252. Lisa the Tree Hugger

(originally aired November 19, 2000)
As character degradation would continue throughout the years, Lisa will eventually turn into a rabble-rousing liberal mouth piece, where being morally indigent would become one of her new character traits. But Lisa was always socially conscious and took up moralistic causes for specific reasons, some even slightly naive or misguided. This episode certainly showcases her passionate activism but always within the realm of her being child. The show also takes a deft aim at youth environmentalism, part out of actual concern, but mostly in attempts to seem hip and ahead of the curve. There’s a lot of sharp things in this episode, but it mostly suffers from not having many laughs, and of course, lots of dumb Homer shit going on in the background.

Lisa finds herself crushing over teen activist Jesse Grass after a radical protest at Krusty Burger with his organization Dirt First. The scene of her visiting him in jail is pretty great, where she tries desperately to prove how eco-friendly she is (“I started an organic compost pile at home.” “Only at home? You mean you don’t pocket-mulch?”) Jesse talks about how he was into yoga before it was cool and how Lisa can enter their group under the “poser” level, it all just shows how superficial he is under the surface. I also like that Jesse doesn’t even acknowledge who Lisa is that much, forgetting her name but then making how he knew her dearly upon her supposed death, complete with an amazing backhanded comment (“But, in death, she will do more for our cause than she ever could have done in life.”) In fact, now that I think about it, Jesse is kind of a mirror of what Lisa would turn in to, in a way. Overly self-righteous, looking to cause a scene over his beliefs, it sort of makes sense.

The largest redwood in Springfield is set to be chopped down, and Lisa volunteers to camp out in the tree to prevent it from happening. But when she becomes homesick and climbs down for the night, lightning strikes it down, leaving the town to believe she had gone down with it. Now Lisa must choose between lying low and letting her memorial nature preserve be built, or to come clean. It’s an interesting twist, and I do like how Lisa’s metal bucket was accidentally to blame for the tree coming down. Premise-wise, this episode is pretty solid, but it’s nothing too spectacular. The opening with Bart delivering menus is pretty superfluous, but it’s an adequate lead-in to our main story. Meanwhile, Homer is still deplorable. While Bart’s casual and callous attitude toward Lisa’s “death” works, Homer forcing her daughter to record a post-mortum message and wearing a shirt with her face with a halo on it to garner sympathy is pretty rough. So, not a spectacular episode, but nothing too major to bitch about. S’alright.

Tidbits and Quotes
– For some reason I’m kind of bothered they made the barber into a maniac. He’s been around since the Tracey Ullman shorts, he deserves a little respect.
– I found the name of the “You Thai Now” restaurant more amusing than all of the schtick from the owner. Also Bart ends up at the Watergate Hotel delivering menus somehow.
– Great bit of the police shooting the protesters down with beanbags, with mission accomplished thanks to some heavy artillery (“That’s nice work with the bag-zooka.” “Gotta love what you do, Chief.”)
– Kent Brockman reports on the protest (“The eco-radical group, Dirt First, staged a daring protest today at Krusty Burger. Krusty the Klown has issued the following statement: ‘This I don’t need.’ The group is led by teenage activist, Jesse Grass, a dreadlocked dreamboat whose Birken-stock is on the rise.”)
– I don’t understand the joke with Homer talking about saving the planet his own way, then proceeds to make donuts in the parking lot. Is it just that he’s wasting so much gas?
– Hilarious joke implicating Homer has drugs hidden in the house. Haven’t they done this joke before? And wasn’t it not funny then? The answer is yes. If you can remember the episode, no need to comment, because I don’t particularly care. But do it if you’d like.
– Kent Brockman again with another great report (“It’s day four for Springfield’s li’lest tree hugger. …excuse me, that’s littlest tree hugger. And whether you love or hate her politics, you’ve got to go gawk at this crazy idiot.”)
– Kent Brockman nails it again, reporting that Springfield’s oldest resident has died. He chuckles and assures us it’s not Mr. Burns. Cue a superimposed picture of Burns with the descriptor “NOT DEAD.” He’s pretty much the MVP of the episode.
– Marge is not on board with Lisa’s charade (“You are not pretending to be dead, young lady! This family has had nothing but bad luck when it comes to farce.”)
– I hate Homer cynically wringing sympathy at the bar, but I do like Moe’s attempt to be tactful in expressing condolences for Lisa’s death, or how he puts it, “riding the midnight train to Slab City.”
– Great bit with a crestfallen Milhouse grabbing Lisa’s sax, insisting they can clone her from the spit. He runs off, with Quimby shouting, “Good luck, Milhouse!”
– The Rich Texan dates all the way back to season 5, but somehow he’s been brought back in these later seasons quite a lot. He’s a veritable cartoon character, which is fine for one-off appearances, but I feel like he appears so many times from this point on and it’s the same joke every time.
– It’s a bit of a cheat that the people in the woods can see what the Lisa Log is crashing into miles away, but hey, whatever. I like Rich Texan taking pleasure in Hemp City being destroyed (“Yee-haw! Score one for the bad guys!”)