The Simpsons Season 7 Episode 16: Lisa the Iconoclast

When Lisa's class at school are assigned essays Lisa goes to the museum to research Jebediah Springfield, the founder of Springfield. She makes the shocking discovery that the town's founder was actually a pirate and an enemy of George Washington. He wrote a confession on the back side of a portrait of Washington hid it in a tube. Meanwhile, Homer is elected the town crier after Ned Flanders was annoying Mayor Quimby when he was the town crier.



Lisa continues to research on Jebediah, and discovers that he had a silver tongue. While the town does not agree with Lisa's research, Homer does. When Lisa attempts to show Hollis Hurlbut, the director of the museum the confession, he sees it as an obvious forgery. However, she convinces the municipal government to go to the cemetery search for evidence of the silver tongue. When they open the coffin, however, there is no silver tongue, and Quimby strips Homer of his job as town crier.

But Lisa, after seeing an incomplete portrait of George Washington in her classroom, she discovers that the confession is written is the bottom half of the portrait. She confronts Hurlbut, and tells her that he stole the tongue when the dust cleared seconds after the coffin was opened and hid it in the museum. Hurlbut did it because he needed to protect his career and the myth of Jebediah.

The two decide to go public with their discovery because they would be celebrating a horrible pirate. When Lisa is about to share her discoveries with the public, she realizes that Jebediah Springfield's good image a lot to the town, and decides to keep it a secret, and she says that he was great. Homer also gets his town crier job back.

My thoughts:

How many times have I watched it: 2 times.

Couch Gag: Same as S7 E3

Storyline: It's not the best Lisa episode, but I will say I was more interested in the mini side-plot with Homer as town crier. He was a natural at this role and does better than Flanders. Back to the main plot, though. It is interesting, and I love the 2 conflicts Lisa had to go through: The town, and her giving up. This was a good Homer-Lisa plot, as Homer supports Lisa throughout her search for the truth. I liked Homer lifting Lisa up on his back at the end. 


There were not many jokes and gags (besides Homer's sideplot), but in a mystery episode doesn't need much. One funny moment was when Hurlbut banned Lisa from the museum. "You're banned from this historical society! You and your children... and your children's children... for 3 months." Clancy Wiggum being a ventriloquist was hilarious. The big question in this episode is the ending. Some people liked it, some didn't. Should Lisa have told that Jebediah is a pirate, the people of Springfield would feel really bad about themselves living there, so I thought it was a good ending.


At the end though, This was a heart-warming story. The ending is controversial, but it's a solid episode.

My grade: B+/B