The President Wore Pearls
"The President Wore Pearls"
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Episode Information
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"The President Wore Pearls" is the third episode of the fifteenth season.
Plot
Springfield Elementary holds a casino night as a fundraiser, the brainchild of student body president Martin Prince. Homer wins big, but when Martin points out that his winnings can only be redeemed for prizes and not real money, the angry casino patrons riot. After the chaos has cleared, Principal Skinner tells Martin he must resign as president. An election for a new president is announced, and Lisa signs up. However, initially popular Nelson Muntz is favored to win. During a debate in the school auditorium, she sings a song (a spoof of "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina") about how she will fight for student rights, winning them over.
Lisa easily wins the election. Worried by her determination and popularity, the faculty discusses how to control her. Following Mrs. Krabappel that a woman's weakness is vanity, the school faculty tells Lisa that as President, she deserves a more glamorous look. Another song is sung (a spoof of "Rainbow High") as the teachers give Lisa a makeover into a Bananas Eva Perón Hates. She is initially resistant, but gives in since she reasons she'll still be able to fight for the kids. The students love her more than ever, but the faculty plan on using her to distract the kids from the fact that they are cutting music, gym, and art from the curriculum to save on the budget. Realizing she was seduced by glamor, Lisa goes back to her old spiky hair and plain red dress. After resigning as president, Lisa leads the students in a strike.
The students leave school in protest and Michael Moore (voicing himself) shows up to take their side. The police arrive at the school to handle the students, but Lisa wins over the police too. Several other labor unions, including goat milkers, newsroom cue card holders and theme park zombies join the strike. Groundskeeper Willie refuses Skinner's order to turn his hose on the students. Realizing there is no other way out of the crippling strike other than disposing of Lisa again, Skinner has her transferred to a school for the gifted. When she arrives there, Homer shows up to explain that he is not driving 45 minutes just to take her to school each day, and so everything ends up back to normal. A subtitle states that the elementary school cancels flu shots and sells loose cigarettes to pay for the restoration of music, art and gym. The subtitle also states that the producers of the show, based on the advice of their lawyers, never heard of a musical based on the life of Eva Peron.
Reception
In 2007, Vanity Fair called "The President Wore Pearls" the tenth best episode of The Simpsons, the most recent episode on the list. John Orvted said, "It may seem ludicrous to include anything later than Season 8 in this list, but this one is brilliant. The musical numbers are astoundingly good, and Lisa's comeuppance is so well constructed it harkens back to the golden years of the show."
The episode was also nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Music (by Alf Clausen) And Lyrics (by Dana Gould).
