OTH: The Simpsons- "Lisa Gets an 'A'" / "Homer Simpson in 'Kidney Trouble'"
To be fair, I wouldn't give my dad a kidney either. I mean, I wouldn't give him a pot to piss in but
Season 10, Episode 7
Aired November 22, 1998
Directed by Bob Anderson
Written by Ian Maxtone-Graham
Synopsis: After Homer pushes Lisa deep into a grocery store freezer, she comes down with a cold, and soon has to face her worst nightmare- staying home from school! Noticing how disappointed she is in herself, Marge suggests that Lisa should try relaxing with one of Bart’s video games, and soon becomes addicted to it. Enough so that not only does she neglect her homework to read The Wind in the Willows, but she even fakes sick to stay home for another day to play the game some more. She reaches for the sun and tries to get a third day, but Marge can tell that she’s faking and sends her daughter to school, where she has to take a test on the book she didn’t end up reading. Lisa tries to feign her illness to Miss Hoover, who allows her to get a drink of water… before returning to take her test. When Lisa goes out of the classroom, she runs into Bart, who’s sneaked out and offers Lisa help with the test by bringing her over to Nelson, who has the answer sheets for just about every teacher in school. Lisa initially has no interest in cheating, but talks herself into it and takes the sheet. Lisa ends up with an A+++, scoring all of the bonus questions, but her guilt takes over and she can’t accept the credit anymore. Things get worse when Principal Skinner invites Lisa to his office to tell her about how Lisa’s beyond-perfect score has risen the school’s GPA just up into the district’s minimum standard, which means that the school can actually receive benefits now. Lisa doesn’t care, though, and confesses to Skinner that she cheated. He’s not happy to hear this, but tries to convince Lisa to keep this under wraps so the school can enjoy the benefits they deserve. She refuses and threatens to tell Superintendent Chalmers, who comes in and reveals that he, like Skinner, is willing to look the other way and enjoy the benefits if Lisa will keep her mouth shut for once. She’s still skeptical, but seeing how the school can now afford computers, she reluctantly gives in. Or so she says, as later that evening at the presentation where the school accepts a healthy check, she comes clean. The comptroller with the check says that she admires Lisa’s honesty, and insists that she and the school keep the check anyway, with her family taking her home. Except it turns out that the comptroller was actually Otto in a mask, as Skinner, Chalmers, and everyone else tricked Lisa into thinking that this was the real presentation. Instead, the real comptroller comes over with the check, and when he asks for Lisa, Bart controls a puppet that looks just like her in the audience to make it seem like she’s being modest and won’t come up. And that’s that.
Also, Homer decides to buy the tiny lobster at the grocery store from earlier, which he decides to bulk up so he and the family can score a nice dinner from it. The problem is that Homer soon falls in love with the lobster, who he names Pinchy, and can’t go through with cooking him. Homer treats Pinchy like a fourth child and takes him around town, but one day leaves Pinchy out in the kiddy pool on a particularly hot day, only to realize what he did and eats the poor lobster out of sadness.
The sad thing is, schools do receive funding based on test scores, moreso standardized tests. I can understand the logic of wanting to nurture the minds of students who show potential to impress, but wouldn’t you think that students who struggle need the help that funding can offer more?
And the irony here is that with her falsified test score, Lisa has now made it so her school, which can really use the funding, will receive some, but she wants to back away from it.
“Lisa Gets an ‘A’” has a terrific script from Ian Maxtone-Graham, taking ideas from Ron Hauge and Richard Appel and fine-tuning them into what may be the season’s sharpest script to date. I like how this offers Lisa an episode that challenges her moral standards while also allowing some humor to come from her. I worry that she receives criticism for being the driest Simpson, which wouldn’t be false yet I think would undersell her appeal. Lisa can be funny, often as the butt of a joke, but not exclusively. The characters gets solid lines of her own, which Yeardley Smith delivers perfectly.
Additionally, I love that Dash Dingo is clearly inspired by the Crash Bandicoot games, which takes me back to playing the game on my PS1. That helps to solidify this as a win in my book.
Season 10, Episode 8
Aired December 6, 1998
Directed by Mike B. Anderson
Written by John Swartzwelder
Synopsis: The family takes Grampa (not by choice, mind you) to a ghost town outside of Springfield and have fun pursuing the various western and prostitute-inspired gags Swartzwelder comes up with. It’s looking like a good day, especially since Grampa found himself a saloon that serves a mean sarsaparilla, which he has a whole lot of. Unfortunately, Homer refuses to stop to let him use the bathroom on the way home, which causes his kidneys to explode. It looks like Grampa will die very soon if he doesn’t get a transplant, but there’s a shortage on his blood type from the donors list, which is why Dr. Hibbert suggest that Homer donate one of his kidneys to his father. Homer initially says yes, and while he intends to go through with it, an encounter at Moe’s has the patrons detail the risk that he’s going through, which gives him second thoughts. When it’s time for Homer and Abe to go through their surgery, Homer runs out of the surgery room window when no one is looking and tries to leave town. He makes it to the waterfront, where he joins the Sea Captain’s crew of lost souls, all of whom have their own stories explaining why they’ve ran away. Despite some of them doing some terrible things, though, Homer takes the case and disgusts most everyone, forcing him to be kicked out. A disgraced Homer decides to go back to his father’s bedside, where he’s only getting worse. While he initially decides to go through with the surgery, Homer runs away again, and is soon hit by a car. He wakes up not only covered in bandages, but also discovers that he’s missing a kidney, It turns out that while he was unconscious, Dr. Hibbert operated on Homer anyway and gave his father his kidney. At first Homer is furious, but ultimately, he’s happy to see his father healthy again, all while giving Bart’s kidney an inspection of his own.
On paper, this should be a hit. Swartzwelder handling a George Meyer pitch, featuring a best of both worlds scenario, as Meyer’s absurd ideas are a perfect fit for Swartzwelder’s never-ending search for the perfect gag. They’re practically perfect bedfellows.
The problem is that “Homer Simpson in ‘Kidney Trouble’” (I’ll probably refer to it by just the latter part of its title from hereon) isn’t that great, a strangely meanspirited and uneven episode.
A popular subtitle that fans like to give to this period of The Simpsons is the “Jerkass Homer” era, where the character’s strengths, ie his devotion to his family and desire to do better, are pushed aside for his more obnoxious and irritating traits, at the expense of his likability. We’re not quite there yet, but it’s hard to root for the man when he ditches his father like that, isn’t it?
Homer’s done some questionable things in the past, and while Abe is no saint himself, leaving his father on his hospital bed does feel like a new low, one that I worry that we’ll see the show surpass soon enough. Usually his selfish behavior is balanced out by some kind of likable tendencies, or at least good jokes with or at his expense, but this is played almost kind of straight, which doesn’t work.
On top of that, “Kidney Trouble” isn’t all that funny, despite the pedigree. It’s not a great look when the first act, particular when the opening is intentionally disparate from the rest of the episode, is more or less the best part. But the western scenes are genuinely funny, especially the frequent use of the word prostitute, while the rest is kind of light on great jokes. Even the boat full of misfits, as Swartzweldian an idea as many (although it, too, belonged to Meyer) doesn’t really go anywhere.
I didn’t want to call the episode a total wash, but it doesn’t live up to its potential very well. There could have been something pretty funny or sweet here, and it hardly lands. Ah well.
Homer’s Bar Tab:
Chalkboard Gag Wars: “I will not scream for ice cream” vs. “I am not a licensed hairstylist.” Whose hair did Bart mess with?
Couch Gag Wars: The family dries their hair and switches heads vs. the family as frogs. I feel like I’ve seen these before.
According to Matt Groening on the commentary, Crash Bandicoot is one of the few games his kids wouldn’t take the controller away from him for, as it’s simple enough for him to not suck at it. Love that.
“Mom, can we go Catholic so we can get Communion wafers and booze?” “No, no one’s going Catholic. Three children is enough, thank you.”
Ralph is the MVP of the former episode. Of course everyone remembers “Hi Super Nintendo Chalmers”, but I also love the bit where he gives Lisa her homework. Remember when he used to have a crush on her and could competently portray George Washington?
I severely doubt that Homer ever weighed 160 pounds AND had his driver’s license at the same time.
A month’s pay in three minutes. Those men did not last very long.
Homer and Marge really are goals. If I get married, I hope it’s to someone who would agree to blow up a hospital if I die on their watch.
Next Week: Homer becomes the mayor’s bodyguard, and then he and Flanders go on a bender in Vegas and get married… again. Oh boy.