The Secret War of Lisa Simpson

There was almost no zaniness here at all. It's about Lisa joining Bart at a military academy and being shunned by the other cadets. Bart doesn't help because he makes her even more alone. One thing that is missing is a little bit of respect at some point but she gets nothing. It didn't seem to have any fun in it at all.

The worst episode of S8 by far, one of the worst episodes of the Simpsons' Golden Era. The narrative is weak and doesn't make sense at all, the characters feel very different. It is so bad it might even not be canon. There are no good jokes in it, it is just a badly written "Bart and Lisa change schools" episode.

Bart and Lisa go to "Disneyland".

This is a strong episode with enjoyable character moments.

Bart's initial prank is brilliantly devised by the writers and for me the funniest moments are all in the build up to military school. Then it becomes a nice little arc about Lisa's struggle that my young daughter loved from a girl's perspective on the character being bullied in a male environment.

My favourite gags are "Disneyland" (obviously) and the police car routine. All characters are used well by the writers, particularly the Simpson family.

For me this is a 7.5/10, but I always round upwards.

The Secret War of Lisa Simpson is a great Simpsons episode with a very well written storyline and plenty of really funny scenes. It's a very solid Lisa episode, many fans are usually not impressed with these, but this one is an exception, we sympathise with her more here than we have in any other episode, she is in a bad place, and we support her as she strives to succeed, there is also some very sweet parts between her and Bart, they are very different siblings who don't particularly get along, but it's moments like these that remind us that they're always there for each other. I think it had too many cut always from the military school, we are shown a scene with Homer at home at one stage, and another lengthy scene where Lisa phones Grampa, this episode wanted to be dramatic, which is definitely succeeded at, but I think it would have helped the atmosphere if they didn't have any parts outside of the military school that were only there for the sake of a few laughs. Willem Dafoe is fantastic in this episode as the Commandment, his voice is completely unrecognizeable and he really owned his performance, certainly one of the most memorable once off characters. One of the most dramatic episodes of the entire series, the Secret War of Lisa Simpson is a very pleasing finale to the eight season.

Bart's antics have gone too far so Marge and Homer decide to send him to Military school, Lisa decides to join him because she dosen't feel academically challenged.

Although it is now in its 20-somethingth season, at one point The Simpsons seemed like a miracle of longevity by virtue of having 8 seasons of very high quality television and still appearing to be going strong. In some ways the strain of that does appear to be showing a little bit in this season. This is not all a bad thing because I did enjoy some elements of the in- joking about this, however it is in the plotting where it has a slightly negative impact on the show. Some of the plots here are smaller character driven things, but mostly it is bigger wider things that drive the stories. The examples run from the start to the end of the season: Homer working for a Bond villain; Homer becoming a boxer; long-lost sons and quite a few others in the same ilk.

Of course such plots have always been part of the show, but here I thought they did it too much, with the more 'sitcom' fare pushed to back rather than being something subverted and expanded upon. It is still funny though but I found that it was happening for me in the side plots and smaller characters rather than in the main plots – plus, with them being crazier, they tended to fill more time rather than acting as the spine down the middle of a strong episode. The second half of the season produces some stronger episodes, and better narratives. As a result of this some of the in-jokes about trying to keep things fresh (one of them an entire episode) don't land quite as well as intended. The regular cast are good as ever, and the guest voices are mostly good and well used – although a couple feel forced in for the sake of it.

Another enjoyable season overall, however the plots do feel like the show is occasionally reaching for ideas – making it look a bit less effortless and hurting some of those in-jokes in the meantime.