Summer of 4 Ft. 2
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"Summer of 4 Ft. 2" is the twenty-fifth and last episode of The Simpsons' seventh season. The episode guest stars Christina Ricci, who recorded her lines over the phone and didn't go into the studio.[1]
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Plot
It's the last day of school and Lisa, the yearbook editor, thinks that her popularity should soar for all her work. However, nobody signs her yearbook. At the Simpsons house, Ned Flanders has a chat with a bored Homer, offering up his beach-house. Marge is happy about this vacation opportunity and tells Bart to bring Milhouse and Lisa to bring a friend of her own. This stings Lisa as she has no friends she can invite. While she packs, she feels that being herself has not worked all this time: maybe, it's time to change that. She unpacks and leaves with an empty suitcase.
The Simpsons and Milhouse leave for Little Pwagmattasquarmsettport. They reach Ned's beach-house and find the place full of little "helpful notes" stuck all over the place. As Marge makes the bed, Lisa tells her that she forgot to pack. So they go shopping for new clothes. Marge suggests a few kiddie clothes, but Lisa finds a rather hippie-looking ensemble, with shorts, flip-flops, a poncho, an over-sized cap, and small pink sunglasses. She leaves Marge with Maggie and goes in search of "kid friends". As Lisa wanders around, she doesn't see any kids. Almost ready to give up, she sees some kids under a boardwalk and goes and meets up with them. She tries to fit in, suggesting they can skate at the virtually abandoned library she passed earlier. She and another girl named Erin talk as the boys skate. Bart notices all this and attempts to win the kids' favor with his skateboarding moves, but the kids just think he's trying too hard. Lisa plays off this, labeling Bart as her gooney brother always hanging out at libraries.
Meanwhile, Homer goes out searching for illegal fireworks to celebrate Independence Day. He receives a rather powerful M-320 firecracker, but when he goes to light it, a large portion of the fuse is burned off. Scrambling to find a place to dump it, he first tries the refrigerator. However, he then screams "AHH! THE BEER!", and pulls it out. He finally settles on the dishwasher. It blows up inside the unfortunate appliance, causing sewage to come oozing out.
Bart, growing more and more jealous of Lisa, is prohibited by Marge to interfere in Lisa's fun with her new friends. He decides to teach her a lesson. That night, he shows them her yearbook, exposing her real identity as a Teacher's Pet. An ashamed Lisa runs off sobbing.
The next morning, Bart taunts Lisa about what he did. She grabs him and threatens that he will get what's coming to him. The Simpsons attend the fair and Bart and Lisa get into many fights. In the end, Lisa walks home sadly, wondering whether she is supposed to ever have friends. Bart, for once, feels a bit remorseful. At the beach-house, she sees her old friends crowded around Homer's car and when she shouts at them, they show her their handiwork - they have covered the car with sea shells, with one bunch spelling out "Lisa Rules". They wanted to thank her for teaching them so much and for being a good friend. She is touched, but Homer is shocked by the "thoughtful gesture". As they all leave for home the next day, Bart reveals to Lisa that he showed her yearbook to the kids again and shows her that all their signatures and good wishes are written inside it.
Cultural references
- The title is a spoof of the 1971 movie Summer of '42.
- Homer replicates a scene from American Graffiti where Toad gets a bottle of Old Harper. Homer on the other hand buys not only the Old Harper, but buys embarrassing items including porno magazines, a large box of condoms, panty shields, and disposable enemas in an attempt to get illegal fireworks (this scene has sometimes been cut out during UK syndication). The Beach Boys' All Summer Long, which is heard during this episode's credit roll, was also featured during the credit roll of American Graffiti.
- Lisa has hallucinations of characters enticing her into the library, including Pippi Longstocking, The New Yorker character Eustace Tilley, and Alice and The Hatter of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
- When Lisa is checking her new look out, she says, "Like, you know, whatever," akin to how voice actress Gail Matthius says it when she played her Valley Girl Vicki character on Saturday Night Live and the short-lived sketch show Laugh Trax.
- TeeJay's ZayMart is a spoof of defunct retailer Zayre and parent company T.J. Maxx.[2]
- When Erin looks at Bart's slingshot, she says "Who does he think he is, Dennis the Menace?"
- The "Mystery Date" board game that the family (minus Lisa) is forced to play is an actual Milton Bradley board game from the 1960s.[3]
- The name of the town (Little Pwagmattasquarmsettport) sounds like many New England seaside towns that combine long Native American names with "-port" at the end (e.g. Kennebunkport in Maine). This, combined with the terrain (sand dunes), and the fact that the bridge the family drives over at the end closely resembles the distinctive design of the Bourne and Sagamore bridges, suggests that the fictional town is located on Cape Cod.
Goofs
- When Marge is washing the dishes the morning after Bart tells Lisa's friends about her, she is wearing white pearls, they are red again in the next scene.
References
- ↑ Mentioned by Bill Oakley in the Season 7 DVD commentary for the episode.
- ↑ Mentioned in the Season 7 DVD commentary for the episode
- ↑ See http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/7314