Original air date: 8/23/1998
Production code: 5F20
On the first day back to school from summer break, Lisa meets a girl her age who acts twice her age and wants Lisa and her friends to do the same. Meanwhile, Homer recruits Bart to help him make money off recycling grease.
This episode aired as the Lead In for the premiere of That '70s Show.
Tropes featured:
- Acme Products: The Acne Grease corporation is a pun on this, as well as the idea that greasy foods are bad for your skin.
- Actor Allusion: A twofer. When Lisa introduces herself to Alex, Alex says "Your name's Lisa? Shut up, I love that name!". Alex is voiced by Lisa Kudrow. And in another scene, Alex tells Lisa, "Don't be such a Phoebe." Lisa Kudrow played Phoebe Buffay on Friends. Another possible one is when Alex meets Sherri and Terri - she asks which is the Evil Twin. Kudrow also played Phoebe's much nastier twin sister Ursula.
- Age-Inappropriate Dress: Invoked. Alex, a new student and popular girl, convinces Lisa and other schoolgirls to imitate pop culture icons and wearing age-inappropriate clothing.
- Air Vent Escape: Homer and Bart to get in and out of the school's kitchen.
- Black Market: Homer is muscled out of his grease enterprise by Springfield's resident grease racket, which also steals his shovel since they also run the shovel racket. Appropriately, they go by "Acne Grease and Shovel".
- Comically Missing the Point: Since Marge is the one who buys the food he takes the grease from, Homer doesn't consider the money spent to get it despite being pointed out he is the one who provides her with the money.
- Composite Character: Alex, who looks like a younger version of Lisa Kudrow and is dressed like Michele from Romy and Michele's High School Reunion.
- Continuity Nod:
- Allison from "Lisa's Rival" is among the girls Alex and Lisa hang with.
- Nelson once again expresses his interest in huckleberries.
- Couch Gag: The Simpsons go to sit on the couch, but the couch gets pulled back, causing them to fall on the floor. Nelson Muntz comes out from behind the couch and laughs.
- Crash-Into Hello: Millhouse takes off his glasses when he sees Lisa but ends up crashing into a shop display.
- Didn't Think This Through: Homer is under the impression that grease recycling will be his ticket to fortune. As with newspaper recycling, the business is not profitable as he only gets sixty-three cents from twenty-seven dollars' worth of bacon. Of course, this flew over Homer's head.
- Eyebrow Waggle: Milhouse does this towards Lisa to suggest that they should sit together. Skinner subsequently tells him to "Lower those eyebrows." Milhouse only lowers one, shooting Skinner a Fascinating Eyebrow, so he quickly adds, "And the other one."
- Eye Scream: Homer has an unfortunate incident with a vacuum.
- Fiction Isn't Fair: Nelson talks about the proper way to prepare huckleberries-until Skinner walks past, when he starts telling stories about people he beat up.
- Fun with Acronyms: Alex introduces the other kids to "DMY" which means "Don't mess yourself", a way to tell someone to calm down. It spreads across the school fairly quickly because in a few days Skinner knew what it meant after Lisa said it to him.
- I Am One of Those, Too: Homer inadvertently keeps digging himself deeper because Willie is every one of the things he claims he is.Homer: Uh, buh, buh, we're new foreign exchange students from ... uh, um ... Scotland!Willie: Saints be praised, I'm from Scotland! Where do ya hail from?Homer: Uh ... North ... Kilttown.Willie: No foolin'! I'm from North Kilttown! Do you know Angus McLeod?Homer: Wait a minute! There's no Angus McLeod in North Kilttown! Why, you're not from Scotland at all!
- Insane Troll Logic: Homer's convinced that selling grease is a goldmine and is no less convinced when the total payoff from the many cans he and Bart bring in is 63 cents.Bart: Dad, all that bacon cost 27 dollars!Homer: Yeah, but your mom paid for that.Bart: But doesn't she get her money from you?Homer: And I get my money from grease! What's the problem?
- I Take Offense to That Last One: Lisa when Alex tries to improve her look.Lisa: [coming out of a changing room annoyed and holding a Little Black Dress] I am not wearing this.Alex: Oh, come on, Lisa. It's totally you. Just, you know, add some accessories, lip gloss, maybe drop five pounds ...Lisa: Aren't we a little young for make-up, and ... what do you mean five pounds!?
- Jerkass Ball: Homer pulls Bart out of school so he can be included in his own Zany Scheme (although Bart doesn't mind skipping school), flat-out tells Lisa that since Alex is more popular than she is that she should start acting exactly like she is to catch up and as Bart asks if Marge would be mad that her car's interior is being ruined by the grease piled inside, his only reply is that she should have done a better job of hiding her car keys.
- Little Black Dress: Lisa dons one to get a date for the dance.
- Long Bus Trip: Allison, who last appeared in season six, reappears here.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Lisa realizes when she tries to force Millhouse to take her as his date for the school dance that she’s gone too far when her makeover.
- Not So Above It All:
- Turns out Alex isn't totally above having a greaseball fight for fun.
- Similarly, although Lisa's a vegetarian, she happily indulges in the grease fight, even though the grease was used to cook meats.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Bart is actually unhappy with Homer making him skip so many days of school to run his grease business.Homer: So is this your school?Bart: (sadly) Well, it used to be.
- Social Services Does Not Exist: Homer forces Bart to skip school to help him with his grease recycling business and nobody does anything about it.
- Verbal Tic: Lisa gets frustrated pretty quickly with Alex's constant use of "He-LOO!"
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The men from the Acne Grease Corporation get set up as a pair of villains when they steal the grease Homer takes from Krusty Burger. But they're never seen again after that.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Alex, or so she thinks.
