Simpsons Review: "Bart vs Thanksgiving"

Thanksgiving is upon us, and of course, that also means we receive some very good and memorable Turkey Day episodes of our favorite shows. There have been quite a few memorable Thanksgiving episodes over the decade; I still remember seeing one of Friends' Thanksgiving episodes that had the sextet playing football, while Joey and Chandler were fighting over a girl; that was a crazy one. Martin had quite a memorable Thanksgiving episode that featured the late, great John Witherspoon as one of Martin's relatives. There have been several different Thanksgiving episodes, but the best one had to be the first one from The Simpsons: "Bart vs Thanksgiving."

So the episode starts with Marge preparing for the holiday, while Homer had to break up a fight between Bart and Lisa... over glue. Lisa needed the glue to create a special project centered on women in history, with little Maggie providing a bit of help for her older sister. Speaking of Maggie, there was a very hilarious moment from Homer after he picks up his youngest offspring. Homer's engaging in one of the many joys about Thanksgiving: watching football. So after picking up Maggie, Homer gives us this hilarious bit of dialogue:

"Look, Maggie. Those silver and blue guys are the Dallas Cowboys. They're Daddy's favorite team... and he wants them to lose by less than five and a half points."

Betting on football on Turkey Day. To quote Homer's eldest offspring, "Ay caramba."

Speaking of Bart, he provided a bit of help for Marge by opening a can of cranberry sauce, and speaking of Marge, her sisters, Patty and Selma, were at the door--much to Homer's chagrin. The chagrin ended up on Marge, as she saw that her sisters brought food knowing that Marge would be cooking a turkey, which led to Patty and Selma's usual snarky comments about Marge's past efforts on Thanksgiving. Homer gives a facetious greeting to his SILs before heading off to the old folks' home to pick up Grampa. He's not the older elderly parent featured, as we see a rare appearance from Marge, Patty, and Selma's mother, Jacqueline Bouvier (and yes, she's partially named after the famed First Lady), who does nothing but criticize Marge at every turn. So the big feast happens, and Lisa presents her project, only for Bart to interrupt with the presentation of the turkey. This starts a huge fight between the kids that sees Bart attempt to force his way into knocking Lisa's project off the table, and it actually ends up in the fireplace, much to Lisa's horror.

Lisa runs off to her room in tears, and Bart's sent to his room, with Marge uttering the following words:

"I hope you're happy, Bart! You've ruined Thanksgiving!"

Lisa's being consoled by Marge, who later tells Bart that he could only come out if he apologizes to Lisa and truly means it. Bart emphatically passes, insisting that he's not in the wrong and runs off. He's joined by Santa's Little Helper, who's kicked out by Homer, and the pair head off to celebrate Thanksgiving in their own way. Doing so at Mr. Burns' mansion definitely doesn't work, and it's also followed by Bart actually donating blood--receiving $12 and a chocolate chip cookie for doing so. Seriously, Santa's Little Helper gobbling the cookie after Bart faints was just cute.

Bart and SLH head into skid row, befriend a pair of bums, and get their own dinner, all while Kent Brockman's doing a piece in the area. The family worries about Bart's disappearance, but while Lisa attempts another presentation, they suddenly see Bart on TV during Kent's piece. Bart leaves the shelter and gives the money he received for the blood donation to the pair of bums, while Homer and Marge have informed the police about Bart, who voiced his happiness over the Thanksgiving he and SLH had.

As Bart returns to the house, he ponders whether or not he should return, leading to a scenario where he's welcomed back with open arms, and Lisa apologizes for how everything turned out. Under Marge's reminder, Bart apologizes, but that's met with Marge, Homer, and Lisa demanding that Bart beg for forgiveness, which he does. The family laughs at Bart with Marge saying that they could now blame Bart for literally everything... which they do. The fantasy is enough to convince Bart that he should steer clear, and we see him on the roof playing with his lost toys. All the while, Lisa frets over Bart still not being at home, and she actually started to wonder if his disappearance was her own fault. Bart hears Lisa's sobs and calls her to the roof, and that leads to an overdue discussion over what happened.

Lisa asked why Bart committed his action, wondering if Bart hated Lisa or if he was just a bad boy. Bart said he didn't know why he did it or why he enjoyed it, or even why if he'd do it again. Lisa asked Bart to apologize and asked him to look inside of him and find that certain spot that reminded him of how he had hurt Lisa. After some refusal, Bart does just that:

"Okay, okay. Looking for the spot. Still checking. This is stupid. I won't find anything. Just because I wrecked something she worked hard at and made her cry... uh-oh."

There it was. He found it. Bart apologizes, Lisa accepts, the siblings hug. Homer and Marge heard everything, and the episode ends with a bit of a second attempt at a family meal--with a bunch of Krusty Burgers.

"Bart vs. Thanksgiving" was the seventh episode of The Simpsons' second season, and aired on Fox on November 22, 1990. This was one of the best episodes from that classic second season, which had the show still finding its way and doing very well. I couldn't help but be heavily amused by Homer's line about the Dallas Cowboys, and of course, one of the reasons why I loved the episode was that Bart was the centerpiece, which happened a lot in the show's long history. Regarding how Bart was treated, I'll say this. Yes, his actions against Lisa were unkind and uncalled for. However, Bart could have been handled a lot better than he was by Homer and (especially) Marge. But if we had that, we wouldn't have this classic episode.

This was the first of six Thanksgiving-themed Simpsons episodes, and it's clearly the best one without question. Here's a fun fact that even I didn't know until just now. Maggie's ironic line in Bart's fantasy ("It's your fault I can't talk!") was provided by Carol Kane, who has done a lot of TV and films, but is best known for playing Simka Gravas, the wife of Andy Kaufman's Latka Gravas, on the hit sitcom, Taxi. I watched this episode right before writing this review; honestly, I could have written this bit by bit without watching because I know it so well, but the episode's a classic, as well as a treat to watch (especially) at Thanksgiving time.

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