who played Bart's four previous girlfriends got in a single line or phrase and that was it.  Al Roker had no reason to be there outside of a gag.  Kevin Michael Richardson's been voicing somebody in lots of episodes recently, none of which had any impact in their respective episodes.  What I'm trying to say is, aside from Zooey Deschanel, who voices Mary, most of the guest cast in this episode was fairly pointless.

Going back to my first point, this episode is also full of self references, but they are only that.  Never mind that Homer hated New York in Season 9 because it was a scum hole when he was younger and still wasn't perfect back in the late 90s, suddenly Homer is more than fine with the sketchier side of the city.  The 'reference' of the Klauh Karesh vendor who now owns a giant restaurant was pointless, too.  The episode also references that, yeah, Bart has had several girlfriends, but its odd the episode would focus on a girl whom Bart wasn't particularly fond of in her original episode.  Writers can't even references episodes from just a few years ago correctly now.

So, you take all of that poor referencing, an unfunny main plot involving Bart being liked by a girl, and the lame side plot with Marge and Lisa, and it makes for a very underwhelming episode.  This episode actually scores a little better than that as some of the jokes were pretty decent, but its still nothing good.

Final Score: 6.4

The Good, the Sad and the Drugly (S20, E17-437)

Maybe Milhouse is getting revenge over what Bart did to him and his girlfriend.

Plot Summary
Bart and Milhouse pull another prank at school by removing every screw inside somehow.  However, Milhouse and only Milhouse is caught, but he refuses to rat out Bart, getting suspended for a week for his part in the prank.  Bart visits Milhouse at home quickly, and promises to visit every day.  Just then, Homer comes to pick Bart up so he can spend 'quality' time with Grampa.  As Bart just stands there at the retirement home, a beautiful girl comes in and catches Bart's eye.  The girl, Jenny, is a good Samaritan, so in order to impress her, Bart tries to show her he's a good boy as well.  This includes him saving ducks from bullies (who are trying to impress another girl), and telling Jenny that he spends a lot of time "working with this mentally challenged guy" aka Homer.

In the meantime, Lisa begins a social studies report on what Springfield will be like in 50 years.  She goes on the internet for help, when she comes across several doomsday scenarios that she takes to heart.  At school, a now deluded Lisa warns everyone of the future ahead, concerning all.  Later, Principal Skinner speaks with Lisa and suggests she visit a psychiatrist.  Lisa does so with her parents, and the psychiatrists suggests the depressed Lisa should start taking "happy pills".  Lisa agrees to do it, having lost all faith in everything anyway, and melts in forced joy as everything she sees turns into happy faces.

Bart invites Jenny over for dinner one night, and he believes everything is going his way.  Just then, a rather ominous storm starts up just as someone knocks on the door.  Bart answers it to find Milhouse standing there.  Milhouse is distraught that Bart has yet to visit his best friend, and learns that Bart is trying to hide his past so that he can be with Jenny.  Milhouse doesn't really care about that, though, and promises to make Bart's life difficult for lying to him.  Sure enough, Milhouse hounds Bart with his presence and his warnings of spilling the beans to Jenny.  Eventually, Bart can't take it anymore and reveals his past to Jenny.  Although Bart has made vast improvements to impress Jenny, she hates that their relationship was built on lies, and breaks up with him.

Lisa, meanwhile, has a close call when she comes close to kissing an electric fan Maggie is holding that she sees as another happy face.  Marge intervenes in time and tosses out Lisa's remaining pills, though the dog gets into that trash and gets enticed by Maggie's fan as well.  Later, a recovered Lisa talks with a depressed Bart, telling him that its pointless to wallow in despair, and to face his problems as they are.  Bart takes the suggestion to heart, and buys some flowers to apologize... to Milhouse for prioritizing a girl over their friendship.  Milhouse graciously accepts the apology and the two combine once more for another big prank at school.

Quick Review
Season 20 continues a trend of decent episodes with this worthwhile effort, an episode that definitely has its moments.  Lisa's side story was a bit odd, but there really wasn't anything wrong with it.  The main plot is the episode's strong point, especially when Milhouse is involved, and is the reason the episode scored as well as it did.

Final Score: 7.2