Lisa Gets an "A"
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"Lisa Gets an 'A'" is the seventh episode of The Simpsons' tenth season. It aired on November 22, 1998.
[edit] Plot
After another long morning at church, the Simpsons go to a grocery store (Eatie Gourmet's) to take advantage of free samples in lieu of a Sunday brunch. At the store Homer wants to buy a lobster, but since the larger ones are too expensive he decides to buy a small one and fatten it up before eating it. Homer also tries to look for normal flavors of ice cream among the unusually titled "Ken & Harry's" flavors, so he puts Lisa in the freezer to look for some at the back, resulting in her getting a cold. Marge wants Lisa to stay home from school for the next few days to recover from her cold. At home, Lisa gets addicted to one of Bart's video games, ignoring the homework on The Wind in the Willows that she is given by Ralph. When Lisa returns to school there's a test on the book. She is not prepared for the test, and when she asks Bart for advice, he brings her to Nelson from whom she buys the test answers. Miss Hoover grades the tests over lunch, and Lisa is awarded the rare grade of A+++.
Meanwhile, Homer has become attached to his Lobster and names it Pinchy. When it comes time to cook Pinchy, Homer cannot bring himself to do it, and instead, declares him a part of the family now.
The family is extremely proud of Lisa's "achievement", much to the chagrin of her guilt-ridden conscience. The next day at school, Principal Skinner informs Lisa that her test grade has brought Springfield Elementary's GPA up to the State's minimum standard, and they now qualify for a basic assistance grant. Lisa confesses that she cheated on the test and Skinner and Superintendent Chalmers both agree it would be best to keep this a secret in order to keep the money. Although Lisa confesses during the grant money presentation assembly, the school manages to keep the money, as Principal Skinner anticipated Lisa would confess, and staged a phony presentation before the real one. At home, after getting dirty playing in the yard, Pinchy is put in a hot bath by Homer, and unfortunately Pinchy is boiled alive. Homer sadly eats Pinchy all by himself while his family looks on.
[edit] Cultural references
- Dash Dingo, the video game Lisa becomes addicted to, is a parody of Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back. The music that plays when the game starts is similar to the music when the Crash game starts. Also, the evil floating Australian head is a parody of the Crash games' villain, Doctor Neo Cortex. The game also revolves around finding and devouring "seven crystal babies", referencing the Azaria Chamberlain disappearance and the Crystals in the aforementioned game.
- Homer: (shopping for ice cream) "Cherry Garcia? Honey Bono? Desmond Tutti Frutti?"
- The ice cream flavors are named after Jerry Garcia (the Grateful Dead's lead singer), Sonny Bono (of Sonny and Cher) and Archbishop Desmond Tutu (South African anti-apartheid activist and Nobel Prize Winner). There's also a flavor called Milli Vanilla, a reference to Milli Vanilli, the infamous musicians who had to give up their Grammy Award after it was revealed that someone else sang their songs and all the duo did was lip-synch. Cherry Garcia is a flavor offered by Ben & Jerry's, an ice cream company that gives their ice cream flavors amusing names, like Cherry Garcia. Lisa also mentions flavors called Candy Warhol, Xavier Nougat, and Sherbert Hoover, respectively named after Andy Warhol, Xavier Cugat, and Herbert Hoover.
- Nelson: "Well la-di-da, Lady Cheaterly."
- This is a reference to the D. H. Lawrence novel Lady Chatterley's Lover.
- At one point in the episode, Ralph refers to Superintendent Chalmers as "Super Nintendo Chalmers."
- The story with Homer getting a pet lobster after he buys a live lobster intending to eat is similar to the Garfield & Friends episode Maine Course.
- The game system Lisa plays resembles the PlayStation but the controller and system are black.
- The title of the episode may be a reference to previous episode Bart Gets an F.
[edit] External links
- "Lisa Gets an "A"" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive
- "Lisa Gets an "A"" at the Internet Movie Database
