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I Love Lisa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"I Love Lisa" is the fifteenth episode from the fourth season of The Simpsons, in which the dim-witted and socially-awkward Ralph Wiggum plays a prominent role.
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On Valentine's Day in Springfield, Lisa's class begins constructing paper mailboxes for all the cards they are about to receive. When Ralph gets no cards and begins to cry, Lisa hastily gives him a card out of sympathy (the card reads "I choo-choo-choose you" and has a picture of a train, much to Ralph's delight). Ralph immediately cheers up, and develops a romantic interest in his classmate.
Ralph begins to annoy Lisa at every turn, following her home and discussing his medical maladies. Lisa tries to escape the situation, but Ralph uses his position as the police chief's son to get her tickets to Krusty's upcoming 29th Anniversary Special, as well as a leading part for himself in a President's Day Pageant in which Lisa also stars. In a dramatic upset, Ralph received the role of George Washington in a segment about that president's life, beating out an obviously more talented classmate, who complained to no avail. Conveniently, Lisa as Martha Washington will be Ralph's "wife" (mainly because Chief Wiggum blackmailed Ms. Hoover into giving them those roles for the pageant by placing a wheel clamp on her car).
With Homer having convinced Lisa that nothing can go wrong at Krusty's show, Lisa and Ralph go together. On live air, Krusty begins interviewing audience members, and Ralph takes the opportunity to declare that Lisa is the love of his life and that he intends to marry her. Lisa finally loses her temper and angrily tells Ralph they are not boyfriend and girlfriend, that she never liked him, and that the only reason she gave him a valentine was because she felt sorry for him.
Ralph is humiliated and hurt, and Lisa soon regrets her actions, particularly after Bart replays the incident on videotape, pinpointing the exact moment where Ralph's heart breaks. Ralph bemoans his situation to his father, but the only way Chief Wiggum can respond is to break out Homer's tail light during a traffic stop, only to realize he could get in serious trouble after Homer points it out.
On the night of the play, Lisa tries to apologize to Ralph, but all he tries to do is focus on his role. Surprisingly, perhaps under the influence of the incident with Lisa, Ralph proves to be a very good actor, inspiring the school bullies to study American history. He even moves Groundskeeper Willie to tears. The play ends with an animatronic Mount Rushmore singing "From sea to shining sea" and tells the audience "Don't forget to try our orange drink."
Afterward, Ralph signs autographs and greets well-wishers. Lisa also approaches, and gives him a new card, reading "Let's bee [be] friends." Ralph accepts the offer. Chief Wiggum watches his son and Lisa sitting together on the swings over the music of the Monster Mash on the radio (though the radio station originally intended to play a romantic song).
- Grampa scoffs at the holiday, until he sees Jasper enjoying a card from his granddaughter.
- Bart paints insults on candy hearts. Principal Skinner catches on and reminds the school that Valentine's Day is no joke, and in the process lapses into a Vietnam flashback reminiscent of Apocalypse Now, where his best friend, Johnny, was shot by the Viet Cong while addressing a Valentine to his girlfriend.
- Moe receives a Valentine's Day card from a "secret admirer", who turns out to be Barney.
- KBBL DJ's Bill & Marty accidentally play "Monster Mash" by Bobby "Boris" Pickett instead of a love song; they make the same mistake on President's Day.
- Lunchlady Doris serves beef hearts for lunch, despite their being dumped on the dirty school kitchen floor. Bart uses one of the beef hearts in a gross lunch room prank.
- One-time Simpsons writer Michael Carrington (who co-wrote the episode Homer's Triple Bypass) guest stars as Krusty's sideshow sidekick from the 1970s Sideshow Raheem.
- Al Jean, (show runner for this episode), really did receive a Valentine from a girl in third grade that read "I Choo-choo-choose you." Subsequently, his wife had it inscribed on his wedding band.
- The valentine that Lisa gave Ralph appears as a collector card in the third level of the Simpsons Hit & Run video game. The Krusty Home Pregnancy test that is also featured in this episode appears as a collector card in level two of the same video game.
- Fox's original broadcast of this episode had an opening sequence recycled from the episode "Homer Defined".
- In Principal Skinner's flashback, he is sitting in a PBR somewhere in Da Nang. On an oil drum next to him are a manila envelope and a photograph of Colonel Kurtz, in obvious reference to Apocalypse Now. According to DVD commentary, an actual Vietnam veteran called the writers and complained about the sequence where Skinner remembers his best friend being shot in Vietnam while sending a Valentine to his girlfriend (followed by Skinner yelling, "Johnny? Johnny? JOHNNY!" and Bart commenting that he broke his brain).
- The episode title is a reference to I Love Lucy.
- The poem Robert Frost reads during the Krusty the Klown special is "Stopping by woods on a snowy evening".
- Krusty sings The Doors song "Break on Through (To the Other Side)" during the seventies look-back.
- When Ralph enters the auditorium and tells Lisa he is going to play George Washington, he sits in a wheelchair with a cigarette holder, a pair of glasses, and is smiling , therefore, looking like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, as he appeared in many photos.
- According to DVD commentary, the part where Krusty is at the porno theater and Chief Wiggum sits behind him (with Krusty thinking it's a bust) is a reference to comedian Paul Reubens (better known as his man-child persona Pee-Wee Herman) getting arrested in Sarasota, Florida in 1991 for masturbating in a porno theater.
- When Bart plays John Wilkes Booth, he wears sunglasses and says to Milhouse, "Hasta la Vista, Abie," referring to "The Terminator."
- When Bart pulls his pants down and says "I am not a butt" this is a reference to Richard Nixon who once said "I am not a crook".
- "I Love Lisa" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive