The Kid Is All Right

"The Kid Is All Right" is the sixth episode of the 25th season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons, and the 536th episode of the series. The episode was written by Tim Long and premiered on November 24, 2013, on Fox.^[3] In the episode, Lisa makes friends with a new girl in school, who turns out to be a conservative Republican (a George W. Bush one rather than an Abraham Lincoln or Ronald Reagan one) with connections to Springfield's Republican party.

Plot

As Lisa walks through the school's playground, she sings "One". The playground melts away due to the rain, and indoors, Lisa wanders the hallways before a spit wad hits her. Looking at the bright side, Lisa feels like at least she gets attention. She then realizes that Bart is the one who is aiming at her. Lisa escapes to the school library and wards Bart away with a copy of Little Women. There, she meets a new student and learns her name to be Isabel by deciphering an anagram. When Isabel calls the house asking for Lisa, Homer picks up the phone. Lisa gets excited over this new friendship. Homer asks Bart why he does not get new friends. Almost on cue, Milhouse walks in talking about finding a green M&M in his inner ear. Milhouse holds on to the M&M as Homer ponders whether he should eat it or not, but Santa's Little Helper gets to it first. Now, Homer wonders whether he should eat it even though it has been in Milhouse's ear and the dog’s mouth. Before Homer makes a decision, Marge wedges the M&M back in Milhouse's ear.

Isabel and Lisa agree to do a presentation on Franklin Roosevelt together. However, the presentation does not go as planned when Lisa discovers that her new friend is a Republican, and not the first George Bush kind. Lisa expresses her concern, and Marge tells her daughter that it is just a phase. Marge used to help out with campaigning for the Republican Party, but look at her now. Over at the school library, Lisa bumps into Isabel. Both girls reconcile, despite Isabel also hearing the same advice from her own mother, stating that Lisa's just going through a liberal phase. The Springfield Republican Party takes notice of this and attempts to infiltrate the upcoming school election in which Lisa is running against Isabel and also and Ralph. When Isabel opens her school locker, she finds Mr. Burns stuffed inside. Over a sundae, Isabel converses with the Republican Party, which believes Isabel is its future. The Springfield Republican Party tells Isabel they're thrilled with her decision and want to offer their services, as she is the kind of Latina voter the GOP will need in the future.

However, Isabel tells them to butt out, because she is not going to be "owned" by them. The GOP decides to use some dirty tricks anyway, and Lisa is angry with Isabel when she thinks her classmate supported the actions, but respects her when she learns the local GOP are just acting like jerks. In a class debate, Lisa tells the assembled students that if believing that those with a lot should help those with nothing makes her a liberal, then yes, she is a liberal and proud of it. At the final debate, the two walk away from their podia and Isabel says they want to set aside politics and would be happy for whichever of them wins, Lisa goes to say the same, and is cut off by Superintendent Chalmers, saying they are out of time. The election goes to Isabel in a close vote, but Lisa is extremely heartened by an exit poll that reveals 53% of the students agree with her views; she says that this means they do not like her, but would vote for someone who shares her ideas, and that is a happy end result.

Reception

Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B–, saying "If there’s a bigger flaw with “The Kid Is All Right,” it’s that it’s just not very funny. Longoria brings nothing to the table, and there’s a dearth of quotable lines along the way. (Skinner’s glee at seeing Lisa “thoroughly de-high-horsed” notwithstanding.) For most of its running time (there’s no B-story), the episode seems content to let Lisa learn (and teach) a lesson in plain old Lisa Simpson decency, and I was strangely okay with that. As ever, Yeardley Smith imbues Lisa with genuine heart. Taking time out from its accelerating descent into gag-driven wackiness to engage in more character-based storytelling isn’t necessarily a bad thing for The Simpsons."^[4]

The episode received a 3.0 rating and was watched by a total of 6.78 million people, this made it the most watched show on Animation Domination that night beating American Dad!, Bob's Burgers and Family Guy.^[5]

References