Lisa's Rival
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"Lisa's Rival" is the second episode of The Simpsons' sixth season, which originally aired September 11, 1994. It was written by Mike Scully, and directed by Mark Kirkland. It saw Winona Ryder guest star as Allison Taylor.
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[edit] Synopsis
Lisa feels as if she's going to have to work a little bit more now that a new student, Allison Taylor (voiced by Winona Ryder), has arrived at Springfield Elementary. Allison is as smart or smarter than Lisa, younger (having skipped a grade) and like Lisa, a young master of the saxophone.
Regardless, Lisa tries to be her friend, though she battles her envy and jealousy. It comes to a climax during Springfield Elementary's annual "Diorama-rama", a competition in which the students build dioramas. Allison chose and constructed her project early: a scene from The Tell-Tale Heart, by Edgar Allan Poe. With Bart's help and prodding, Lisa decides to sabotage Allison's entry by switching Allison's diorama with a one containing a rotten cow's heart. When Principal Skinner not only criticizes the diorama but begin to question Allison's overall qualifications, Lisa's guilt overcomes her and she confesses to the switch.
Lisa and Allison both lose to Ralph Wiggum, whose diorama consisted of a box of Star Wars action figures, objects of sentimental value to Principal Skinner. In the end Lisa and Allison put aside their differences and become friends as they walk away, picking up Ralph along the way to hang out with them after he accidentally trips and breaks his action figures (saying two of his more well known lines, "I bent my Wookiee," and "My cat's breath smells like cat food.").
A secondary story arc follows Homer after he encounters and then steals hundreds of pounds of sugar he finds at the site of a truck accident. The sugar attracts bees from the local bee hive whose owners try to buy the bees back but at the last moment it starts raining, the sugar melts and the bees go away.
[edit] Production
According to the DVD audio commentary for the episode, the Northridge earthquake occurred during the production of this episode. It also notes that Conan O'Brien, who by this time had left the show, suggested having an episode about a rival for Lisa (though it was only the basic concept and not the story line that came from O'Brien).
[edit] Cultural references
- Marge reads Love in the Time of Scurvy, a reference to Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera.
- Homer's line of "I'm going to need a bigger drill" after smashing Marge's camera is a reference to the film Jaws where Roy Scheider's character Chief Brody says "We're going to need a bigger boat" after getting his first glance at the size of the titular shark.
- The episode references the movie The Fugitive in the scene where Milhouse is thought to be a criminal on America's Most Wanted. Later, Milhouse is at the end of a drainpipe on the top of a dam being gunned down by an FBI agent resembling Tommy Lee Jones.
- The episode also references the backup artists of popular music groups. Known as "The Second Best Band" the band includes Art Garfunkel, Jim Messina, John Oates, and Lisa Simpson. The song they play is called "Born to Runner-up," a reference to the popular song, "Born to Run".
- Homer's "In America" speech while guarding his sugar pile is a direct reference to Scarface.
- Lisa's hiding of the The Tell-Tale Heart diorama under the gym floorboards is itself a parody of The Tell-Tale Heart.
[edit] External links
- "Lisa's Rival" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive
