| "Blame It on Lisa"
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| Episode Information
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"Blame It on Lisa" is the fifteenth episode of Season 13 of The Simpsons and the two-hundred and eighty-fourth episode overall. It originally aired on March 31, 2002. The episode was written by Bob Bendetson and directed by Steven Dean Moore.
Synopsis
- "After the Simpson family receive a large phone bill, they discover Lisa has been sponsoring a Brazilian orphan - and when the child is reported missing, the Simpsons head to the country to find him."
Plot
Homer and Bart are watching an episode of The Itchy and Scratchy Show, when Marge comes in and announces that they have received a $400 phone bill, due to a call to Brazil. They immediately think that it was Bart making another prank call (like he did in "Bart vs. Australia") and Homer strangles him. Homer and Marge visit their telephone company, Zovuvazz, to see why their bill is so high. Marge says that they didn't make the calls to Brazil so they won't pay the bill. Lindsay Naegle says she will cut off their service if they don't pay. Lenny comes round saying they found a box of tacos in a cooling duct at the plant, and because the family have no service, Homer couldn't eat any which enrages him. He tries to get free service by illegally connecting to the telephone lines, getting himself electrocuted at least five times and waking up on the couch after the family found him "smouldering in the bushes".
Lisa confesses that she has been making calls to an orphan named Ronaldo who she had been sponsoring and has gone missing, and the Simpsons decide to visit Brazil to find him. Lisa plans to search for him in a restaurant, however, the Simpsons early plans to find him seem fruitless. When the family splits up to look for him, Homer and Bart are kidnapped in an unlicensed taxi. Homer asks the kidnappers if they can take him and not Bart, but the kidnapper tells Homer that Bart has already escaped. The kidnappers decide to tell Homer's family that they will get him back, but for a price of 100,000 dollars. Since the family does not have that much money, they go searching for him, and Lisa gets reunited with Ronaldo, who secretly plays a flamingo in Teleboobies, due to the shoes that Lisa gave him made him good at dancing. Ronaldo, now rich from being a child star, willingly pays ransom to rescue Homer, and the family gives the ransom to the kidnappers (even though Homer is reluctant to leave, due to him developing Stockholm syndrome), and Homer is reunited with his family at last. However, there is one downside - Bart is eaten by an anaconda.
Production
Reception
"Blame It on Lisa" was nominated for a 2003 Writers Guild of America award in Animation, but it lost to "Godfellas" from Futurama.[1]
References
