Summary: Lisa wins a trip to D.C. for a patriotic essay contest, but loses faith in her country when discovering the true nature of politicians.
Episode Timeline:
October 10, 1991, Thursday:
- Homer checks the mail and may have won $1 million
- Homer tries to cash the check
- The family reads the free sample of Reader's Digest
October 11, 1991, Friday:
- Homer reads the magazine at work
- Homer turns off the TV so he can read to his family
- Homer gets caught up in the article about a dangerous encounter with a sea lion
- Homer uses the magazine to spice up his sex life
October 12, 1991, Saturday:
- At dinner, Lisa learns of the essay contest to go to D.C.
October 13, 1991, Sunday:
- Lisa tries writing her essay
- Lisa visits the national park and sees a bald eagle
- Homer takes Lisa to the contest where Nelson delivers a rousing essay
- Other children around the world share their essays
- Lisa shares her essay to high marks and wins
October 16, 1991, Wednesday:
- On the plane to D.C., Homer requests all the free items he'll eventually get
- Bart gets to sit in the cockpit and releases the oxygen masks
- The family lands and gets a taxi
- The family stays at the Watergate
- The parents check out the free stuff
- The kids fight over beds
- At 2am, Bart calls Homer for a wake up call
October 17, 1991, Thursday:
- Lisa meets the other finalists
- The family gets V.I.P. badges
- The family visits the White House
- The family sees money being printed
- The family visits the Air and Space Museum
- The family visits the Washington Monument
- The Congressman from the state where Springfield is located plans to tear down the Springfield Forest, then takes pictures with Lisa
October 18, 1991, Friday:
- Moe reads about Lisa in the paper
- Early in the morning, Lisa is too excited to stay asleep for the contest
- Lisa visits the memorial of a woman's rights crusader and witnesses the Congressman being bribed to allow the Forest's destruction
- Lisa visits the Lincoln Memorial seeking guidance
- Lisa visits the Jefferson Memorial instead
- Lisa imagines D.C. as a political cartoon
- Bart splurges on room service and convinces Homer to as well
- At the awards luncheon, Lisa comes late and reads her new essay
- Lisa finishes her speech revealing what she saw
- At 1:12 pm, the Congressman is arrested
- At 2:05pm, F.B.I. watches the evidence
- At 2:44pm, The Congressman is expelled
- At 3:18pm, the President approves of the explusion
- At 3:39pm, the essays finish up
- Lisa explains herself, then learns about the explusion
- Lisa loses, yet her winning opponent praises her
- Bart takes out the singing satirist
References to Time:
- The check is dated October 18, 1991
- George and Barbara Bush are in the White House
SLH Presence:
- SLH is present
- Lisa eats meatloaf
- Marge flies without fear
Minimum Time Spanned: 9 days, with a couple days missing between the contest and the plane ride
Canon: The Simpsons will meet the Bushes later. This presidency may pose issues.
Favorite Moments:
- Father to his son: "'We the purple?' What the hell was that?"
- Everything written on signs (The Springfield State Slogan: "Not Just Another State", the protestors' signs, "Brevity is...wit.")
- "A little girl is losing faith in democracy!"
- The title of Lisa's new essay: "Cesspool on the Potomac"
Review: This episode is pretty solid. There are enough funny jokes that pepper the story, Lisa's tale is dramatic and well-executed, and the family touring D.C. offers another slice of life moment from the series (that will later be overused in "The Simpsons are going to ________" episodes later in the series). The obsession with Reader's Digest is a little strange though. Doesn't have many "memorable" scenes, though. B
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment