Because Simpsons faces are all the rage this week:

Dear Miss Hoover. You have Lyme disease. We miss you. Kevin’s biting me, come back soon. Here is a drawing of a spirochete. Love Ralph

When people think of the Simpsons shaking off the shackles of the early season weirdness and settling into a groove, they point to this episode. And they’re pretty much right. Even comparing this episode to an episode a year earlier, you have almost two different shows. There’s more in common with this and the next 200 episodes, than even 20 episodes prior. The classroom drama, both in Lisa’s and in Bart’s stories feel believable yet are packed with tight dialogue. Even to this day I chant “More Asbestos!” any given time asbestos is mentioned (surprisingly often in my line of work), and all I ever needed to know about Lyme Disease and Psychosomatic I learned from this episode.

But I said I had a bone to pick. And it’s little, but it clouds the memory banks. This is a good episode. It’s a fun episode. It’s a warm episode. It’s a moral episode. But, and maybe this is me just being an uncaring librarian robot but the emotional resonance between Mr. Bergstrom and Lisa just doesn’t do anything for me. And it might have been me probably seeing this episode for the first time as a psychopathic kindergardener who hasn’t developed any heart-crushing feelings of being different. But I see this episode as Lisa trying to reject her father because he isn’t perfect. Homer, especially Homer of the early seasons is a lot of thing, slow, quick to anger, sometimes hurtful in the things he says. But he means well, especially when it comes to Lisa. You see it in this episode. You see it in Lisa’s Pony. You see it in Lisa’s Sax. You see it in Lost our Lisa. (Ignore Lisa the Greek, that one doesn’t have much there in most of the episode). And the ending works well to show this: he knows he doesn’t understand Lisa, and that hurts him on the daily. Lisa, as the eight year old that she is, doesn’t realize that and begins to resent homer for what he isn’t. He’s not smart, outwardly sensitive or semitically attractive. There’s a small reconciliation at the end, but it more seems like Lisa tolerating her father for trying, and not accepting his shortcomings. The pivotal phrase in this episode, “You are Lisa Simpson,” may be Lisa’s rallying cry for her individualism, but I feel she realizes that it has many different meanings. She is unique, but she also is who she is. She can travel down roads that aren’t open for her father or brother, but she’s still a Simpson. And that’s not an indictment, it’s more of a mission statement. Being a Simpson can mean some things, but deep down it means that she’s part of a caring family.

Here’s $42. It’s everything I have. Run home and bury it in the yard.

I love you, mom

Poor season 9. From doing these reviews, I’m realizing that there are far fewer duds than I initially remembered. A few years ago I remember buying the DVDs for this season, watching them with little enjoyment, and then promptly losing the DVDs. I haven’t ever felt the need to re-buy any of these, though I really should, if only or the commentary (bloggers note: yes I listen to the commentary. No I am not a crackpot).

But shopping lists aside, this episode is one of the good ones. Though the feeling of it through and through, with Jay Leno, other comics and their style, Krusty with his “too-cool tied-back ponytail” is so 90’s it’s a joke in and of itself. The one thing I felt they did really well is having Krusty do his racist Chinese jokes without it seeming hurtful as a whole. Did that age well, or am I just a closeted racist coot? You decide! The show is a little light, as there is no real B plot to the episode. But we are treated to classic lines about hating pants, we get introduced to the Canyonerro, and we get the Simpsons ripping on each other in incredibly 90’s style insult jokes.

I feel like a broken record when I talk about cracks in the veneer and that it feels like they’ve lost a step. So I won’t. I’ll just say it’s enjoyable.

The Verdict

And, for the record, there were a few Jewish cowboys, ladies and gentlemen. Big guys who were great shots and spent money freely.

It’s hard to hate an episode because I feel the message is different than what the consensus thinks. On rewatching you see that Dustin Hoffman fit great in this world, and his timing and pacing with the other voice actors are a great mix. It’s a great episode that feels ahead of its time.

Up Next

These two episodes have a dose of zany. Have a dose of adventure! A dose of chaos! A dose of hilarity! (S. 4 Ep. 21) Marge in Chains slowly descends into insanity while funboys try to get a room in (S. 7 Ep. 22) Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in “The Curse of the Flying Hellfish”. Something tells me I may try to pad the word count of the next post by writing that name as much as possible. Sounds like goooood bloggin’ ahead!

