Bart's Friend Falls in Love

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Bart's Friend Falls in Love
Season 3 Episode 23
Production Code	8F22
Original Airdate	May 7, 1992
Written By	Jay Kogen & Wallace Wolodarsky
Directed By	Jim Reardon
Show Runners	Al Jean & Mike Reiss
Special Guests	Kimmy Robertson as Samantha Stanky Phil Hartman as Troy McClure
Blackboard Text	"I will not snap bras"

"Bart's Friend Falls in Love" is the 23rd episode of the third season.

Plot

After a close encounter (Indiana Jones style), Bart Simpson manages to retrieve Homer's jar of change to take to school. His best friend, Milhouse, in the meantime, has chosen to take his Magic 8 ball. Bart asks the ball whether he and Milhouse will still be friends by the end of the day, and the ball predicts, no. Both are puzzled by how this could happen.

A new girl from Phoenix, Arizona, called Samantha Stanky starts at Springfield Elementary School and Milhouse falls in love with her. To Bart's dismay and anger, Milhouse and Samantha now spend all of their free time kissing in Bart's treehouse. They ignore Bart, leaving nothing for him to do but leave. In order to restore the previous status quo, Bart calls Samantha's father and lets him know what's happening, and Mr. Stanky rushes to Bart's treehouse and takes her away before she can even explain. She is sent to St. Sebastian's school for Wicked Girls, an all-girls convent school. Bart lets Milhouse know that he told on him and Samantha and they fight over Bart's actions. Milhouse visits Samantha at the convent school and Bart apologizes to her, but she say it's OK - she loves Saint Sebastian's. However, she still has feelings for Milhouse and gives him a goodbye kiss, despite her knowingly violating school rules.

Meanwhile, Lisa is watching a documentary on the health problems of obesity. She is fearful that Homer's obesity will lead to an early death. On Lisa's suggestion, Marge orders a subliminal weight-loss tape for Homer. Humorously enough, the company is out of the tapes and sends Homer a "Vocabulary Builder" tape. Homer ends up eating more than ever, but his vocabulary is through the roof. However when he realises that the tape doesn't work he gets rid of it and his vocabulary quickly returns to normal.

Trivia

Template:Trivia

• Madonna was the first choice to play Samantha.
• It is unclear whether Stanky or Stankey is the correct spelling of Samantha's last name as both have been used in official and unofficial media.
• This is the first episode in which Milhouse's father, Kirk Van Houten, is seen.
• While the "Good Morning Burger" was intended as a grotesque exaggeration of the unhealthy nature of fast food, Burger King later introduced the "Meat'normous Omelette Sandwich", which bears a remarkable resemblance to the description given in the episode (it only lacks the "rich, creamery butter")
• Otto says that his girlfriend was stripping at the airport bar from 4:15 to 4:20.
• Bart comes to talk to Lisa about his guilt since Marge is not home and he can't understand what Homer is saying. After this episode, he often comes to Lisa first, so he may have decided that she was a good person to talk to.
• The song played by one of the French-Canadian nuns is Dominique by Soeur Sourire a.k.a. the Singing Nun, a popular song in French and worldwide hit in 1963.
• This is one of the episodes that deals with Milhouse's sexuality. In many other episodes it has been hinted that Milhouse could be homosexual. Other episodes suggest he has a crush on Lisa.

Cultural references

• The first scene of the episode is a parody of the Indiana Jones movie Raiders of the Lost Ark.
• The moment where Bart reaches behind him for a weapon with which to fend off Milhouse is a spoof of the murder in Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder.
• Milhouse has a Spinal Tap poster on his bedroom wall.

Reception

The Canadian television series The Hour, hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos, once ranked the Raiders of the Lost Ark parody from this episode as the greatest in the "Top Five Male Underwear Moments of All Time." The list referred to scenes in film and television portraying men in underwear, and Homer wore underwear in the relevant scene.

Trivia

This episode ended with a vocabulary section, which showed the following words and meanings. titled: Homer Sez: Increase your Wordiness