Original Airdate: February 11, 1990
Chalkboard Gag: I will not instigate revolution
Couch Gag: Maggie gets bumped off couch, Marge catches her
Little Lisa Simpson: wise beyond her years and continually unappreciated. Lisa episodes usually center around her struggles as an outsider in her family and at school, and it's because of this that her stories strike a more melancholy tone than those of the other characters. Though Lisa's first episode at center stage is about as much of a downer as some of the others so far, which is uncharacteristic of the show as a whole. Lisa's character is well-established and consistent with how she would behave later, and it's a good introduction to her world even if she lacks her usual wit here. The episode also suffers a bit from the same problems as the Christmas special, in being a little too mopey and slow (plot-wise, barely anything happens) and low on jokes. But Lisa's pain is fully realized enough, and it has such a genuinely sweet ending that it won me over. Lisa has always been the most complex Simpson, which may be why she's usually not one of people's favorite characters, but I've always admired her episodes for their depth and existential angst.
In her debut leading role, Lisa is feeling sad. Not for any petty reasons as most children in the 2nd grade would have, but for typically mature Lisa reasons, i.e. she doesn't understand her own existence and all of the suffering in the world. Marge doesn't know how to handle the situation, and Homer and Bart, oblivious to Lisa's pain, have their own B plot about a video game rivalry (which are the only scenes that are joke heavy). Lisa eventually meets Bleeding Gums Murphy, playing his saxophone on an empty bridge one night, and together through their love of jazz Lisa finds some catharsis. It's all very touching, and I've always liked Bleeding Gums Murphy and felt he was an underused character (his episode about his death is excellent).
Though the most interesting aspect of the episode actually involves Marge. In one scene, she dreams about her childhood and her mother telling her to smile and be happy when she goes to school, even though little Marge clearly looks unhappy and uncomfortable. But she gives a big fake grin and then walks to the bus stop, and the dream ends, with no further mention of it. There have been countless plots involving Homer's relationship with his father and his childhood, but Marge's past pre-Homer isn't ever explored as much (the only one I can think of is the Fear of Flying episode). Marge's mother showed up occasionally in early seasons, but she was eventually dropped and I can't recall seeing her after the episode where she's going to be married to Mr. Burns. Later in this episode, Marge gives Lisa advice her mother gave her, which was to always smile anyway, because it's what's on the surface that counts. Marge quickly retracts this after she witnesses how the other children take advantage of Lisa's attempt to be more well-liked, and in the most touching scene, tells Lisa to be sad if she wants to be, and that they'll work through it together. But I must say, I'm finding the relationship between Marge and her mother really fascinating, and I'm going to keep a sharp eye out for anything relating to it, because it's an underdeveloped part of her character. What I can gain from this first glimpse is that Marge has spent her life in a state of repression, and that she experienced the same unhappiness as Lisa but was told to just grin and bare it. This adds a bit of a sad layer to Marge's character, the first time she's been given some depth on the show, as a completely self-sacrificing mother who has given her entire life to her family and has lost touch with her actual feelings and her own possible discontentment.
Anyway, not that funny of an episode, and the timing and voice acting is all still a bit awkward, but it scores big points for being poignant and successfully fleshing out the female half of the family. I also like this exchange:
Marge: Bart's such a handful, and Maggie needs attention, but all the while our little Lisa is becoming a young woman.
Homer: Oh, so that's it, this is some kind of underwear thing.
Tiddlybits: Mr. Largo the music teacher and Lisa's sort-of friend Janie make their first appearances, Bart's prank call to Moe is for Jacques Strap, and the closing credits play over a shot of The Jazz Hole while Bleeding Gums Murphy plays a jazzy sax solo.
a) This reminds me of the episode where Lisa goes on a crusade against Malibu Stacy and how she espouses shallow, objectifying, and repressive values for women, and is ranting against it at the dinner table. Marge's response is something like "Well, let's forget all our troubles with a big bowl of strawberry ice cream!" And then Lisa pulls the little string on Malibu Stacy, who says the exact line. Another nod to how Marge's repression may have been shaped early in childhood by others.
ReplyDeleteb) Having the words "underwear" and "tiddlybits" so close together is a little suggestive.
c) To anyone out there using Macs and desperately trying to comment on Andy's blog posts: for some reason, as seems to be the case with a random selection of Blogger-based blogs, it won't let you comment in Firefox. Use Safari.