The Simpsons Season 21 Episode 15: Stealing First Base

(The photo below are only promo images BTW)

Alright! This episode! This was one of the first episodes I've watched, and I enjoyed this one because this is one of the 8 "Bart gets a girlfriend" episodes. But even though I love this episode, I can not be biased. So let's continue with this story.

Bart's fourth grade class is merged with another fourth grade class when teacher Mrs. Krabappel is absent. In the crowded classroom, Bart is forced to sit by a new student named Nikki. At first they dislike each other, until Nikki admires Bart's artistic skills. Bart seeks romance advice from Homer, who passes him off to Grandpa Abe. 



After Grandpa advises Bart to kiss Nikki, however, when Bart does so after the two skateboard together, she does not like it. Nikki's attorney parents threaten to sue the school unless it is declared an "touch-free environment". Superintendent Chalmers has an assembly in which Willie plays Nikki and Skinner plays Bart, and kiss each other, showing that it is inappropriate. 

Bart is confused at the outcome of this seemingly innocent action, and his confusion is later amplified when Nikki hides in his locker and kisses him again.

Later on, Bart and Nikki are on top of the school roof, and Bart confesses to Nikki he does not understand her ever-changing moods. They argue, and Bart suddenly stumbles, falling off the roof. Nikki says "I love you," but seeing that Bart is breathing treats him badly again.





Bart stops breathing again, but the school's "no touch" policy prevents anyone from performing CPR. Nikki defies the policy and revives Bart via mouth-to-mouth, which sets off a montage of kiss scenes from various movies. When Bart awakes, Nikki's mood changes yet again and Bart remains in a state of complete confusion over female behavior. He tells her he does not care what happens between her and him, but then changes his mind and yells out "I love you!" after she kisses him once again.

Elsewhere, Lisa becomes popular when she receives an F on a test, but becomes unpopular again when her test was mistakingly given to Ralph, and that Lisa really got an A+++. The F grade was supposed to be given to Ralph who had written Lisa's name on his test. She blogs about being made fun of as an overachiever, and her post is noted by a mysterious blogger known as Flotus 1 who turns out to be First Lady Michelle Obama. 

Obama drops by Springfield Elementary to give a speech about the importance of academics and tells the students should be nice to Lisa and other overachievers, including Martin Prince and Allison Taylor.

Throughout the episode, Nelson befriends a blind boy and teaches him how to laugh at the misfortunes of others. At the end, the blind boy tricks Nelson into believing his punch got after insulting Nelson restored his sight. He reveals to Nelson that this was a prank and laughs Nelson's "haw haw". Nelson is impressed as he is touched by the achievement.

My thoughts:

How many times have I watched it: 8+ times

Billboard Gag: Dr. Nick's - Home of the one hour sex change. HAHAHA. (A)

Chalkboard Gag: World War II could not beat up World War I. Disagree. (B)

Couch Gag: A rain cloud rains over a crop field, and various fruits grow out of the ground the Simpson family (all except Homer) are bugs and sit on the largest fruit, Homer, as a grub, pops out of the fruit. Not bad. (B-)

Storyline: This episode was really cool. It's great to see Bart getting a girl who didn't have problems. The main plot was definitely the stronger of the two, and Sarah Silverman's Nikki was an interesting character. I don't mind the "stop apologizing!" situation and dealing with such a bipolar individual, even if it was exaggerated in a cartoonish manner. Grandpa was one of the highlights of this episode, being necessary to further the plot by giving Bart the advice to just kiss Nikki, and his thought static bubble gag was a positive in this episode. Nikki with her negative reaction was great. 

The montages were a hit and miss, but I'll talk about it later. During the second act, I liked Skinner and Willie kissing to demonstrate that is bad to touch other students. After that scene, BOOM, NIKKI KISSES BART IN THE LOCKER. WHAT?!? So funny. Then later, even though Nikki had mixed reactions with Bart, she still saved him by breaking the school law with CPR. Loved it. When she skateboards to pass Skinner, that was awesome. 

Elsewhere, Lisa's B-plot was okay. It was kinda entertaining, even though it fell apart a little at the end when the First Lady arrived and was revealed that she was the one who commented on Lisa's blog. Nothing great though, and her speech was WAY too long. But the jokes in her plot (Joe Biden, Ralph's one-liners) were good.

The Montages: There were 3 of them, but I only liked one of them, and it was when Bart and Nikki skateboard together. Great music in the montage. As for the other two, they were very long. The Itchy and Scratchy movie lasted 90-100 seconds, and the kiss montage was excessive. Time-wasting.






The jokes were good, such as Lisa flying, Homer's extra legs, the GPS joke heading to school, the running gag with the Sherri/Terri twins with the other grade 4 twins, and Nelson with the blind kid. That last one, their friendship, was enjoyable. Two different people befriend each other.

Overall, me liking this episode gives it an A+, but as a reviewer I will have to factor in that time and Lisa's B-plot lowers the grade.

My grade: B+