"Bart Gets an F" is the very first episode of season two from the long-running cartoon show "The Simpsons". As of now, this premiered over 30 years ago on American television and not much later also in my country Germany. Anyway, this one runs for slightly over 20 minutes as they always do and the focus is on Bart at school. Nothing really unusual as the school is a place that is featured in almost every episode, at least the ones I have seen, and also the intro of course with Bart writing something on the chalkboard, but here there is way more to it as the central location of the action. The reason is that Bart is in danger of having to repeat the year because of his bad grades. I mean sure the way he dealt with his Treasure Island presentation early on was as amateurish as it gets, but throughout the episode you cannot really blame him too much. He tries to learn for school when Homer basically forces him to watch a King Kong movie instead. He makes a deal with the teacher's pet, but the kinda funny consequence is that the good boy becomes bad and not that Bart shows improvement. And then Bart even studies a lot and really hard before the crucial exam after force majeure helps him a little bit with that as Springfield witness an epic onset of winter. But will it be enough to have him pass? The maybe most interesting aspect to this episode is that Bart is not indifferent at all here as he usually is when it comes to school stuff. Look at how he reacts to Otto's comment about becoming a bus driver for example or how he loses it when his parents and teacher are around. Or how he cares that something he came up with must not be overshadowed by Lisa's brilliant works.
The focus is really almost 100% on Bart this time. We even see what he looks like as a grown-up in some kind of future vision. Homer has one or two funny moments, but also not too much. Lisa's only slightly memorable scene is her pep talk to Bart about how he should thank God. And Marge is really only seen on a few occasions, but if she had been out of this episode completely, it would have been the same outcome. Even Mr. Burns is more memorable with his one funny inclusion. All in all, one of the alright quite early Simpsons episodes. Nothing great and I think the rating here on imdb is too high for sure, but I still give it a positive recommendation. More depth to Bart this time than in at least 90% of other episodes, probably 95%. Also it was interesting how at that point they wrote Martin in a way that shows us how he was not established yet as the kind of character who is super smart, but not liked at school. When he is pushed repeatedly to the ground, that was the best example. Actually, it's kinda sad though. We are basically watching with the other students and now we know how to see him. And Martin also has this outstanding costume-based Moby Dick presentation at the very start that further elaborates on how he is perceived by everybody, even if they applaud him afterwards. Maybe that is one reason why he thought too highly of himself in terms of how the others see him. I shall end this review with Bart again. The interactions with his teacher are also among the better scenes from this episode, especially the "blah blah blah" very early on. Somehow I still remembered the exact sound of the teacher's rambling after all these years since I watched the episode for the very first time. More memorable than the kiss at the very end for sure. Charming teacher by the way with how she expresses how "happy" she is to have Bart for another year. Does that mean that teachers in America always have the same grade every year? Or had back then at least? And only for one year as a consequence? Interesting. That's all. Solid episode. Worth watching.
The focus is really almost 100% on Bart this time. We even see what he looks like as a grown-up in some kind of future vision. Homer has one or two funny moments, but also not too much. Lisa's only slightly memorable scene is her pep talk to Bart about how he should thank God. And Marge is really only seen on a few occasions, but if she had been out of this episode completely, it would have been the same outcome. Even Mr. Burns is more memorable with his one funny inclusion. All in all, one of the alright quite early Simpsons episodes. Nothing great and I think the rating here on imdb is too high for sure, but I still give it a positive recommendation. More depth to Bart this time than in at least 90% of other episodes, probably 95%. Also it was interesting how at that point they wrote Martin in a way that shows us how he was not established yet as the kind of character who is super smart, but not liked at school. When he is pushed repeatedly to the ground, that was the best example. Actually, it's kinda sad though. We are basically watching with the other students and now we know how to see him. And Martin also has this outstanding costume-based Moby Dick presentation at the very start that further elaborates on how he is perceived by everybody, even if they applaud him afterwards. Maybe that is one reason why he thought too highly of himself in terms of how the others see him. I shall end this review with Bart again. The interactions with his teacher are also among the better scenes from this episode, especially the "blah blah blah" very early on. Somehow I still remembered the exact sound of the teacher's rambling after all these years since I watched the episode for the very first time. More memorable than the kiss at the very end for sure. Charming teacher by the way with how she expresses how "happy" she is to have Bart for another year. Does that mean that teachers in America always have the same grade every year? Or had back then at least? And only for one year as a consequence? Interesting. That's all. Solid episode. Worth watching.