The Simpsons (TV Series) Lisa's Rival (1994) User Reviews

Another great of many great episodes during the Simpson's golden age

[richspenc · 9/10 · 22 May 2017]

Many great and funny episodes during The Simpsons Golden Age of seasons 2 - 8. Season 9 was the beginning of their permanent nose dive which also included the very worst episode so far at the time (there were many more awful episodes after), "The principal and the pauper", which disrupted so much of the continuity of Skinner. The episode also had such a mindlessly heartless ending too, I would've somewhat forgiven the heartlessness if they had at least made it funny, such as the end of "Homer's enemy".

"Lisa's rival" was still during the great years, and was a great episode. Lisa once in a while develops a fierce side to her and starts standing up to people, such as her detemination to stand up for Bart in "Barts girlfriend" when Jessica was messing with him. Bart told Lisa "Jessica's hair smells like fruitloops" and Lisa says fiercely "well I eat fruitloops for breakfast!"

In this episode, Lisa first meets Alison when Ms.Hoover asks Lisa how Columbus discovered America, and before Lisa gets the chance to answer Alison butts in saying "he was looking for a passage to India. Lisa discovers that Allison seems just as intelligent if not more than her, she finds out that Allison has skipped a grade and is a year younger than her, and she finds out that she cannot keep up with Allison and her father in a game of Anagrams and her father then talks down to her saying "this is called a ball. Maybe you would like to bounce it". Lisa and Allison also both are super talented jazz musicians on the saxophone, of course Allison is just a little bit better. That leads to Lisa frantically trying keep up with Allison's jamming, then Lisa fainting, then Mr. Largo's/Lisa's funny lines to each other, "that was a close one but you made it". Lisa: "I won first chair?" Mr. Largo: "no, you regained consciousness. Allison won first chair". Then Lisa fainting again, then waking up and those exact same lines between Lisa and Mr. Largo again, with this time Mr. Largo adding to the end of it "and believe me, this is not a dream!" Also funny was with the science diarama projects, and Lisa right after completing hers, it accidentally falls out the window. Lisa: "is it still OK?" Bart: "well, the important thing is, we survived". Lol. Then Lisa's attempts to sabotage Allison's project with a cow heart. More funny moments include Skinner's funny comment "Ahh, diarama-rama, my next favorite day next to hearing test Thurday." Then Skinner's saying quietly to Willie "get the blue ribbon ready" each time before seeing Allison's diarama (the sabataged heart one, then the real one). Then Willie throwing every diarama in the trash cans the second the diarama-rama is over. I've always loved the little jokes like that on the Simpsons, such as the episode at Mr. Burns' birthday party when Mr. Burns has the swat team bursting in there throwing everyone out the second the party is over.

I also loved the subplot with Homer and the mountain of sugar, and Homer trying to sell bags of it (with nails and pieces of broken glass still in it). I like the episodes where Homer steals or makes something of his own then sells it, such as the grease he stole from the school kitchen (that Willie thought was his), or the funny episode with Homer and Grampa's Simpson and son tonic, or the episode referencing the prohibition era with Homer making his own booze in bathtubs then sending it to Moe's in bowling balls. I found very funny Homer guarding the mountain of sugar in the backyard, then bees swarming into it, Homer: "No! Go away! Bad bees! Owwe! They're defending themselves somehow!" Also Homer's comment about why God portions out sugar into those tiny packets and lives on a plantation in Hawaii. Great episode.

Genuine class

[snoozejonc · 9/10 · 21 October 2022]

A new girl joins Lisa's school class and much to Lisa's disappointment she is brilliant at everything.

This is an excellent story about rivalry and jealousy done in a very funny way.

Lisa has a very enjoyable arc as we see her deal with the psychological trauma associated with no longer being the best student, musician and child prodigy in Springfield. The writers use Bart well, particularly in the build up to Lisa's sabotage of Alison's diorama. Ralph Wiggam also has some great moments.

There is also a pretty humorous b-plot with Homer and his sugar escapades. I especially enjoyed his Tony Montana impression and also the Adam West like guest character.

You're Lost Little Girl

[RainDogJr · 9/10 · 7 May 2009]

This one is a great episode, another great one of one of the very best Seasons of the show but I didn't give it a full 10 then Lisa's Rival (originally aired on 11 September 1994 and with the participation of Wino Ryder as Lisa's rival) is not for me one of the very best Season 6 episodes. Anyway, this one says a lot about Lisa…and about Homer. Is absolutely a hilarious subplot the one we have with Homer, simply one of the reasons why I highly recommend you this episode. Is Homer probably in one of his silliest moments and he feels damn clever for stealing lots of sugar to sell it, for "hiding" from Marge the fact that he stole the sugar, I mean is Homer making $1 by selling sugar, well actually not really since he found the dollar but still is Homer making $1 in a day of working as the "sugar man" and losing $40 for not going to work to the Nuclear Power Plant. Years later there was another subplot with Homer entering in the grease business and I think he wins some cents by selling the grease that the bacon that cost him like $20 produced! Yet I think Homer is like "well the $20 were Marge's money". But anyway, this one is a Lisa episode and is Lisa experimenting something new, now Ralph will not want to copy her answers, now she won't have an easy road to be the saxophone player of the orchestra, someone else in her class knows about Christopher Columbus and guess what…that someone is younger than her. Ryder is quite good as Alison, that someone that is simply like Lisa and Lisa won't handle that. The climax is a diorama contest, Lisa knows what she is doing, knows that Alison is simply a girl like herself doing things good but she can't help herself and Bart is there to help her. Is great when Lisa is thinking something like "I don't deserve to win", after Skinner pretty much hated Alison's real diorama, but she pretty much can't believe when Skinner looks to her diorama and is like "this don't deserve to win", certainly she knew she didn't deserve to win because of what she did to Alison's diorama but hell she was waiting the victory! I love the ending, I love Ralph's "diorama", he is like "what's a diorama?" but the force was with him…until he accidentally breaks the packages of his limited edition Star Wars figures but well he seems not to care, I mean is the always awesome Ralph! Oh and is also quite funny Milhouse dealing with the FBI!

"No one is interested in my underpants"

Lisa's Dilemma

[Hitchcoc · 10/10 · 26 May 2022]

Lisa has ruled the roost at her school; until another girl comes and outshines her. She is reduced to tears of anger and reality. The problem is the girl likes her and is very kind. Her professor father is a sort of jerk however. In the secondary plot, Homer steals sugar from an overturned truck and decides to sell it. Bart does his best to mess things up, but has a little trouble this time.

A Self-Indulgent Journey Into a Mind Better Left Unexplored

[Illini_Wrestling_Fan · 10/10 · 25 June 2022]

If you are reading this for the first time, I'm sorry you had to find out this way. I will be the first to admit I don't understand everything, no more than an ant trudging in front of a smart TV in a dark room understands why the room went black because the TV restarted after a system update. What I do know is that The Simpsons Episodes 6.1 Bart of Darkness and 6.2 Lisa's Rival marked a turning point in the history of humanity as we understand it. Let me explain.

I first recognized the importance of 6.2 because of Mr. Largo. After a battle with her younger and more accomplished competitor Alison (the titular "rival") for first chair saxophone, Lisa soon realizes that 2nd best is all she can hope for. Taking herself past the limit blowing that golden horn, Lisa passes out and awakens to see band teacher Largo staring into her newly conscious face. However, it is to the viewer that Largo directs his emphatic "This is not a dream!" This perspective device has been used by The Simpsons before, for example Dr. Hibbert asking if "you" can solve who shot Mr. Burns before showing us that he was in fact talking to Chief Wiggum. In this instance I realized that Largo doth protest too much, the message is an attempt to throw me and any other sleuths off the scent of the earth-shaking truth revealed in the episode that I can still only barely comprehend.

After arousing my suspicions as to the importance of episode 6.2 in the big picture of human history as we know it, so many other clues began to confirm what I had already begun to believe. For example, the Northridge Earthquake famously occurred during the creation of both episodes 6.1 and 6.2, and I believe it is part of a great reset. While I must preface this by saying that I am not seeking to diminish the losses suffered by family members of the victims, it was only after I realized the significance of both the number 57 as well as the quake itself that I discovered that 57 was also the number of fatalities attributed to the deadly event.

Second, episode 6.2 aired on September 11, 1994. Of course this was exactly 7 years before one of the most famous dates in American history, which itself was exactly 7 more years before the birth of my first child (9/11/08). An event of 9/11/15 will be examined below, and 9/11/22 remains to be seen. The episode number 6.2 also has personal significance to me, as I wrote my first (and as of now only) novel not long after the events of 9/11/01 (without regard to a seemingly random Simpsons episode) and it was titled 62.

Third, as I watched 6.2 more closely I noted other strange connections: the Milhouse on-the-run storyline ends up as a parody of the film that is the subject of my first re-view on this site. The square root of the difference between the last four digits of the phone number on the back of the sugar truck (3872) and the product of my birth month and day (28) is 62. The episode also features an anagram game showing off the skill of Alison, voiced by Winona Ryder -- an anagram of her name is New Ordinary.

As these clues came together I finally realized what I am about to tell you, and again please understand that I do not have all the answers. By revealing as much as I am right now I have no idea what the consequences will be. If this should be the last re-view I am able to submit then I will at least try to upload a re-re-view at the bottom of one that is already posted, and if it comes to that I will try to leave clues to what is happening to me by what I write or what movie it is for.

The Wachowskis. Roger Ebert. Bo Burnham. This is the short list of people who may have had knowledge of this information at one time or another. It is possible that in the Wachowskis' original idea notebooks the true nature of reality was discovered, pre-9/11/94. However, what ultimately became The Matrix (hereinafter referred to by its proper name Matr9) in 1999 was arguably more of a diversion from the truth than if the film was never made. In the episode Lisa is given a red rubber ball by Alison's father, representing Lisa's possible acceptance of ignorance over knowledge. However the Wachowskis got it backwards, with the red pill of Morpheus intended to be the rejection of ignorance. Such an obvious mistake by people with an otherwise high level of comprehension is clear evidence that the Wachowskis were likely aware of the truth before both the Northridge Quake and the airing of 6.2 on 9/11/94 reset their understanding.

Roger Ebert was a prophet of our times, a religious leader whose followers had no idea they were even in a religion. According to his beloved wife Chaz Ebert, RE's final message began with "This is all an elaborate hoax" which seems to confirm he was given a glimpse of true reality in honor of his contributions to his art.

The evidence for the Bo Burnham connection was the last piece of the puzzle. Creating the definitive soundtrack for the era of COVID with the songs from Inside, BB suggested in Goodbye "How bout I sit on the couch and I watch you next time?" and asks "Am I going crazy? Would I even know? Am I right back where I started 14 years ago?" All very fitting. To be sure that I had all the angles on this thing I forced myself to ingest various intoxicants and watched 6.1 and 6.2 one more time. Though nothing new popped from 6.2, I quickly realized the jab at George Meany in 6.1--essentially that Meany on Classic Krusty discussing labor relations is one of the only ways to make beloved TV completely boring--was important. Meany died on January 10, 1980. Going back to the last 4 digits of the phone number on the back of the sugar truck in 6.2, 3,872 days after the death of George Meany was August 27, 1990. BB was born August 21, 1990. It therefore appears Bo Burnham may be a godlike figure or messiah that took six days to be created, all foretold by the episode even with BB just having celebrated his 4th birthday the month before it aired. To further confirm his importance, when I researched performances at the Largo theater in Los Angeles, which moved from its original location to the current one on June 2, 2008 (6/2), the scheduled act on 9/11/15 at Largo at the Coronet was Bo Burnham and Friends.

While I have laid out a great deal of evidence here I have not explained what it all means. Having considered the possible repercussions of sharing this in a public forum I do not want to say too much, and I may already have. I will just say that either with the Northridge quake, the airing of 6.2 on 9//11/94, or possibly both, there was a great system reset that set back the movement to understand our true reality. I hope to have the chance to explain further, if not here then I will just say, as in the Simpsons opening credits, watch for me in the clouds. I also warn you all that if Bo Burnham ever sings "Summer Wind" at the Largo then our world will cease to exist soon thereafter. Warning has been issued, and may mercy be granted to all our souls. 1.