She of Little Faith
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| The Simpsons episode | |
| "She of Little Faith" | |
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|---|---|
| Episode no. | 275 |
| Prod. code | DABF02 |
| Orig. Airdate | December 16, 2001 |
| Show Runner(s) | Al Jean |
| Writer(s) | Bill Frielberger |
| Director(s) | Steven Dean Moore |
| Chalkboard | "I do not have a cereal named after me" |
| Couch gag | The couch is replaced with a giant slot machine that shows each family member, except Maggie, who is replaced by a 7. |
| Guest star(s) | Richard Gere as himself |
| SNPP capsule | |
| Season 13 November 6, 2001 – May 22, 2002 |
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| List of all Simpsons episodes... | |
"She of Little Faith" is an episode from The Simpsons' 13th season. This episode marked a watershed event in Lisa's life, as she converted from Christianity (a religion Mr. Burns commercialised, to the disgust of Lisa), to Buddhism.
[edit] Synopsis
Bart and Lisa watch a cheesy science fiction movie, obviously made in the 1950s or before. During the commercial, a model rocket kit is advertised and Bart, predictably, wants it. So, using Homer's credit card number, he orders it. Six to eight weeks later, Bart gets the rockets and asks Homer if he wants to help put the rocket together. Homer joins him and Milhouse in the back yard to help them. Soon the rocket is ready, but it blows up before it can lift off. A second attempt proves no better. Jealous that Ned Flanders built a superior rocket, he enlists the help of his nerdy college roommates, Gary, Doug, and Benjamin. Once they are done with a pretty high-tech rocket, he shoos them and Milhouse away, and prepares to launch it himself. Unable to get their hands on any space monkeys, they use the school hamster, Nibbles, to pilot the rocket. The rocket lifts off successfully. However, it develops complications and starts drifting off-course. After Nibbles ejects himself (disobeying Homer's rather simple instructions), the rocket crashes into the church and blows it up.
The church council meets up to decide how to come up with money to fund the repairs to the church. Since the Almighty won't help, they will have to do it themselves. At that moment, Mr. Burns, looking more sinister than the Devil shows up and offers to fix the damage, if they allow him to run the church like a business. At first, the group is a bit reluctant, but they have no choice, so they agree. He introduces them to Lindsay Naegle, who will be overseeing the church renovations. Together, Lindsay and Burns make the church into a commercial monstrosity, complete with advertising signs and a Lard Lad statue. Lisa, on seeing this, can't believe her eyes.
Three weeks later, the newly-renovated church is thrown open to the public. The whole place seems like a shopping mall and it even has new pews, resembling first-class airline chairs. There's even a "God Cam" Jumbotron, which calls Lisa a "Pouting Thomas". Reverend Lovejoy starts the service rather solemnly, as usual, but suddenly starts endorsing big-screen TVs and pizzas. At this point, Lisa has had all she can take and proclaims about how horrible the church has become, likening it to the Whore of Babylon, much to everyone's astonishment. Some people try to talk favourably about the church, but she says that Mr. Burns has removed the soul from the church and she cannot come back. Marge and Homer (after Marge prompts him) gasp in shock.
That night, Marge tries to "talk sense" into Lisa by pretending to be God as she prays, but Lisa, offended that her mother would eavesdrop on her prayers, is not to be swayed. Bart comes up with some religions she should consider taking up, but she shoots them all down. She goes for a walk, passing many place of worship, until she happens upon Springfield's Buddhist temple. She enters and sees Lenny, Carl, and Hollywood actor Richard Gere inside. After hearing and reading about the virtues of Buddhism, she declares to everyone that she's a Buddhist.
Marge is shocked at the conversion, and tries unsuccessfully to bribe her back to Christianity. Lisa plants her own bodhi tree in the back yard, much to Marge's disapproval. At the church council, one of the topics on agenda is "Marge Simpson's devil daughter". Since Christmas is coming, they decide to bribe Lisa back using Christmas presents, like what looks like a pony wrapped in paper (in actuality, it's only Ralph and Milhouse wrapped inside). However, she gets wise to the fact that Reverend Lovejoy and the church council is outside watching, and runs away.
She runs to the Buddhist temple, where she complains about how her family tried to trick her into celebrating Christmas. Richard Gere informs her that Buddhism is about respecting the diversity of other religions, as well as love and compassion. In other words, she can celebrate Christmas while being a Buddhist. Gere leaves to spend Christmas with his daughter, and Lenny and Carl leave to prevent Moe from killing himself (like he does every Christmas).
Lisa goes back home and tells everyone that she will be celebrating Christmas with them and pay lip service to Christianity, all the while remaining with Buddhism. When she asks about the pony, Marge tries to change the subject.
[edit] Trivia
- Lisa catches Marge listening to her pray. Marge does this again in "Bart Has Two Mommies", that time with the Flanders brothers.
- Marge tells Lisa she hopes at least one of the Simpsons will go to Heaven. In "Simpsons Bible Stories" that's what happened - Lisa starts ascending to Heaven, but Homer grabs her and takes her down to the barbecue in Hell along with the rest of the family.
- While walking into the new church, a man claims that he can exchange money for the patrons, Lisa remarks that it is "...so blasphemous!". Exchanging money and the sale of goods was forbidden by Jesus in the passages, John 2:13-16.
- Following the Space Shuttle Columbia destruction on reentry, this episode wasn't shown due to the rocket crash landing into the church.
[edit] Cultural references
- Homer's "break the surly bonds of gravity/punch the face of God!" speech is a parody of Ronald Reagan's speech following the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986, which quotes from the poem "High Flight" by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
- The opening plot with the rockets is a spoof of the bio-pic October Sky.
- This episode satirizes the phenomenon of megachurches.
- What Lisa was chanting while ignoring her mother was Om mani padme hum, a mantra popularly associated with Tibetan Buddhism.
