104. Bart of Darkness

(originally aired September 4, 1994)
Our fall premiere takes place in the dead of summer. It’s the second season premiere they’ve done so far set in summer (after “Kamp Krusty”), which must have made first-time watchers wax nostalgic over the recently bygone days. It’s a fairly simple story, but is executed splendidly and contains lots of great character stuff and plenty of jokes. When Bart and Lisa just can’t beat the heat, they pester their father into buying a pool, making the Simpson house a hotspot for the youth of the town to cool off. However, a fall from the treehouse leaves Bart in a leg cast, which turns him into an increasingly nutty hermit locked in his room. The episode gets its mileage out of pool jokes, from the store they buy it from (Pool Sharks, “Where the Buyer is Chum”), everyone’s horrified reactions when Homer actually adds in chlorine, and Homer and Marge’s adult swim, interrupted by a perverted Chief Wiggum.

There’s a neat running story with Lisa in the episode, who is put under the spell of faux friendship because of her pool. One could say it betrays her character a bit, but sometimes it’s neat to see her with a kid mentality, seeing this opportunity to lap up the sweet nectar of popularity and going for it. Particularly great is when her brain acknowledges the fleeting nature of her new stature, she scolds it and proceeds to talk in a dim, drawl-like fashion. Also playing to this story is Martin Prince, who is of somewhat equal mind of wanting to gain popularity. He steals Lisa’s thunder when word gets out that an even bigger push-over has gotten a pool, and they leave her stranded. However, Martin goes mad with his new power, over stuffing his pool and rupturing it, leaving him a lonely, broken boy without a bathing suit.

The allure of social status kept Lisa from comforting Bart, but with that gone, she takes a new vested interest in her brother. But things have taken a turn for the Rear Window when Bart appears to have witnessed Ned Flanders murdering his wife and burying her in the backyard. He sends Lisa next door to investigate, but Flanders returns home early brandishing an axe, leaving Lisa stuck in the house. Even though you know Ned is in no way a killer, there still is some believable suspense, and it’s all such a stupid magnificent mislead; his angry scowl and the way he brandishes the axe, all so he can place it back on the rack of the attic. In the end, Ned is proven innocent; his wife was just away at Bible camp,. As I said, there’s really not much to the story here, but this is one of those episodes that’s a lot of fun to watch unfold, with a lot of laughs and memorable moments.

Tidbits and Quotes
– All the heat wave gags at the beginning are great, ending with Homer’s ingenious plan to camp out in front of the fridge (“I got the idea when I noticed the refrigerator was cold.”) When the motor burns out, Homer goes to plan B (“Marge, can you set the oven to ‘cold’?”)
– Even though I had a pool at my house as a kid, I always wondered if the Pool-Mobile was real. Seems like such a cool idea. I love the animation of the water reacting to Otto hitting the brakes and splashing back into the driver’s seat (“Woah, I gotta replace that window.”) I also like how Martin is introduced early, as is his daring challenge regarding pantsing him (“Take your best shot! I’m wearing seventeen layers!”) Of course, a flurry of kids rip them all off (“I brought this on myself.”) Which of course gets called back at the end; Martin, believing he’s finally made it, only wears one pair, which after the pool explodes, Nelson promptly relieves him of it.
– I like Bart and Lisa’s negotiation tactics with Homer, calm and collected, followed by incessant repetition (a la “Brush with Greatness.”) Homer responds professionally as well (“Let us celebrate our new arrangement with the adding of chocolate to milk.”)
– Not often do I comment on sound effects, but there’s some excellent foley work of the slapping of wet feet in the Simpson kitchen. Real nice attention to detail.
– Great moment with Milhouse, who is quick to ditch his best friend in the middle of signing his cast (we see he’s unconsciously written “Milpool”).
– Stuck in his room, Bart tries to rationalize his position (“What fun can you have in a pool anyway that you can’t have in a bathtub with a garbage bag taped around your cast?”) We then get a fantastic sequence of kids in the pool having the most fun ever, reminiscent of the snow day in “Bart Gets An F.” They do a lavish synchronized swimming routine, ending with Homer in an inner tube floating into the circle of kids and spewing a beer fountain.
– I absolutely love Klassic Krusty, which again raises questions of what kind of an entertainer he really is, as he interviews AFL/CIO chairman George Meany (“Let me be blunt: is there a labor crisis in America today?”)
– The shadow design in Bart’s darkened room is so visually striking, very well done. There’s also great expression work on Bart’s slightly out of focus, twitchy face, especially the blank reaction shot when Lisa pussyfoots around expressing her excitement about being popular.
– Great animation with, upon hearing a woman scream, Bart reaching for the telescope box with his feet and hastily reconstructing it, then deconstructing it, then constructing it again.
– Bart is shocked in witnessing Ned talking to his sons (“He’s going to kill Rod and Todd too. That’s horrible! …in principle.”)
– Martin gazes upon his soon-to-be completed pool (“My plan has come to fruition. Soon I’ll be queen of summertime. Er, king. King!”) The two workmen exchange a puzzled glance.
– I love Bart’s performance reading his twisted play to Lisa, with his attempt to do cockney character voices.
– Great fake-out in the vein of “How To Cook For Forty Humans” when Lisa finds a wrapped container labeled “Human Head”! Actually it’s just “Schuman Farms Head of Lettuce.”
– Gotta love the Springfield Police Department Rescue-Phone (“You have selected regicide. If you know the name of the king or queen being murdered, press one.”)
– Absolutely perfect finale with Martin mournfully singing “Summer Wind,” which plays over the credits.