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Bart the Genius
The Simpsons Season 01, Episode 02
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
This episode starts out with the entire family playing scrabble; Marge plays 'HE', Homer is up next and has 'OXIDIZE' but doesn't recognize it as a word. The Simpsons has a fairly large lexicon of made up words and I think the word Bart plays next is the first to appear. Kwyjibo. 22 points, triple word score, Bart uses all his letters at once. Kwyjibo: A big dumb balding North American Ape aka Homer. Might be the first time we see Homer enraged attempting to physically harm Bart. Gotta remember this is 1990, there was lots on TV then that just isn't OK now, domestic violence, cartoon nudity, oh just wait, we'll get to that later.
Still noticing all the voices besides Bart, Lisa, and Marge are pretty underdeveloped and the animation is still pretty rough - especially the mouth movements.
We get some more great character introductions, many of which stay pretty true to personas introduced in this episode. Edna Krabappel and Martin Prince are the two most notable. Funny note - the school psychiatrist sounds more like Mr. Burns than Burns did in Season 1 Episode 1. This episode is a great mockery of the US education system and the people who run it. When Bart is moved to the new school for the gifted children, all the children instantly know Bart is a dullard even though the psychiatrists and teachers are sure the results of the IQ test will prevail.
Marge starts to nurture Bart to everyone's chagrin. Homer "I'm not a genius, why should I suffer?" when Marge buys them all opera tickets. "Your mother got us tickets to some film festival directed by some Swedish Meatball."
CONCLUSION
We see Marge and Homer's conditional love for Bart a lot in this episode. Pretty sad. After Bart turns everyone at genius school green with a science experiment gone awry (during that scene we see the Control Hamster from earlier running through the mess) Homer states "I bet Einstein turned himself all sorts of colors before he invented the lightbulb!" Bart confesses, Homer, enraged again chases Bart around the house and we get exposed to green cartoon Bart butt. Groening's way of mooning us all? The network? Who knows. Pretty solid second episode.
THIS EPISODE'S RATINGS
  4/5 donuts from Statler
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RATINGS LEGEND
= LAME
= BAD
= MEH
= GOOD
= CLASSIC
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PLOT SUMMARY FROM WIKIPEDIA
The episode starts with the Simpson family playing a game of Scrabble in order to help Bart prepare for an intelligence test he will take at school the next day. Not taking the game seriously, Bart lays down all his tiles in the order they were placed on his letter stand. He invents the word "Kwyjibo" explaining it as meaning "a big, dumb, balding North American ape, with no chin..." to which Marge adds, "...and a short temper." At this point, Bart is chased out of the house by an enraged Homer, who instantly understands that Bart's explanation of a "Kwyjibo" accurately describes him.
At school the next day, Bart and his friends graffiti a wall, and Bart gets into big trouble. Bart is having trouble with the test, so he switches tests with Martin Prince, a very intelligent student. At a meeting with Bart's parents after school that day to discuss his behavior, psychiatrist Dr. J. Loren Pryor identifies Bart as a genius based on the test results. Bart's IQ is 216, which Homer misreads upside-down as 912. Homer, Marge, and Principal Skinner are all surprised by this, but all are pleased to enroll Bart in a school for gifted children. Only Lisa refuses to believe that Bart is a genius.
At the new school, Bart is intimidated by the other students, who are studying confusing advanced topics, do not share his interests, and are suspicious and disdainful of him. They use their greater knowledge of different systems of measurement to trick Bart out of his lunch. Homer is newly appreciative of Bart and shows unusual interest in spending time with him. The two bond over their shared hate for an opera that Marge forces the family to attend. After Bart visits his old school, where he is ostracized by his friends for being so smart, he prepares to confess his cheating to his father, but holds off at the opportunity to play catch with Homer.
After Bart's science project explodes, he tells Dr. Pryor that he would like to return to his old school, to study the behavior of average children. After a frustrating attempt to write up a proposal for this experiment, he confesses that he cheated on the test. At home that evening, Homer helps Bart remove the chemicals.[clarification needed] Bart eventually confesses and tells Homer the truth, he adds that he has enjoyed the past few weeks, because he and Homer are closer than ever. Homer is again furious, and he chases a green and naked Bart upstairs. Marge and Lisa observe, with Lisa casually noting, "I think Bart's stupid again." The episode ends with Homer banging on Bart's bedroom door.
Accessed from Wikipedia on Feb. 20, 2010