Lisa's First Word

"Lisa's First Word" is the 10th episode of The Simpsons' fourth season.

Synopsis

When Homer, Marge and Bart unsuccessfully try to get Maggie to speak, Marge tells the family the story of when Lisa said her first word.

It is March 1983, and Homer, Marge, and Bart lived in the Lower East Springfield district. One day, Marge says that she is awaiting another baby, with Bart imagining a new brother who he can use as a scapegoat for his own misbehavior. But as Marge is pregnant, she feels that the Simpsons are going to need a bigger house. Homer and Marge try to look for houses, including a houseboat that Captain McAllister has until now. After unsuccessful attempts, the Simpsons find a house on Evergreen Terrace and buy it with a $15,000 down payment from the sale of Grampa's house.

In 1984, the Simpsons move into their new Evergreen Terrace home, with the Flanders family as neighbors. Homer borrows a TV tray from Flanders for "a little while", which he just bought at the hardware store, but he still has it in the present time. Bart turns two years old, and for the first time, he watches Krusty the Clown, as well as Itchy & Scratchy. Krusty also does a promotion for the 1984 Summer Olympic Games with his Krusty Burger chain, which is the "Official Meat-Flavored Sandwich of the 1984 Olympics." The promotion offers scratch-and-win game cards in which people can scrape off the name of the event from the game card, and if the U.S. wins a gold medal, that person wins a free Krusty Burger. However, the Soviet Union boycott the Olympics, and with this, Krusty loses $44 million and Homer gets a steady supply of Krusty Burgers.

Bart is asked to give up his crib so it can become the new baby's. Homer builds Bart a new bed of a clown, which scares Bart (see below). Marge thinks that the baby is coming, and she and Homer go to the hospital, leaving Bart with the Flanders family. He goes home and is scared until Homer asks him to see Lisa. Bart thinks that he hates Lisa. Everyone, except Bart, agrees that she is a beautiful baby. Later, Bart does bad things to Lisa—such as giving her a haircut with household scissors, sticking stamps on her, and sticking her through the Flanders' doggy door—and is punished. He blames Lisa for his problems and leaves, until she says her first word, "Bart." Bart discovers that Lisa can talk, and she even knows the name of David Hasselhoff. After this, Bart holds baby Lisa for the very first time, and seems to appreciate her more from then on.

However, back in present day, the flashback ends and we see Bart and Lisa having a row. Homer takes Maggie to bed, saying that "the sooner kids talk, the sooner they talk back", and that he hopes that Maggie never says a word. However, when he leaves her bedroom, Maggie removes her pacifier and says "Daddy."