Lisa Gets an A
When I was in elementary school, we were given a "No TV for a week" challenge. As you can imagine, that was hard because I loved TV, but for whatever reason I decided to take it. And I mostly succeeded. Mostly. One day at Radio Shack while mom was shopping, I played a video game and she drew my attention to that being TV. Well, I kept my mouth shut and got a button for my trouble. Its a pretty cheap gift, considering (maybe there was a certificate, which is slightly better) but nonetheless, it became a source of shame and I smashed that button with a rock. Frankly, my shame was far greater than the weight of my crime but selling integrity really does help.
In this episode, Lisa gets sick and misses a few days of school. During this time, Lisa gets hooked on a video game and ends up skipping her reading assignment. When Lisa finally gets back to school, she is confronted with a test she isn't prepared for. Lisa panics and ends up cheating on the test with help from Nelson and not only passes but ends up getting a better score than she's ever received. Lisa is given constant reminders of her "success" and is consumed with guilt and eventually confesses to Skinner... but Skinner doesn't want to take it. It turns out that Lisa's success put the school over the top for a badly needed grant to fix some of the school's more serious problems. Lisa is eventually convinced to continue the lie but eventually confesses during the grant giving ceremony. It seems that all is forgiven and Lisa is rewarded for her honesty... until Lisa leaves. It turns out Skinner predicted the betrayal and created a fake ceremony to placate Lisa and a real one to get the money. Meanwhile, Homer raises a lobster.
Lisa Gets an A is a strong episode for this season, in that it taps into a feeling we may have all felt from time to time; the shame and guilt of cheating. The show keeps it quite relatable throughout but builds when the problem becomes far greater than anticipated. But its also an interesting episode in that it is both a morally simplistic one but also one that doesn't exclude the possibility of complexity. I generally am in favour of honesty but in the face of the horror of a massively underfunded school, lying about Lisa's cheat feels very much something that would personally be easy for me to do. Lisa definitely does a morally correct thing but she also does something that has real consequences. Now there's a good practical reason to tell the truth; to stop hurting herself with guilt. But in doing that she risks the school's future. Weirdly, Skinner's elaborate plan of lies and fraud is something I have NO issue with.
And even though the show doesn't directly address it, I think there is a more morally complex quandary here. From Skinner's end, asking Lisa to continue the lie is asking her to swallow her shame and guilt, and that's a lot for an 8 year old to contend with. Conversely, this school is in serious jeopardy. The underfunding of schools and the screwed systems that decide who gets funding (like "no child left behind") are the real villains and as cowardly and sniveling as Skinner is, he's a guy trying to save an institution he loves in the face of apathy towards the well-being of children. Oh, Skinner's no angel in this one, but his sneaky solution is sort of brilliant in that it takes into account Lisa's integrity, allows her to have a win and still keep the money. It also plays with the sitcom standby that everything will work out if you are contrite. But it won't, necessarily. Its a cynically playful finale that feels like it is siding more with Lisa in terms of actual values but is also letting us enjoy Skinner's sneaky win.
I feel like I'm in an era of the show when I am complaining more but the show still has a lot of life in it. Yes, a lot of good joke formulas are getting repeated but episodes like these get to tap into specific emotions that the characters haven't felt yet in new ways. It can still be outrageous and silly but we are also invested in Lisa's pain and that feeling you've compromised your integrity in a moment of weakness. Interestingly, one of the more derided episodes of the last decade, Lisa Goes Gaga (the Lady Gaga episode), actually begins with a VERY good first act about Lisa doing something similar. Unfortunately, then it becomes a fawning celebration of Lady Gaga at the expense of making sense. Though compared to the Elon Musk episode, fawning over someone who actually deserves it, while somewhat cringey, is definitely the better option than saying "yay" to the tech monster. But these episodes still have a lot of life in them and when I see an episode like this, I'm reminded why I stuck with the show for so long.
Jokes I missed before:
Not a great joke but one of the "healthy" cereals is "Count Caroba". Inexplicably, not "Carobula".
Other great jokes:
"No, Mom, wait, we can make a deal."
"You don't have anything I want."
"Is this my house?"
"No, you live in a different house."
I know this is just the set up for more Ralph wackiness but I like Smith's matter of fact delivery. The character is patient and used to dealing with Ralph.
"Weren't you at Brown, Otto?"
"Yep. Almost got tenure, too."
"Lisa, you're saying brown an awful lot."
"Can't you see the difference between earning something honestly and getting it through fraud?"
"I suppose maybe if uh... No. Sorry, thought I had it there for a sec."
"But we can't accept that money. Its tainted."
"Leave the money out of this. Its not the money's fault you cheated."
I love that Chalmers calls it "that song Charge".
"Hi Lisa, Hi Super Nintendo Chalmers."
"Oh, thank God! Now let's talk rust-proofing. These Colecos will rust up on you like that. Shut up Gil, close the deal, close the deal."
"After all, education is the search for truth."
"No, no, don't listen to here, she's out of her mind."
"Who among you can't say you've never cheated... on your wives... or your husbands."
"Where I come from, Canada, we reward courage."
This is why I've never been rewarded.
"Alright everyone, let's have a round of applause for the real comptroller."
"?"
"I know a liquor store where we can cash this right now."
Other notes:
I would play Dash Dingo.
Bart says "If it was me, I'd take the zero." On accident, Bart makes the more moral choice.
Nelson's flimsy plausible deniablity excuses are perfect. "They're study aids. They're for novelty purposes only."
Hoover's alcohol stained grades paint a dark picture.