Sweets and Sour Marge (S13, E08-277)

We've past the point where visual gags remain part of an episode's plot.  Great.

Plot Summary
At the library, Homer's apathy towards books is lessened when Marge shows his the Duff Book of World Records.  The oddities found within grab Homer's attention, to the point where he wants to attempt to get a record himself.  However, all of the individual records are out of reach for Homer, so he decides to get a group record, settling on having the town get the record for world's largest human pyramid.  He's successfully able to get the town to take part, and they're one second away from maintaining it long enough to get the record, but a literal slip of the hand causes the pyramid to fall apart, and somehow everyone gets bundled up into a massive ball and sent rolling down a hill.  They finally settle ontop a truck scale, where the scale weights them to be 64,152 lbs.  Averaging it all out, Springfield sets the record for the world's fattest town.

Its an accomplishment nearly the entire town enjoys, but Marge is dismayed over it.  She ponders how everyone could be so obese, and observes that there's sugar everywhere.  The Kwik-E-Mart doesn't even offer a product lacking sugar.  Marge sees that the Kwik-E-Mart's sugary products are made by the Motherloving Sugar company, whose worldwide HQ is right nearby!  Marge goes there to complain to the CEO, whose last name is also Motherloving, but little is accomplished.  Upset, Marge decides to file a class-action lawsuit against the company over the claim that its sugar is harmful to others, getting enough signatures around town to do so.  She gets additional help from Professor Frink, a former worker at the sugar company, who admits that they knew sugar was addictive and made candy from it from that fact alone.  With enough detriment against sugar, and a failed bribe as well, Judge Snyder rules in favor of Marge, then goes and banishes sugar and sugar-related products from Springfield.

"Marge's law", as its now known, devastates the town, leaving kids unable to function and store shelves bare.  Still, Marge is happy the law is passed.  Homer can't take it, though, even willing to lick at any sticky spot that's on the ground.  Apu notices Homer's desperation, and takes him to a secret meeting featuring Mr. Burns and others, and they decide to smuggle in some sugar from an island nearby.  They do so, getting huge quantities of sugar on a large boat, but the police catch on to them.  As Burns and the others make a quick escape on a lifeboat, Homer takes the sugar boat and is able to evade the police.  He goes to a dock to deliver the sugar to Motherloving, but Marge catches Homer and is able to convince him to dump the sugar into whatever body of water the boat is in.  People catch wind of this and quickly dive into the water to enjoy their sweet, sweet sugar.  Judge Snyder admits he abused his power and repeals Marge's law, and though Marge is saddened that her nagging once again led nowhere, Homer still likes that quality about Marge.

Quick Review
I don't really have much to say about this episode.  Some jokes were funny, some jokes weren't.  The overall plot was substandard that had some potential near the beginning that never worked out.  It wasn't that great of an episode.

Final Score: 6.4

Lisa's Rival (S06, E02-105)

"In America, forced to get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..."

Plot Summary
It seemed like a typical day for Lisa Simpson.  Trying to practice her saxophone so she can win first chair in the school band, trying to stop people from leeching answers off her for tests, that sort of thing.  Suddenly, her 2nd grade class has a new student: Allison Taylor, who seems to be as intelligent as Lisa is, perhaps even more so.  Having been "moved up" from the first grade, Allison is also skilled with the sax, and the two are going for the same position in band, which Allison ultimately does win in a heated jam session.

Lisa tries to get over the defeat and become friends with Allison, however on multiple occasions she feels inferior to Allison and has difficulty accepting her as a result.  Its learned that a diorama contest is coming up, and Allison has already completed hers: a nifty rendition of The Tell-Tale Heart complete with a ticking floorboard that simulates that heartbeat that drove the killer insane.  Lisa, further threatened by this, can no longer deal with this and enlists Bart's help to ruin Allison.

In a humorous subplot, Homer stumbles upon a crashed sugar truck, with its sweet contents spilled onto the street.  Tricking the driver away, Homer piles as much sugar as he can into his car with the intention of selling it at an inflated cost despite the sugar having crash wreckage within it.  Guarding the pile in the backyard from ill-intentioned tea enthusiasts, Homer is troubled when a large quantity of bees take over the sugar, defending themselves from Homer "somehow".  Later, a pair of beekeepers realize their bees are gone, and track them to Homer's backyard.  With the bees not willing to separate from the sugar, the beekeepers are about to give Homer $2000 for the sugar and bees, when suddenly rain starts to fall.  The sugar "melts" from the rain, prompting the bees to leave, and Homer left without any financial reward for what was once a mountain of white gold.

"Diorama-rama" arrives, and Bart is not only able to provide Lisa with a sabotaged diorama, but also a good distraction to allow Lisa to swap the fake with Allison's real diorama, storing that in a floor compartment nearby.  The fake diorama, with is just a cow's heart in a box, leaves Principal Skinner disgusted and reconsidering his decision of moving Allison up a grade.  Just then, Lisa's guilt begins to take hold as the floorboard holding the diorama begins to beat like a heart.  Going mad from the noise, Lisa relents and reveals the location of the real diorama.  Skinner, though, is not impressed with Allison's diorama, nor Lisa's.  Instead, he gives the 1st prize to Ralph Wiggum, who brought in several in-package Star Wars figures, winning the Principal's heart.  Lisa later tells Allison what happened, and they alongside a gloating Ralph walk off the best of friends.

Quick Review
The main plot of Lisa's rival was alright for the most part, with Bart's involvement and Skinner's demeanor at the end being the highlights of the episode (as well as The Fugitive reference after Bart falsely sold Milhouse out to the feds).  The sugar subplot featuring Homer was the star of the episode, though, as Homer's obsession from start to finish with his really impure stolen good provided a lot of comedy the entire time.

Final Score: 9.0