The Simpsons: 10 Best Episodes From Season 30 Onwards

1. The Hateful Eight-Year-Olds

Treehouse Of Horror XXXI
20th Century Studios

Season 31, Episode 21

After a comical Homer rant about the obsolete postal system sending “paper emails”, one of the letters is a sleepover party invitation for Lisa. Lisa met Addy, the birthday girl, at the library where they bonded over horse fiction.

During the sleep over, Addy’s stuck-up rich friends immediately alienate Lisa. As Addy becomes increasingly compliant in the bullying, she reveals that she invited Lisa to take the flack of the girl’s meanness. However, she tries to reassure Lisa that she can invite “a Lisa” next time. With her parents on-board a booze cruise and Grandpa his senile negligent self, only Bart can save Lisa and guide her in revenge.

The episode is a solid Lisa story loaded with viewer empathy for the eternal outcast. However, there are strong one-liners for all featured characters, highlights include Homer making a rare intelligent pun about “horseplay” and Bart asking the eternal question: “Once cars were invented, why didn’t they just kill all the horses … with the cars?” The episode is a well-crafted classic, which concludes with Weezer performing The Simpsons theme.

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An English Lit. MA Grad trying to validate my student debt by writing literary fiction and alternative non-fiction.