Lard of the Dance
"Lard of the Dance"
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Episode Information
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"Lard of the Dance" is the season premiere of The Simpsons' tenth season. It aired on August 23, 1998, earlier than normal to boost the ratings for the premiere of That '70s Show. It grew a rating of 8.5 on TV.com.
Plot
The episode begins with Homer and Lisa going back-to-school shopping at the Try-N-Save. Lisa is impressed by the wide array of writing paper in stock but Homer thinks she should just write things on her arm like he does. Meanwhile, in another aisle, Bart casually pulls a few items off the rack and tosses them into his mother's shopping cart, useless items he uses to hit nerds. Elsewhere, Lisa explores the store and Milhouse arrives to flirt with her. At the Kwik-E-Mart, Homer learns from Apu that he can sell grease for money. At breakfast, Homer begins frying up various amounts bacon for the extra grease, and hires Bart for his "grease business", though in the process, forces Bart to quit school.
On the first day of school, Lisa volunteers to show around a new student, Alex Whitney, a fashion-conscious eight-year-old blonde. Meanwhile, over at the Grease Recycling Plant, Homer and Bart bring their cans to an employee, who weighs them. They find out that the twenty-seven dollar amount of bacon cost sixty-three cents in grease, much to the disappointment of Bart and pride of Homer. Homer tells Bart all the grease-selling they would be doing would consume their entire lives. Indeed, Bart begins missing his school.
At the Springfield Elementary Lunchroom, Lisa calls Alex to join herself, Sherri, Terri, Allison Taylor, and Janey for lunch. While Lisa offers to go get the lunch, Alex begins talking on her cell, to the shock of the other girls that Alex owns a cell phone and purse. From the counter Lisa (mock-coaching Alex) notices the girls are all laughing, and Alex showing off her outfit. When the girls leave the cafeteria, Lisa realizes they completely forgot about her. Forlornly, Lisa leaves the cafeteria. At home, she complains about Alex taking all of Lisa's friends and ditching her. Homer however, convinces her to be more like Alex. At school the next day, Alex apologises towards Lisa and gives her earrings for pierced ears, and shows she had pierced all the other girl's ears herself. When Principle Skinner walks by, Alex convinces him and the girls for a school dance.
Homer drives his "Simpson & Son Grease Co." car past the elementary school, where Bart stares at his former schoolmates playing. Homer pulls into the local Krusty Burger where they steal the grease off the Squeaky Voiced Teen's face. When Springfield's grease company tells Homer they are in charge of stealing grease, Homer plots to go to Springfield Elementary's cafeteria.
At Springfield Mall, Lisa leads Alex, Terri, Sherri, Janey, and Allison to a party supplies store; however the girls detour to a nearby Dingo Junction. The girls quickly start dressing up for the dance, but Lisa protests, saying that they are too small to dress up sentually and wear makeup. Alex tries to convince Lisa that it is to look prettier for the dance and get a date. After Lisa convinces them she doesn't want a date, they leave the mall without another word.
At school, Lisa arrives dressed completely different, with a complete new Gothic personality and lip gloss. Lisa later finds out everyone is taken for the dance, including Milhouse, prompting Lisa to skip the dance. Lisa furiously tries to get Milhouse to go with her but then she realizes that she's not being herself. Marge then convinces Lisa to go, though when Lisa arrives, she doesn't enter the dance, however, but ends up checking those who would go into the dance.
Meanwhile, in the school cafeteria, Homer and Bart sneak about. Bart asks where the hose is. Opening the range, he plants the hose into a sea of grease underneath. At that moment, Willie enters. At the kitchen sink, he begins to whistle while scrubbing under his armpits with a Brillo pad and Ajax soap. Bart and Homer attempt to sneak away, but Willie notices them. After having a brief argument about Willie's nationality, an enraged Willie chases after them and manages to grab Homer's leg while inside.
At the dance, Lisa pushes open the door and looks inside. Strangely, she sees all the boys on one side, looking just as awkward as the girls, who stand together on the opposite side of the gym. Alex comes up to her and tells her the boys and girls are awkward of dancing with one another. At that exact same moment, Willie continues to wrestle with Homer in the ventilation system. Bart stands nearby, pointing out that the hose Willie is using to strangle Homer with has built up an enormous amount of grease behind them. The hose swells, then explodes in a fountain of grease, shooting the three through the vents. In the gymnasium, the children look up to see tiny flakes falling from one of the vents; grease being cut into pieces by the fan blades. The students below then begin having a "greaseball fight".
Cultural references
- The title itself refers to the dance show Lord of the Dance.
- Alex tells Lisa not to be a "Phoebe". Alex is played by guest star Lisa Kudrow, best known for her role as Phoebe Buffay on Friends. She also tells Lisa that she loves her name, a reference to her real-life name.
- Nelson's comment, "Here comes the grease ball," offends Luigi. "Greaseball" is an ethnic slur describing people of Italian descent.
- Lisa's "new look" is similar to that of the Olivia Newton-John character in Grease.
