Summer of 4 Ft. 2

"Summer of 4 Ft. 2" is the twenty-fifth and last episode of The Simpsons' seventh season. The episode guest stars Christina Ricci, who recorded her lines over the phone and didn't go into the studio.^[1]

1 Plot
2 Cultural references
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Plot

On the last day of school nobody signs Lisa's yearbook. Meanwhile Ned Flanders offers to Homer to use his beach-house over the summer. Marge is happy about the idea and suggests Bart bring Milhouse and Lisa bring a friend too. However Lisa has no friends to bring and decides to change her image as a result.

After reaching the beach-house Lisa tells Marge that she forgot to pack. So they go shopping for new clothes. Lisa buys a new suit of clothes she believes will make her look cool, and goes in search of some kids. She meets up with four kids talking incoherently and suggests they can skate at a virtually abandoned library. She talks to another girl named Erin. Bart notices this and attempts to win the kids over with his skateboarding moves, but the kids just think he is trying too hard.

Homer goes to a store to purchase illegal fireworks to celebrate Independence Day. The cashier sells him the M-320 firecracker, but when he goes to light it, a large portion of the fuse is burned off and he ends up blowing up the dishwasher, causing the septic tank to back up. Marge is shown later several times cleaning up the kitchen mess and apparently enjoying it.

Bart is jealous of Lisa having new friends. He decides to teach her a lesson by showing her friends her yearbook, revealing that she is a nerd. Lisa runs off sobbing before her friends can say anything. The next morning Bart tells Lisa that he was only trying to show her how important it is to be herself, and an enraged Lisa grabs Bart by his shirt and threatens to pour pancake syrup in his eyes until Marge appears and tells them they are going to a fair that night.

The next night the family attends the fair and Bart and Lisa spend the whole time fighting. After Bart knocks Lisa out of the track in the bumper cars Lisa walks home sadly and Bart begins to feel remorse for what he has done. However when Lisa returns home she finds her friends have covered Homer's car with sea shells, to make the phrase "Lisa Rules". They tell her that they like her for who she is and that she taught them many cool things about nature. That moment, however, Homer appears and is shocked to see the way his car is. As they leave the next day, the sea gulls are pecking all the car. Bart gives back her yearbook in which he has had all her friends sign to make up for what he did. As they have their last sight at the beach Homer throws out a Buzz Cola can, which is used as a new home by a hermit crab.

[edit] Cultural references

The title is a spoof of the 1971 movie Summer of '42.
Homer replicates a scene from American Graffiti where Toad gets a bottle of Old Harper. Homer on the other hand buys not only the Old Harper, but buys embarrassing items including porno magazines, a large box of condoms, panty shields, and disposable enemas in an attempt to get illegal fireworks (this scene has sometimes been cut out during UK syndication). The Beach Boys' "All Summer Long", which is heard during this episode's credit roll, was also featured during the credit roll of American Graffiti.
Lisa has hallucinations of characters enticing her into the library, including Pippi Longstocking, The New Yorker character Eustace Tilley, and Alice and The Hatter of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
When Lisa is checking her new look out, she says, "Like, you know, whatever," akin to how voice actress Gail Matthius says it when she played her Valley Girl Vicki character on Saturday Night Live and the short-lived sketch show Laugh Trax.
Milhouse remarks that Lisa's new appearance makes her look like Blossom.
TeeJay's ZayMart is a spoof of defunct retailer Zayre and parent company T.J. Maxx.^[2]
When Erin looks at Bart's slingshot, she says "Who does he think he is, Dennis the Menace?"
The "Mystery Date" board game that the family (minus Lisa) is forced to play is an actual Milton Bradley board game from the 1960s. Several of the staff on the show recalled playing it as children and claim it to be "a very disappointing game to play as a little boy" because of the female target audience.^[3]
The name of the town (Little Pwagmattasquarmsettport) sounds like many New England seaside towns that combine long Native American names with "-port" at the end (e.g. Kennebunkport in Maine). This, combined with the terrain (sand dunes), and the fact that the bridge the family drives over at the end closely resembles the distinctive design of the Bourne and Sagamore bridges, suggests that the fictional town is located on Cape Cod.