Okay, so title started with Radioactive Man and Fall Out Boy flying by which I thought was notable because we haven't seen them in a while ("Watch out! ...Radioactive Man!"). The couch scene took place in the Simpsons' garden. They were bugs and they sat on the squash.
The episode started with Homer using GPS directions to drive Bart and Lisa to school. Like all GPS devices it's pretty faulty and so he is led into a construction site. I thought this was particularly interesting because last year Homer's voice was featured on a car GPS. I don't think this is a good marketing tactic. But yeah, they eventually make it to school thanks to the guy towing their partially destroyed car.
Once Bart arrives at school, his classroom is in chaos. We learn that Mrs. Krabbappel is in Portland, so Skinner decides to merge the two fourth classes. Each student in Mrs. K’s class has to share a desk with a student. Milhouse sits next to a surfer kid, Nelson sits next to a blind child who he swears to protect and teach the ways of the bully and Bart sits next to a dark haired Asian girl named Nikki (voiced by Sarah Silverman). As Bart reads The Hungry, Hungry Caterpillar (“Damn this caterpillar can eat! [turns page] Damn! [turns page] Damn!”), Nikki reads Red Moon. I hope I don’t have to explain that this is a reference at Stephenie Meyer’s New Moon of the Twilight Saga.
When Bart realizes she is reading Red Moon he says “you girls ruin everything including vampires…vampires don’t put product in their hair like this loser.” Then they zoom into a cover of the very Rob Patz-esque Edward or whoever the vampire is in Red Moon. This was a LoL moment for me. Look for a New Moon post very soon. Nikki explains she likes the vampire because he likes girls who don’t like cheerleading and who are emo. Bart proceeds to draw a picture of real vampire and this really impresses Nikki.
Meanwhile, Lisa receives her first F is Ms. Hoover’s class. She thinks it’s a dream, but after failing at an attempt to fly she realizes it’s real. After the bad grade Lisa suddenly becomes more popular. However, after we learn that her paper was accidentally switched with Ralph’s, the kids make fun of her because she is considered a gifted student again. Lisa complains about the other children on her blog (Monday Mulching) and a commenter named Flotus1 encourages her to continue to overachieve.
Bart, on the other hand, is dealing with his crush on Nikki. He goes to Homer for advice, but eventually ends up going to Grandpa for advice. Grandpa encourages him to steal first base or to give Nikki a kiss when she doesn’t expect it. After skateboarding with Nikki he follows Grandpa’s advice and kisses Nikki on top of a slide, but Nikki freaks out and Bart becomes really sad. Nelson encourages his blind friend to say “ha ha.” The next day at school Nikki’s parents threaten to sue the school and Homer and Marge for Bart’s unwanted kiss. So, Homer and Marge get really mad at Grandpa and tell Bart to leave Nikki alone. In addition, Homer decides to take Bart to see “Koyanis Scratchy: Death Out of Balance” which is essentially a 3D Itchy and Scratchy movie. In the movie, Scratchy’s body searches for its head. It goes to many strange places and when he finally finds his head he is shot by Itchy. The movie was based on Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of Balance. Wikipedia say that “film consists primarily of slow motion and time-lapse photography of cities and many natural landscapes across the United States.” Seeing this on The Simpsons was pretty odd, but now I get it.
So, back at school Skinner holds an assembly against unwanted kissing and touching. In the sketch Skinner plays Bart and Willie plays a girl. For the sake of the play Willie and Skinner are forced to kiss each other. When Nelson asks “Hey Willie, does he taste like failure,” Chalmers forces them to kiss until the kids stop laughing. This takes an incredibly long time. As the children laugh Skinner and Willie go from tentative kissing to passionate kissing to exhausted caressing each others arms.
After the assembly signs pop up around the school discouraging kissing and touching. There’s one with Alaska Nebraska (I love her LoL) that says “Alaska Nebraska says: I took the no touching pledge” and another with the motto: “loose lips sink (scholar) ships.” But Bart encounters Nikki and she kisses him which just confuses him and he calls Nikki a psycho.
Meanwhile, Michelle Obama (voiced by Angela Bassett) visits the school via White Hawk and tells the children that she was once a young overachiever. Skinner tries to interrupt her, but Chalmers explains that he is their Joe Biden which is immediately understood by Michelle. She also tells the children that she got A’s when A’s were hard to get and she praises Lisa for being an overachiever like she was. Lisa figures out that Flotus1 stood for First Lady of the United States and then Mrs. Obama then uses her buff arms to open the White Hawk doors.
When she leaves we see Bart and Nikki on the roof. Bart accidentally falls off the roof in his confusion. Nikki loves him when she thinks he’s dead, but when she sees he’s breathing she loses her interest…umm this is more a bipolar thing than a girl thing I think. So yeah Skinner and Chalmers hesitate to give Bart CPR because of a fear of getting sued, but Nikki decides to do it herself. As Bart is being revived he begins thinking of some famous kissing scenes. The ones I recognized are the following: Lady and the Tramps spaghetti kiss, Planet of the Apes’ man and ape kiss, Ghost (Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze) kiss, Spiderman upside down kiss, Star Trek 2009 movie kiss with Spock and Zoe Saldana, Alien or Predator kissing Sigourney Weaver (not sure if that was real) and the Godfather kiss (I think it’s Michael Corleone giving that guy the kiss of death).
So yeah, Bart is revived and all is well. Nelson blind friend touches his face to see him and tells him that he asked to touch his face, not his butt. Nelson replies with a punch in the face and the blind kid thanks him for restoring his vision, but he sikes and ha-has Nelson and Nelson fears that the student has become the master. Bart on the other continues to get mixed messages from Nikki.
Overall, I really loved this episode. I loved the one liners and the story was pretty good. I didn’t like Nikki’s whole hot and cold act, but Sarah Silverman did a good job. The love for Michelle Obama was great because I really like her too. Angela Bassett did an okay job, but I think either the material or delivery weren’t very funny. My favorite part was the pop culture references. I need to find out where the other kisses came from. Do you have any ideas? Ok until next time.
flous 1
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