Little Orphan Millie (S19, E06-406)

In this frame, Bart continues to never understand how anything works.

Plot Summary
The Simpsons go on a picnic with the Van Houtens, where its revealed that Kirk and Luann have agreed to remarry, much to Milhouse's delight.  Before the wedding, Homer makes a mistake by implying he doesn't know Marge's eye color, so Marge refuses to let him see her eyes until he can either remember or figure it out.  After the wedding, Kirk and Luann go on a honeymoon cruise for a week, while Milhouse stays at the Simpson house.  Milhouse has so much fun with Bart, he almost wishes his parents never come back.  In short time, he learns that his parents - who were shown to have gone overboard accidentally - are lost at sea.

Milhouse, of course, is deeply saddened by this, but realizes he can't keep crying about it, and finally decides to get over the loss.  One day at school, the kids see the new Milhouse: a deep, poetic loner that no longer cares about his own well being.  He quickly becomes the most popular kid in school, which really bothers Bart.  Realizing that Milhouse will stop being cool if he's happy again, Bart finds one of Milhouse's relatives to take care of him: his uncle Norbert, who actually turns out to be pretty cool himself because he's a Danish Van Houten, not a slimy Dutch Van Houten like Kirk.  Despite that, Norbert, an adventurer who calls himself Zack instead, is more than willing to adopt Milhouse, and Milhouse openly accepts Norbert's aid.  The others still love Milhouse, though, and now Bart is worried that Milhouse is going to leave soon, distressing himself over that.

Homer is eventually able to recall a song he wrote which details the colors of Marge's various details, but still can't remember the part of the song about her eye color.  Regardless, Marge forgives Homer and lets him see - through the power of HD! - her eye color: hazel.  Meanwhile, Milhouse announces he's moving to live with his uncle, and as they ready to depart via a hot air balloon, Bart can't deal with it and hitches a ride as well.  The three decide to travel the world.  The balloon gets near a tropical island where, as it turns out, Kirk and Luann had washed ashore upon, and just as they were going to escape via a makeshift hang-glider, they crash into the balloon.  Milhouse is happy his parents are alive, and as Norbert makes a call to his Danish relatives for rescue, he and the Dutch Kirk get into a heritage fight.

Quick Review
This ends up being a pretty decent episode as well, continuing a nice streak for the season.  The subplot with Marge's eyes was basically nothing, but it did get in a chuckle or two.  The main plot with Milhouse picked up near the end with the introduction of the Dutch-hating Norbert, which brought the episode to respectability.

Final Score: 7.2

Bart's Friend Falls in Love (S03, E23-058)

My cranial capacity is like a gourmand, with knowledge giving it satiety.

Plot Summary
In a wonderful sequence to begin the episode, Bart is able to grab and run off with Homer's jar of change for show and tell in an Indiana Jones like manner.  Upon reaching the bus, Bart finds that Milhouse has one of those magic 8-balls, having acquired it the night previous.  Messing around with it, the two are shocked to find it predicting that they won't be friends at the end of the day.  As they ponder on how that could be, a transfer student arrives to school: a young girl named Samantha Stankey, who Milhouse is instantly infatuated with.  Finding the strength within him, Milhouse is able to talk to Samantha, and the two walk home instead of taking the bus, much to Bart's dismay.

The two visit Bart at the treehouse later, and as Bart grudgingly gets Samantha some "girl comics", he's stunned to find the two kissing each other upon his return.  Not liking these turns of events, Bart attempts to act as a third wheel to the pair, trying to accompany them wherever they go.  Milhouse, though, wants some time with just Samantha, and Bart leaves angrily.  However, then when Milhouse asks if he and Samantha can still use the treehouse, Bart learns that Samantha's father would be quite upset if he learned what Samanta was really doing.  Bart then agrees to let the two come to his treehouse, under sinister motives.  Soon enough, Bart calls Samantha's father to nark on the two, and upon finding out, Samantha's father takes her away and states he's going to put her into an all-girls school instead, so that she and Milhouse never see each other again.

In a rather hilarious sidestory, Lisa becomes worried about Homer's weight, and finds in a magazine she's reading a possible means of weight loss.  Instead of dieting or exercising, you know, those things, Homer would instead listen to a subliminal tape while he sleeps, which would suggest that Homer eat less.  Marge quickly agrees to the proposal and orders the tape.  However, the weight loss tapes are all out of stock and Homer is sent a vocabulary building tape instead.  Unaware of this, Homer listens to this instead.  While Homer's vocabulary builds to incredible levels, he's still eating more than ever, gaining 13 pounds over two weeks.  Disposing of the tape, Homer's vocabulary quickly returns to what it was, but even worse.

Feeling bad for depressing Milhouse, Bart eventually confesses what he did, leading Milhouse to physically confront him, but after Bart knocks him aside with that troublemaking 8-ball, the two apparently make up.  As the episode ends, Milhouse is able to find Samantha at her new school, and the two have one last kiss before moving on.

Quick Review
This ended up being another strong entry to Season 3's ensemble.  Homer's sidestory really stole the show in terms of hilarity but the main plot still had its share of laughs.  The Indiana Jones parody to the start the episode was also excellent.  Homer's little vocab lesson at the very end was a nice touch as well.

Final Score: 8.5