(originally aired April 19, 2009)
Alright, what classic episode are we rehashing this week? Oh, it’s “Bart’s Girlfriend,” except if the first act was the entire episode with no interesting twist? Or anything interesting whatsoever? Great! So here’s the story: Bart meets this girl Jenny, who’s a goody two-shoes good Samaritan, and must pretend to be good to get her to like him. That’s the episode. That’s it. In “Bart’s Girlfriend,” we saw similarly with him trying to win over Jessica Lovejoy, but then it actually went somewhere. Here, it’s just… nothing. I’m not even going to try to compare these two, because it would be way too unfair. So who is Jenny? Why, another one-off character with zero personality to speak of who’s voiced by a celebrity, of course! She’s voiced by Anne Hathaway, and again, mighty fine actress, nondescript, forgettable performance. You could swap dialogue tracks with Natalie Portman from a few seasons back and I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. It’s just another throwaway role.
The “conflict” occurs when Milhouse discovers the two together. He had previously taken the fall from Bart’s massive prank at the school and gotten suspended, and finds Jenny is the reason Bart stopped visiting him. He then goes into creepy stalker mode as Bart gets more and more nervous that his mischievous past will come back to haunt him. So, build-up, build-up… and then Bart just comes clean with Jenny. Then he makes up with Milhouse and the episode ends. It’s astonishing just how uneventful these shows are getting, there’s barely anything to speak of because barely anything happens. There’s a B-story featuring Lisa’s pessimistic world view being warped thanks to medication, reducing her into a whacked-out stupor where she can only see smiley faces… and then in the end, she stops taking them. Like, stuff will start happening, and then they’ll stop happening. Stories used to have arcs that made sense and were impacting. Now we’re lucky if we even get one at all.
Tidbits and Quotes
– Last season we had Skinner and Chalmers go through absurd, ridiculous lengths to get Bart suspended. Here, they’re so dumb they can’t figure out who Milhouse’s accomplice was. Whoever could it be? Ridiculous.
– The medication Lisa takes is called Ignorital, so we get more obvious product names. Also, it’s not a lot of fun to see Lisa completely out of her gourd, in this very, very subtle satire on mind-altering pharmaceuticals..
– Lenny visits his grandmother’s grave, which reads… “Lenny’s Grandma.” They already have the joke with him bringing the Duffman standee there, couldn’t they have just put a frigging name on there?
– I’m really at a loss here, this is one of the most empty, boring episodes I’ve ever seen. It may trump the astronomy show, actually.
Me Blog Write Good 
DeadHomerSociety pretty much covered the Bart’s Girlfriend comparison: http://deadhomersociety.com/2009/04/20/just-another-telling-example/.
And the happy drug-induced hallucinations was already done a lot better in Weekend at Burnsies.
A “Compare and Contrast” needs to be done with psychedelia humor and how the series tackled drug trips with Lisa. “Selma’s Choice” and “Last Exit to Springfield” in the fourth season both featured weird sequences; in particular, “Last Exit” had a full-on “Yellow Submarine” parody that was done to just highlight the strangeness of what was going on with her at the moment.
In this episode, in what I consider one of the worst seasons ever (along with Seasons 11 and 28), and during the beginning of the HD era, the show decides that Lisa’s fantasies should be nothing but smiley faces to disguise the unpleasantness of the real world. The problem with this is that not only is it one-note & tired (“Oh, look; the smiley faces are actually blood and vomit in real life, get it?!”), but it’s also particularly boring seeing the same gag repeated three times. Unsurprisingly, there’s no conclusion to this story, since it was about Lisa getting depressed, so she’s put on pills, but the pills make her loopy… and Marge just throws them out. There’s no resolution for Lisa’s gloom and doom outlook of the world; they just wanted her high as a kite and got in, what, two sight gags?
As for the main story itself, it combines two of the lamest elements when it comes to writing about Bart; him having romance & fighting with Milhouse. The romances he always had are particularly gross, given the show either wants him to have the emotional maturity of a love-deprived gibbon or that he’s feeling randy in the moment. Since he’s not allowed to grow as a character, they’re presented as creepy. Meanwhile, the Milhouse drama in Zombie Simpsons is treated as a foregone conclusion with their lack of understanding towards these characters. “Homer Defined” did a good job telling the audience why these two are friends; because they’re both losers. It’s just Bart’s assertive nature that makes him more of a bad influence, along with Milhouse’s timid personality compounding the problem that would make someone like Luann not want Bart to hang around. But, after years of the show treating Milhouse as an absolute octowussy while waffling on what they want to depict Bart as every week (most of the time he’s pathetic, except when he’s not), the Bart/Milhouse dynamic is more of an abusive relationship.
The scene where Homer hits his head on a dinner plate to kill a fly is up on YouTube as “Funniest Simpsons scene ever.” There is no hope for humanity.
Even Peter Griffin isn’t that fucking stupid…
I can think of BILLIONS of Simpsons moments that are funnier than that, and that includes stuff from the ZS era.
To be fair Homer does actually get the fly and with minimum food spillage.
(I agree though, it’s a dumb gag. They handled Homer’s reaction to getting a fly on his food much better in Homer’s Triple Bypass)
Sad state of affairs, guys, lol. Anyway, good review as always Mike, shortest review yet and shortest “Tidbits and Quotes” you’ve ever done. But keep up the great work, over a little more then a handful of episodes to review and your done! p.s. Astronomy episode?
Is it that one from season 14 your on about?
Yes, he’s referring to “Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky”. He’s brought it up a good three or four times by now as precedent as one of the most boring episodes of the series. Personally, I didn’t think it was that bad, although it goes without saying that it isn’t classic era quality.
Anne Hathaway then returned the following season to voice a love interest for Krusty.
I’ve not seen this episode, but didn’t Lisa already “ascend to a higher plane of existence” way back in Selma’s Choice?
Not to mention “Last Exit” when she has her laughing gas trip…
That has got to be the laziest done drug trip in the history of the show…
Also about the school falling apart at the beginning sure not everything there is just screwed in??? also the 3 Z’s does not work as the school’s name only has 2 N’s… EPIC FAIL!
One of the Z’s is from half of the M that broke apart. If you look closely, you can see it’s shaped differently. But that’s certainly the least of our problems…
The one of the few times when ZS gives a shit about detail…
I honestly can’t remember if I’ve ever seen this episode or not, and what is worse I really don’t care.
Simpsons predicted something years ago that needs to go down your throat.
Lisa Simpson: Um, excuse me, sir. The thing is, there’s not really anything wrong with the Itchy & Scratchy Show. It’s as good as ever. But after so many years, the characters just can’t have the same impact they once had.
Doug: Hi. A question for Miss Bellamy. In episode 2F09 when Itchy plays Scratchy’s skeleton like a xylophone, he strikes the same rib twice in succession, yet he produces two clearly different tones. I mean, what are we to believe, that this is some sort of a magic xylophone or something? Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder.
Comic Book Guy: Last night’s Itchy & Scratchy was, without a doubt, the worst episode ever. Rest assured that I was on internet within minutes registering my disgust throughout the world.
Bart Simpson: Hey, I know it wasn’t great, but what right do you have to complain?
Comic Book Guy: As a loyal viewer, I feel they owe me.
Bart Simpson: What? They’ve given you thousands of hours of entertainment for free. What could they possibly owe you? I mean, if anything, you owe them.
Comic Book Guy: Worst episode ever.
Marge Simpson: It’s not your fault, Homer. It’s those lousy writers. They make me madder than a… yak in heat.
People get really butthurt with a truthful quote. You seriously hate true.
Comic Book Guy: Last night’s Itchy & Scratchy was, without a doubt, the worst episode ever. Rest assured that I was on internet within minutes registering my disgust throughout the world.
Bart Simpson: Hey, I know it wasn’t great, but what right do you have to complain?
Comic Book Guy: As a loyal viewer, I feel they owe me.
Bart Simpson: What? They’ve given you thousands of hours of entertainment for free. What could they possibly owe you? I mean, if anything, you owe them.
Comic Book Guy: Worst episode ever.
Truthful quotes for the show now
Doug: Hi. A question for Miss Bellamy. In episode 2F09 when Itchy plays Scratchy’s skeleton like a xylophone, he strikes the same rib twice in succession, yet he produces two clearly different tones. I mean, what are we to believe, that this is some sort of a magic xylophone or something? Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder.
Poor episodes.
Marge Simpson: It’s not your fault, Homer. It’s those lousy writers. They make me madder than a… yak in heat.
Lousy writers more than money, they had lousy written episodes in classic seasons.
Lisa Simpson: Um, excuse me, sir. The thing is, there’s not really anything wrong with the Itchy & Scratchy Show. It’s as good as ever. But after so many years, the characters just can’t have the same impact they once had.
Many years.
Comic Book Guy: Last night’s Itchy & Scratchy was, without a doubt, the worst episode ever. Rest assured that I was on internet within minutes registering my disgust throughout the world.
Bart Simpson: Hey, I know it wasn’t great, but what right do you have to complain?
Comic Book Guy: As a loyal viewer, I feel they owe me.
Bart Simpson: What? They’ve given you thousands of hours of entertainment for free. What could they possibly owe you? I mean, if anything, you owe them.
Comic Book Guy: Worst episode ever.
Lousy fandom.