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Storyline
Lisa's teacher, Miss Hoover, is stricken with Lyme disease, and Mr. Bergstrom, a cool, witty, substitute teacher takes her place. Lisa is smitten with the smart, sensitive man, who contrasts so favorable; it seems, with her own father. Meanwhile, Bart decides to run for class president where he is expected to easily triumph over class brain Martin Prince. Written by
Tiff Banks
Plot Summary
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Plot Synopsis
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Did You Know?
Trivia
Dustin Hoffman is credited here under the name Sam Etic. This is most likely a reference to the word "Semitic", since his character here is Jewish.
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Goofs
Martin makes a miraculous recovery between being too sick to make his closing statement before recess and the vote count after recess.
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Quotes
Martin Prince:
As your president, I would demand a science-fiction library, featuring an ABC of the genre. Asimov, Bester, Clarke.
Student:
What about Ray Bradbury?
Martin Prince:
I'm aware of his work...
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Soundtracks
"Home on the Range"
Written by
Daniel E. Kelley and
Brewster M. Higley
Performed by
Dustin Hoffman See more »
Simpsons episodes focussing on Lisa tend to be among the strongest- from I Love Lisa to Lisa on Ice to Lisa's Wedding to Lost Our Lisa to Lisa the Simpson, they achieve often amazing balances of humour and emotion, with a very interesting character. Lisa is a daughter of the Enlightenment- the embodiment of the very idea that learning and logic are crucial to developing as a better person, no matter where you're from. People of the most humble backgrounds can be outstanding. Lisa, in particular, is an extraordinary person from an ordinary family- she represents how middle class people have great potential.
And Lisa's Substitute is an early episode that helped set the mold for it all- granted, this isn't the first Lisa episode, Moaning Lisa predates it. But coming in the late second season, Lisa's Substitute was still an early classic. The humour in this episode is quiet and subtle, character-driven and sometimes utilizes Lisa as the straight man; hard to believe a series like this would devolve to the loud, often stupid mediocrity it is today. The message is deep- on the surface this looks like an episode about Lisa's first crush (on a substitute teacher named Mr. Bergstrom)- but in reality this is about Lisa's lack of a positive male role model, with her relationship with her dad being distant. Mr. Bergstrom deduces as much and asks Homer to be a "bigger man"- Homer is not quite sure he can do it. Homer may not be able to understand Lisa, but she is special to him, as he says at the end. Lisa's Wedding in season 6 finally brought us to Homer sharing with Lisa how he appreciates her, so these episodes are important to watch together. Lisa's Substitute is a classic- a touching, deep, insightful yet amusing episode. 9.4/10