23x13 The Daughter Also Rises

[8.7/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale]. I liked the A-story on this one, which featured Lisa falling for a Hemingway-emulating, literate, and sensitive young man named Nick and drifting apart from her mom, to Marge’s chagrin. The episode does a nice job of playing Lisa and Nick’s relationship for the globe-hopping-yet-local style that lends comedy to the contrast between their continental aspirations and their humdrum surroundings. Michael Cera does a nice job as Nick, capturing the way in which his shtick would be charming to an eight year old but quickly fall apart when exposed to the slightest bit of scrutiny, and grounding it all in an old myth adds some more humanities-based flair to the proceedings.

I also really like the ending. The story of Lisa drifting away from Marge is a strong one the show has come back to now and then, and it works here too. The notion that Lisa is trying to proceed without her mom as her best friend creates some expected friction, but it’s the way it’s resolved that really works. Lisa realizing Nick is a bill of goods is a nice beat for her. Marge worry about Lisa and then only to acknowledge that Lisa’s always alright, even on her own is a nice beat too. And the closing moment, where the show offers a unique twist on the “a kiss from a person you’ll love forever” bit (years before Frozen, mind you!) is very touching.

The B-story is tightly-written and amusing too. It’s not very complex, with Bart and Milhouse emulating the Mythbusters (renamed Mythcrackers here, even though the stars of the actual show voice their animated counterparts) in testing various playground myths. It’s mostly an excuse for some physical humor with Milhouse, but the end game for the story has a twist. Dismayed by his chums’ notion that all there it at school is “just school,” Bart regrets that he took the magic and mystery out of Springfield Elementary, and concocts his own myth in the form of a Werewolf version of Groundskeeper Willie to bring it back. It gives the storyline just enough substance to make it more than a mere series of gags.

Overall, it’s a solidly written post-classic episode, where both the A-story and the B-story work from start to finish, which is a rarity in the show’s double-digit seasons. The humor is mild, but generally cute and pleasant at worst. Certainly a nice one.