Bart's Dog Gets an F

Lisa has the mumps and has to spend a few days home from school. While Marge teaches Lisa sewing, Homer goes to the mall to buy some magazines for her. There he sees and purchases some $125 shoes known as the Assassins, which he saw his neighbor Ned Flanders wear earlier. However, Santa's Little Helper promptly destroys the shoes, angering Homer. Marge shows Lisa a patchwork quilt, which is a family heirloom. Lisa makes her own contribution to it, but then Santa's Little Helper rips it up. When Homer discovers that Santa's Little Helper has also eaten his cookie, which Homer had bought earlier, he demands that the family get rid of the dog and laughs at the kids when Marge agrees with him, but the kids, terrified that Homer will take away their pet, promise their dad that they will train their dog to prevent future circumstances.

Santa's Little Helper does not do well at the obedience school as Bart is reluctant to use a choke chain suggested by the school's instructor Emily Winthrop. The night before the final exam, Bart and Santa's Little Helper play, thinking it will be their last few hours together. This bonding breaks down the communication barrier, meaning Santa's Little Helper can understand Bart's commands, and much to Homer's chagrin, passes obedience school. Lisa marks the occasions by starting a new quilt to replace the one destroyed.

Bart of Darkness

A heatwave in Springfield leads Bart and Lisa to persuade Homer into getting a swimming pool. To avoid months of persistence, he gives in instantly. Word soon spreads that the Simpsons have a pool and every child in the town comes to use the new facility. After being dared, Bart attempts an ambitious dive into the pool from the top of his treehouse, but gets distracted by Nelson, and falls and breaks his leg. This forces him to spend the rest of the summer wearing a cast and, unable to socialize with the other children, he retreats to his bedroom. His isolation slowly makes him more and more irritable and paranoid. Lisa loans Bart her telescope to entertain him. Soon, Bart hears a woman's scream next door, and witnesses Ned Flanders burying something in his backyard and screaming "I'm a murderer!" He becomes convinced that Ned has murdered his wife Maude, and vows to reveal the truth.

Meanwhile, Lisa basks in the glow of her new popularity. However, Martin Prince gets a larger pool, and everyone abandons Lisa, leaving her inside the empty pool with no idea of how to get out. After Lisa apologizes to her brother for neglecting him, Bart asks Lisa to go and look for evidence of the murder while Ned is out of the house. When Ned returns early, Lisa becomes trapped in the Flanders house, eventually being cornered in the attic; Bart painfully makes his way over there by himself, just in time to discover that Ned was actually storing an axe and not using it to threaten Lisa. Maude, as it turns out, is actually alive, and had gone to Bible Camp for the weekend, to learn to be more judgemental. The victim of Ned's "murder" was merely her favorite plant, and the woman screaming actually came from Ned himself. Meanwhile, Martin's swimming pool explodes after being full with too many kids, and everyone abandons him, although Nelson steals his bathing suit first. When the episode ends, Martin sadly sings "Summer Wind" to himself as he stands naked in the wreckage of his pool.

Both uneven eps. Barts Dog starts really strong with the Assassins, but the scenes with the choke chain are still kind of upsetting.

Bart of Darkness starts strong with the pool storyline, but it sort of spirals into nonsense towards the end. I guess I'll vote for this one, because I love the pool stuff.

I basically agree with trag; Bart of Darkness is hitting on all cylinders before Bart witnesses "the murder." The tag at Martin's pool is also fantastic.