Lisa the Simpson
At Springfield Elementary, Lisa is presented with a brain teaser, which she is unable to solve. Following this incident, Lisa finds herself unable to perform simple tasks, such as remembering the combination for her locker, her saxophone technique, and forgetting to complete a homework assignment (as she'd stayed up late the previous night trying to complete the brain teaser). Later, Lisa tells Grampa about her recent cognitive problems. He seems to recognize this, and tells Lisa about the "Simpson Gene", which apparently causes all members of the Simpson family to gradually lose their intelligence as they get older. To prove his point, Grampa shows Lisa a picture of young Homer as a spelling bee champion, and a series of old report cards of Bart's which reveal that her brother was extremely intelligent when he was young, before slowly degrading into the ignorant hooligan he is today. Presented with such evidence, Lisa soon accepts this as her fate.

Meanwhile, Jasper visits the Kwik-E-Mart and attempts to empty the freezer containing ice cream in order to freeze himself, with the intention of being defrosted sometime in the distant future. Apu decides to take advantage of this unusual situation for financial gain by advertising the frozen Jasper as "Frostillicus" and re-branding the Kwik-E-Mart as the Freak-E-Mart. The convenience store becomes more profitable as a tourist trap, until the freezer's cooling system fails, causing Jasper to defrost and walk away. Fearing that he will lose customers, Apu turns the Freak-E-Mart into a combination of a convenience store and a strip club and re-renames his store to the Nude-E-Mart.

After watching Bart and Homer eat candy they had hidden in the sofa, Lisa imagines her future, which involves her being married to Ralph Wiggum, being morbidly obese, speaking in a Southern accent, and having many children. This frightens Lisa, causing her to appear on the TV news program Smartline to tell the citizens of Springfield to treasure their brains. As she does this, Homer decides to prove her wrong, and contacts the entire extended Simpson family (which the men all look and sound like Homer) to visit, so he can prove that at least some of the family are intelligent. However, when they arrive, Homer realizes they're also unsuccessful, unintelligent people, which only depresses Lisa further and causes Homer to send them home.

However, before they leave, Marge urges Homer to talk to the Simpson women. Reluctantly, he talks to them at her request and he discovers that the women are all successful: a doctor (who bears a striking resemblance to Lisa), an architect, an environmental lawyer, and a sales coordinator of a large company specializing in bunk and trundle beds. Dr. Simpson reveals that the defective "Simpson Gene" only exists in the Y chromosome, meaning that it only affects the male family members and not the females. As a result, she will be successful like them. Lisa is relieved that she is fine and she will not suffer the "Simpson Gene", because of her gender. However, Bart bemoans that he will be an unintelligent failure in life, like the males because he inherited the "Simpson Gene". However, Homer reassures him that he will be "a spectacular failure". Bart gladly accepts this and returns to playing with the other Simpson men (where they wear pots as helmets and hit each other's heads).

The episode ends with Lisa finally being able to solve the brain teaser she was unable to finish earlier in the episode with a Homeresque "Woo-Hoo!", before correcting herself with a restrained "splendid.". This proves that while she may not suffer the defective Simpson Gene, Lisa is still a Simpson.

Bart Gets an F
Bart presents a book report at Springfield Elementary School on Treasure Island, but it is blatantly obvious he did not read the book. After school, Mrs. Krabappel tells Bart his grades have steadily gotten worse and warns him about an upcoming exam on Colonial America, but Bart does not pay attention, and puts off studying. The next day at school, Bart feigns illness. At home that night, Lisa warns Bart he cannot evade his responsibilities forever, but Bart calls Milhouse for the test answers. After school the next day, an overconfident Bart hands in his test, only to get a poor score that is even worse than Milhouse's substandard test and have Mrs. Krabappel take remedial action.

Homer and Marge are called in to meet with Mrs. Krabappel and school psychiatrist Dr. J. Loren Pryor. Dr. Pryor says that Bart is an underachiever and recommends that he should repeat the fourth-grade. Homer and Marge consider that holding Bart back might not be such a bad idea. However, Bart is against this idea, and vows that he will start to do better and will pass. Left with little time to study on his own, Bart prays to God and asks that something miraculous happen to make him miss school the next day so he can have more time to study. That night, Springfield is hit with a massive blizzard, and the schools are closed.

After receiving word of the school closures, Bart prepares for a fun snow day. However, Lisa reminds him of his prayer, and Bart decides to make good with God by studying while everyone is outside having fun. The next day, he finishes the test and asks Mrs. Krabappel to grade it immediately. She does so, and tells him that he gets a 59, failing by just one point. Upset at having failed despite all his efforts, Bart breaks down in tears; Mrs Krabappel is stunned to see him cry and tries to console him. Bart compares his failure to George Washington's surrender of Fort Necessity to the French in 1754. Mrs. Krabappel, stunned at this obscure historical reference, realizes that Bart does make an honest effort after all. She gives Bart an extra point for demonstrating applied knowledge, pushing his grade up to a D minus, enough to pass. A proud Bart without thinking kisses Mrs. Krabappel on the cheek before running throughout Springfield, exclaiming to people that he actually passed.

I really love Martin; he's an excellent minor character. And as a Moby-Dick nerd, I love this from "Bart Gets an F":

Shit, two great eps. I saw Bart Gets and F recently, and it's loaded with great humor, plus it evokes genuine empathy when Bart breaks down at the end. I'm tempted to vote for it, but I remember Lisa the Simpson being a really strong episode, so I'll watch that first.

echoing trag on bart gets an F

Lisa the Simpson
Some interesting back-story to this ep, from Wiki:

Spoiler: show

This episode was the final episode that was run by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein, as it was a carry-over episode from season eight. The episode was written by Ned Goldreyer, and is one of the two episodes he has written on The Simpsons. Susie Dietter, one of the directors of the show, also left the show after this episode, but returned for one episode in season 18, "Yokel Chords".[4]

As it was the final episode they ran, Oakley and Weinstein wanted to end on a good note, with Weinstein stating the episode, "was meant to embody the humor, depth, and emotions of The Simpsons."[5] They also wished to have an episode they ran that was based on the background of every character they could do, and believed that this episode came out well.[5] The name of the episode was the center of an argument that Oakley and Goldreyer had, as Oakley had originally wanted to have the episode named "Lisa the Simpson", although Goldreyer wanted to name it "Suddenly Stupid", a pun on a show that had been airing at the time called Suddenly Susan.[6]

The Simpsons family members that showed up took some time to be made, but the staff enjoyed the results.[5] All of the male Simpsons family members that showed up were voiced by Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer. He had asked for the recording tape to be run for about 20 minutes, so he could do many different voice variations that would fit the different men, but still be close to Homer's voice.[5

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Odd couch gag, with the family growing like various veggies on stalks that grow up our of their living room floor.

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Don't remember this intro scene at all, so already glad I'm doing this. The visual gag of the opening of the vacuum-packed seal on the John Glenn Lunchable, and it sucks Millhouse's glasses off, is pretty funny. Milhouse, after his spectacles have been sucked into the food tray:

"Wow, just like on the commercial!"

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Nelson stabbing the photo of the professor, on the back of the Lunchable box, with his fork:

"Answer this, professor!"

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Milhouse says defiantly, "It's called lice, and it's nothing to be ashamed of." I love that I can hear his mom's sass in him here. They had developed this world so well, that they could make an off-handed reference to a tertiary character, and have it hit home as both good humor, and great character development.

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"But you're suffering!"

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Best line so far is from Homer, as he walks into the Kwik-E-Mart:

"I'm looking for something in an after-dinner burrito."

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The subplot with Jasper trying to cryogenically freeze himself in the Kwik-E-Mart cooler is so out of left field and weird. Interesting contrast to the crisis Lisa is facing.

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There's a terrific Homer/Lisa's saxophone bit, sort of a sequel to "Saxomophooooone," but I can't find a clip of the scene.

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"Your dad used to be smart as a monkey! Then his mind started getting lazy, and now he's dumb as a chimp."

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Spoiler: show

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Someone's In the Kitchen with DNA:

Spoiler: show

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Man, the Dr. Hibbert stuff has a weird subtext these days, huh?

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I still don't know how to embed GIFs, so:

https://www.riffsy.com/view/riff/393438 ... ailbox-GIF

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Oof, Lisa's resignation to watching When Buildings Collapse with Homer and Bart hit me in the gut. Just reminds me of personal family stuff. On a lighter note:

"Man has always loved his buildings. But whappens when the buildings say 'No more!'?"

Spoiler: show

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This Apu/Jasper subplot is starting to feel shoe-horned in, like it was a story they had lying around and used it to fill time.

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This is pretty amazing:

Spoiler: show

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"Soon the arts and literature I love will be replaced by talk radio and vulgar mudflaps."

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"What a time to be alive."

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It's awkward how we see Lisa's ostensibly warm interaction with a female musician of some sort, yet we never got to see her play the music of which Lisa is so enamored. I can't help but feel that the Apu/Jasper stuff is just detracting from an otherwise terrific ep.

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"If I were her, I'd be buying me a great big chocolate apology cake."

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"Moochin' war widows..."

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The Yertle the Tertle nod is nice.

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"Why is she saying all this? Is she dying?"

Man, the Lisa-centric stuff is really, really strong.

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Female Simpson relative: "...or be the sales coordinator of the third-largest distributor of bunk and trundle beds."

Marge: "Oooooh, did you hear that one Lisa?"

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The Lisa stuff is really top-notch, but too much of the run time is devoted to the Apu/Jasper plot that just isn't any good. Going with Bart Gets an F on this one.

I agree with you about Lisa the Simpson. Also went with Bart Gets an F.

I, of course, went with Lisa the Simpson.

Just watched Bart Gets an F for the first time in forever... season 2 is still so goddamn hokey. Lisa the Simpson isn't top-tier but it gets an easy vote here.

Sometimes I think Yeardley Smith is the unspoken star of this show

I appreciate her episodes more as I get older