Bart's Girlfriend
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"Bart's Girlfriend" is the seventh episode of The Simpsons' sixth season.
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[edit] Synopsis
Bart and Lisa are playing Cowboys and Indians with their friends, until their game is interrupted by their parents, who want them to go to church, among other things. In church, Bart is bored and is not listening to Reverend Lovejoy's sermon. Lovejoy's daughter, Jessica, reads the very same sermon. Seeing her, Bart is delighted by her, thinking his search for a girl is finally over. However, when he approaches her, she ignores him. The next Sunday, Bart decides to be in Sunday school, and tries to be nice to her. Again, she ignores him. Frustrated, Bart goes to the park to play a prank on Groundskeeper Willie at the Scotchtoberfest, which turns out to be a setup by Principal Skinner. Bart is punished with three months of detention. Jessica then asks him to dinner with her family. He accepts.
At the Lovejoy house, Bart is kicked out for allegedly swearing after Rev. Lovejoy hears him say the word "butt." Jessica instantly sees Bart as a bad boy, and she finds him very interesting. He sees Jessica as being "smart, beautiful, and a liar". They go out on the town, vandalizing landmarks and having the time of their lives. Bart, however, develops a problem with seeing her. Lisa suggests that Bart not see Jessica for three months. He agrees, but when he goes to church, he sits next to Jessica, who steals the money from the church collection plate, and puts the plate in Bart's lap. The congregation declares Bart the perpetrator of the theft, and indicts him as a thief and a crook. However, Chief Wiggum cannot officially charge or arrest Bart due to lack of evidence. When Bart tells that he didn't steal back at his house, Homer gets initially furious at him for supposedly stealing, but believes him after Marge tells Homer that her son is innocent, and Bart later reveals the truth to Lisa, who vows not to let him take the blame for this.
The next week in church, Lisa tells the congregation that they should not indict Bart without evidence, and she wants all people considering themselves guilty to confess to a bad thing they did. She waits for the real culprit to come forward, but Jessica stays silent. Lisa then rats her out and suggests the congregation search Jessica's room. The money is found hidden under Jessica's bed, having everyone to reallize that she did it all alone and not Bart. Even though everyone's convinced about the truth, Rev. Lovejoy still refused to admit to the evidence by telling that Bart moved his room to their house in order to save his daughter, but Jessica admits that she did it, to gain attention from her father. After that, the whole congregation apologizes to Bart for indicting him. In the end, Jessica becomes punished and finds a new boyfriend, but she remains intrigued with Bart, who did not rat her out and, in turn, is still attracted to her.
[edit] Cultural references
- When the children are being rounded up by the parents in the cornfield is an homage to Planet of the Apes.
- When in church, Bart is playing with a Troll Doll, a toy from originally from 1959 that has gone in and out of fashion on many occasions, but was enjoying a period of popularity in the 1990s when this episode was first broadcast. When playing with the doll Bart sings the Sam & Dave song "Soul Man", only with the word Troll substituted for Soul.
- Bart is in full body restraint a la Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs the next time he is in church after he is believed to have taken the money from the collection plate.
- When Homer is musing over Bart's first date, he begins to sing 'Sunrise Sunset' from "Fiddler on the Roof", which quickly turns into "Cat's in the Cradle", and then "We have no bananas".
- Bart gets kicked out of the Lovejoys' house for retelling them a scene he had seen from the FOX sitcom, Martin.
- Jessica twirling a baton is a reference to Pretty Poison.
- Bart strutting to "Staying Alive" is a reference to the final scene in Staying Alive, the sequel to Saturday Night Fever
- The boy who works in the library looks a lot like James Dean from Rebel Without a Cause.
- The song that Ned Flanders sings in a woman's voice at church is Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring.
[edit] Continuity Errors
Bart says "I've never felt this way about a girl before" However, Bart was in love with Laura Powers 2 Season's before in New Kid on the Block (He also mentions her and shows a flash back of her 4 episodes prior in Another Simpsons Clip Show).
[edit] External links
- "Bart's Girlfriend" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive
