6x08 Lisa on Ice

[8.7/10] Simpsons fans give Mike Scully a lot of crap. Some of it’s earned, or at least not crazy given that he was the man in charge during the stretch where the show fell from grace, whether or not that fall was his fault. But man, you watch an episode like “Lisa on Ice”, penned by the man himself, and it’s not hard to see why he was given the keys to the kingdom, however ill-fated that may have been.

Because this one is just great. There’s a little throat clearing, and a few random comic asides, but for the most part, the episode races into Lisa’s struggle to find an athletic endeavor she’s good at, the way that leads to an unexpected overlap with the one area where Bart excels, and then the inevitable sibling rivalry that emerges when Lisa starts to steal her brother’s thunder. The show wrings the laughs out of the rink-side hijinks and ridiculous side of peewee sports, while also adding a dash of relatable struggle both in Lisa’s sports-awkwardness and Bart’s feelings of displacements.

Even when the show’s not really staying on task here, there’s so many hilarious bits to keep things humming. “Monster island is actually a peninsula” is an all-time great gag. Marge’s squareness (and possession of Milhouse’s teeth) is the gift that keeps on giving. And “Me fail English? That’s unpossible!” is one of the show’s funniest lines ever. The laughs-per-minute rate on this one is just through the roof.

Here’s the weird thing -- there’s a good case to be made that this episode has a pretty fair dose of Jerkass Homer. The guy’s oblivious and/or a jerk to the rest of his family pretty consistently in this one. But the gags are so good and the joke’s usually on him, to the point that it goes down a lot smoother than it would in Scully’s tenure as showrunner.

Then there’s that ending! The whole episode is a sideways referendum on youth sports and the heightened place they can take in families’ lives. Drawing back to the connection between Bart and Lisa, the familial bond that supersedes their sports-born rivalry, is a touching way to close this one out, and the hockey riot that ensues ensures this one doesn't leave too treacly an aftertaste.

Overall, this is a stellar episode that reminds us why Scully was an heir apparent and bound to take over the show just a few seasons later, even if that didn’t work out the way anyone might have hoped.