YMMV / The Simpsons S2 E1 "Bart Gets an 'F'"

• Alternate Aesop Interpretation: As noted on this page, the episode can come across as a criticism of how society views learning disabilities, the American education system, or both. Bart not only needs help with his studies but actively seeks it for most of the episode, so the conclusion that forcing him to try with no one to help and then declaring all his progress to be worthless based on an arbitrary metric makes the adults look far worse than Bart ever could.
• Alternate Character Interpretation: Was Bart crying because he failed his test after studying for it so hard, or did Mrs. Krabappel hurt his feelings by telling him to his face that teaching him for another year will be hell?
• Diagnosed by the Audience: Many viewers like to think that the reason for Bart's difficulty focusing is because he has a learning disability of some sort. It helps that the season 11 episode "Brother's Little Helper" would later diagnose him with ADD.
• Growing the Beard: Widely considered to be the episode in which the show really gained its own voice, proving that it was more than capable of being both funny and emotional.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight:
  • Mrs. Krabappel is so amazed by Bart's knowledge of George Washington surrendering to the French in 1754 that she raises his grade from "F" to "D-" meaning he barely passes. Future episodes ("Homer vs. Dignity", "Sleeping With The Enemy") show that Bart actually does have talent after all.
  • In "Special Edna", Bart nominates Mrs. Krabappel for a teaching award on the basis of the fact that she never gave up on him. The same episode shows her staying late with him at school to rewrite a failed essay and turn it into a passing one. Apathetic Teacher or not, she cares about helping Bart succeed despite his challenges—and it all quite possibly started right here.
  • In "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story", a flashback to Mrs. Krabappel's arrival at Springfield Elementary shows her describing Bart as Not Evil, Just Misunderstood, which was reused many seasons later in the episode "Diary Queen", with the context that it's now part of a video Ned Flanders (now her husband) took of a Flanders "family meeting" in which she was the only one who voted against leaving Springfield. While the speech originally punctuated a cynical joke in which Edna has just met Bart and believes this of him because he has misrepresented himself to her, in "Diary Queen", it's her true opinion of Bart after getting to know him over many, many seasons of the show, and represents a fully-developed understanding of his character.
    Edna: I have to stay here in Springfield because boys like Bart Simpson need me — sweet, misunderstood boys, who just need someone to recognize the basic goodness that's trapped inside them and is desperately trying to get out.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Here, Bart is horrified at the prospect of being held back for a year in school, going so far as to have an emotional breakdown when said prospect briefly becomes a reality. Later episodes would see him be sent back to Kindergarten and 3rd grade, embracing the change in the former, and merely being annoyed that he has to share a class with his recently-promoted sister in the latter.
  • The prospect of Bart having to repeat the 4th grade becomes less dramatic when, due to the show becoming a Long Runner where Status Quo Is God and the characters are Not Allowed to Grow Up, he's technically been repeating the 4th grade for over 30 years.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Some viewers enjoy the episode for its fairly accurate depiction of what living with a learning disability can be like, even if it's entirely accidental. Several of those with actual learning difficulties relate to Bart's struggles with studying.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • The infamous scene of Bart crying over his F shows up quite a bit on Tumblr.
  • A screenshot of Lisa looking down at her empty dinner plate with her mouth open is also fairly popular.
• She Really Can Act: Who knew Nancy Cartwright could cry so convincingly and realistically in Bart's voice?
• Signature Scene: Bart's emotional breakdown after he gets a 59 on his final test is one of the most iconic scenes in the series.
• Tear Dryer: Bart has been told that if he gets a failing grade on his upcoming test, he will be required to repeat the 4th grade. Bart actually cracks the books and studies, but his one Herculean effort is not enough to make up for a lifetime of poor study habits. Bart gets an F. He breaks down crying, telling Mrs. Krabapple that he had really tried this time, and all she can do is try and comfort him. But then, just when it looks hopeless, Bart compares his loss to George Washington having to surrender to the French in 1754, an obscure bit of history. So impressed is Mrs. Krabappel about this applied knowledge, she gives him a bonus point on the test, which pushes him from an F to a D -, allowing him to pass.
• Values Dissonance:
  • If the story took place now, Bart's tearful story of how difficult getting even an F was could end with him being sent to a school psychiatrist to find out if he has a learning disability. Granted, Krabappel is not exactly the best teacher out there. 9 seasons later, the episode "Brother's Little Helper" would see Bart being medicated for ADHD.
  • Bart explicitly getting a 59 on the final test and failing. While in both the USA and in Japan the pass grade is a 60/100, the equivalent of a D-, in many schooling systems this would be well above a pass (which can be at 50), so anyone who grew up in one of those schools will be far more critical of Springfield Elementary than intended. To say nothing of the school willing to hold Bart back a year based on a single percentage point, which most schools would never do (Bart being given that bonus point is likely not as uncommon as you think).
• The Woobie: Poor Bart. That scene where he cries upon getting an "F" again is every bit as heartbreaking as it's meant to be.

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