The Girl on the Bus

As others have said, this is an odd little episode of 'The Simpsons' from the thirtieth series.

It sets itself up to be a musical episode, then ditches that. Then it seems to go down the farce route, then ditches that.

Thankfully it stops itself from becoming a mess, and actually ends up with a nice heartfelt ending.

Personally though I just found all the gear changes a bit jarring. You set yourself up for one sort of episode, and then it keeps going in a different direction so you don't know what you're getting.

There were some nice moments along the way though, and I liked the Ned Flanders and Ralph jokes particularly.

Wow ! It was such a long time ago I watched a good The Simpsons episode and this episode was really good. Felt like it could've been a storyline from a new The Simpsons movie. And the part about Homer texting Lisa omg hilarious !

I found it very weird that Lisa breaks character by skiving off school, and randomly enters the house of a complete stranger? And then is suddenly accepted like she didn't just illegally enter someone's house... Weird.

A strange episode, and even more nonsensical ending.

... it got a bit strange at the end. At least to me. Those have seen it, understand.

It's true that the episode starts off on a rough note with Lisa singing and meeting a girl who simply can't exist in real life. However, as the episode progresses, it becomes more and more interesting with great gags such as Homer drinking from the hose, causing Marge to worry about his misbehavior, or as another has mentioned, the text message that Homer sends to Lisa on her phone.

Despite the rocky start, the episode's development is highly entertaining, making it one of the more tolerable episodes of the later seasons. The humor is spot-on, especially when Homer and Lisa's relationship takes center stage, and the writers use this dynamic to their advantage, giving us some of the funniest scenes in recent memory.

Overall, "The Girl on the Bus" is a well-crafted episode that proves that even in its later seasons, The Simpsons can still deliver quality content that appeals to its dedicated fans.