My Sister, My Sitter

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The Simpsons episode
"My Sister, My Sitter"
Lisa prepares to take Bart to the emergency room.
Episode no. 170
Prod. code 4F13
Orig. airdate March 2, 1997[1]
Show runner(s) Bill Oakley
Josh Weinstein
Written by Dan Greaney[2]
Directed by Jim Reardon[2]
Couch gag The living room is on a ship being tossed by a stormy ocean. The Simpsons, decked out in raingear, run to the couch, but get washed away by a large wave.[2]
DVD
commentary		 Matt Groening
Josh Weinstein
Molly Weinstein
Simon Weinstein
Yeardley Smith
Jim Reardon
George Meyer
Season 8
October 27, 1996 – May 18, 1997
  1. "Treehouse of Horror VII"
  2. "You Only Move Twice"
  3. "The Homer They Fall"
  4. "Burns, Baby Burns"
  5. "Bart After Dark"
  6. "A Milhouse Divided"
  7. "Lisa's Date with Density"
  8. "Hurricane Neddy"
  9. "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)"
  10. "The Springfield Files"
  11. "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson"
  12. "Mountain of Madness"
  13. "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious"
  14. "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show"
  15. "Homer's Phobia"
  16. "Brother from Another Series"
  17. "My Sister, My Sitter"
  18. "Homer vs. The Eighteenth Amendment"
  19. "Grade School Confidential"
  20. "The Canine Mutiny"
  21. "The Old Man and the Lisa"
  22. "In Marge We Trust"
  23. "Homer's Enemy"
  24. "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase"
  25. "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson"
List of all The Simpsons episodes

"My Sister, My Sitter" is the seventeenth episode of The Simpsons' eighth season, which originally aired March 2, 1997.[1] Marge and Homer go to a party and leave Lisa to babysit Bart, who is unhappy about this and does everything he can to annoy Lisa. It was written by Dan Greaney and directed by Jim Reardon.[2] The title is a play on the 1994 film Sister My Sister.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Inspired by "The Babysitter Twins" books, Lisa decides to become a babysitter. However, because of her age, no one takes her seriously. One day, Ned states that Maude has been taken hostage in the Holy Land and he must leave to get her released and he agrees to let Lisa babysit Rod and Todd. After a relatively uneventful night, Ned puts out the good word for Lisa, who experiences a business boom.

Meanwhile, the Springfield Squidport re-opens and throws a gala. Marge and Homer decide to go and they leave Lisa to babysit Bart and Maggie. Bart is insulted by the fact that his younger sister is going to be babysitting him. To make things difficult, Bart torments her by ordering a giant sub, hiring Krusty for a bachelor party, and feeding Maggie coffee ice cream for dinner. Eventually, Lisa angrily jumps at Bart, but misses, triggering Bart to fall backwards down the stairs and dislocates his arm. Bart then realizes that if Lisa does not take him to the hospital she will not be able to babysit anymore. To make his condition worse, Bart locks himself in his room and hits his head on the wall "to make the lump bigger" then falls unconscious.

Lisa tries to call Dr. Hibbert, but thinks better of it when she realizes that her reputation as a good babysitter will be ruined. She then tries to take an unconscious Bart and hyperactive Maggie to Dr. Nick Riviera's clinic. There is a long line in the waiting room and Lisa fails to get an appointment. She finally decides to take Bart and Maggie on foot instead of an ambulance to the hospital. After a while, Bart falls down a cliff and into a muddy river right in front of the crowded Squidport. Everyone assumes that Lisa murdered Bart and that she is on drugs, and is about to drown Maggie. The next day, Bart gets treatment and apologizes to Lisa for jerking her up and ruining her babysitting business. She forgives him, but is still distraught that her reputation as a babysitter is now ruined, although she receives a few requests from Flanders and Dr. Hibbert later on.[1][2][3]

[edit] Themes

Like several earlier episodes, "My Sister, My Sitter" deals with the relationship between Bart and Lisa. It was written by Dan Greaney, who specializes in writing Bart and Lisa episodes.[4] Previously, the episode called "Some Enchanted Evening", had a plot involving Bart and Lisa discovering that their babysitter was a bandit. There are also references to the The Baby-Sitters Club. Lisa reads book #14 - The Formula Formula, while Janey is on book #20 - The President's Baby Is Missing.[2]

According to Alan S. Brown and Chris Logan, the writers of the book The Psychology of the Simpsons: D’oh!, the episode is an example of how feminine anger rarely solves the problem on The Simpsons. “Here, Lisa’s rage and ongoing frustration contribute to her difficulty in making good decisions about what to do with her emotion,” they write.[5]

[edit] Reception

Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, called it "A clever episode, if a little disjointed - the two stories don't gel as well as normal."[2] Chris Turner, the author of the book Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation, writes about the scene at the Squidport: ”The “satirical” setting seems almost documentary”. The Squidport is a local revitalization project, which recast a historic industrial area as a pedestrian mall. He calls this an example of how “hyper-consumer culture of Springfield moves front and center”[6] The idea of revamping the waterfront came from cities like Baltimore, who were always trying to fix formerly horrible places.[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c My Sister, My Sitter. The Simpsons.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-02.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian (2000). My Sister, My Sitter. BBC. Retrieved on 2007-05-02.
  3. ^ Richmond, Ray; Antonia Coffman (1997). The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to our Favorite Family. Harper Collins Publishers, p. 236. ISBN 0-00-638898-1. 
  4. ^ a b Weinstein, Josh. (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode "My Sister, My Sitter" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  5. ^ Brown, Alan; Chris Logan (2006). The Psychology of The Simpsons, pp. 114-115. ISBN 1-932100-70-9. 
  6. ^ Turner, Chris. Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation, p. 106. ISBN 0-679-31318-4. 

[edit] External links

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