The Secret War of Lisa Simpson

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.

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.

The season 8 was the worst season so far. Not a single good episode.

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.