YMMV / The Simpsons S6E8 "Lisa on Ice"

• Alternative Joke Interpretation: When Bart gets caught on the lawn in his pajamas, Jimbo tauntingly asks him if his mom bought them, to which Bart responds, "Of course she did. Who else would have?" Jimbo stops to consider this and then replies, "All right, Simpson, you win this round." Did Bart make the point that this isn't much of an insult if you're a 10-year-old, or was he firing back by making Jimbo think about his own mom's comparative lack of parenting skills?
• Catharsis Factor: Homer really takes it up a notch on the Jerkass schtick in this episode. From threatening Bart (and his turtle) if he loses a match, to telling Lisa that girls should stay in their lane when playing sports, to deliberately playing up their rivalry, to calling them both out when the reconcile in the end, it's all a little much, even for him. Clearly Bart and Lisa thought so, too, when they both make it obvious that Marge is their favorite parent, not him.
• Franchise Original Sin: The episode was written by Mike Scully, who would eventually become the showrunner blamed by many fans for the so-called "Jerkass Homer" era of the show, and Homer's characterization throughout the episode fits the bill and then some. However, it remains one of the most fondly-remembered episodes of the "classic" era for its heartwarming treatment of the relationship between Lisa and Bart, and Homer's behavior in this episode is Truth in Television about how sports parents tend to act towards their children.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Lisa fantasizes about getting elected President of the United States. In later episodes that take place in the future, she does indeed become President (though these episodes may or may not be canon to the rest of the series).
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Bart acts like a Smug Snake towards Lisa about being better at sports, and quickly gets jealous when she finds her niche in hockey, but the episode implies he has been playing well the entire season, and since sports are about the one thing in life Lisa doesn't trump him at, he understandably latches onto it. The moment Lisa finally starts getting any success in it, Lisa gets all the attention, especially from Homer. It's understandable he would get mad.
  • Also Snake at the end, when he is the only character other than Marge who is actually moved by Bart and Lisa's love for each other, and wonders if he could have been a different guy if he'd played pewee hockey as a kid.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "Eat up Martha"^Explanation A Take That! to the complete nonsense generated by the Apple Newton's handwriting recognition system, which reportedly became code within Apple for "our new input system is Awesome, but Impractical and needs work badly". If you ask DankPods, this may be a little generous, as it at least resembles what Dolph wrote, unlike "Brokerage".
  • Ralph's immortal "Me fail English? That's unpossible!"
  • And of course there's Uter's iconic "Don't make me run, I'm full of chocolate!"
• Older Than They Think: Doonesbury similarly ribbed the Apple Newton's handwriting recognition failures about a year before this episode (with the Newton interpreting "catching on?" as "egg freckles?").
• Unintentional Period Piece:
  • One scene is a Take That! to the Apple Newton's terrible handwriting recognition system, wherein Dolph attempts to write "Beat Up Martin" but has it registered as "Eat Up Martha". The Newton was discontinued in 1998 after Steve Jobs returned to the company, though this scene was apparently referenced often internally by Apple engineers when developing the iPhone's keyboard.
  • Channel 6 News opens with a Bait-and-Switch headline: "President Reagan dyes... his hair". Reagan would die in 2004, about 10 years later.

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