Bart Vs Thanksgiving

[The lesson is never try]

Used to not like it, even hate it, but in the past year ive grown to love it, 5/5 brilliant.

[Paul]

excellent episode, like most of the second season. A

[Nameless]

It's touching, funny, and well-plotted. 5/5

[Clarence]

5/5 a true classic, and on the list of episodes you just HAVE to watch when getting into the show.

[Cartoonnetwork]

Very good. It showed how mean a kid can be with his sister and it was quite real and emotional. Excellent animation and visual ideas and a very touching ending. 5/5

[Terrier Williger]

9/10 - This episode shows how much the Simpsons had progressed, after making it's debut less than 12 months earlier.
A great story with a really nice ending - makes me wanna celebrate Thanksgiving in this country!

[Green_Peaness]

Great episode, but it doesn't stand out quite as much as a few others in season 2.

A 4/5

[Handsome Peter]

Like many Season 2 episodes, a very downbeat story, low on humour, but had a good ending and good emotion. Overrated, but still above average for Season 2 IMO; I'll say a solid 3/5.

[Upgrayedd]

one of the season's best-A

[Semaj]

A very real Thanksgiving episode.

5/5

[timstapels]

4/5 - It's great, humour, plot, dialougue, everything but it still doesn't stand out as a 5/5 deserving episode.

[Homer J Brannigan]

A good episode. 4/5

[Grippa]

It's a classic episode, but not quite full marks for me. 4/5

[SilverEagle]

This is a strange bump, I know, but as I was re-watching some season 2 episodes I've forgotten so I can rate them on TV.com, I came across this episode and decided that I had to bump its R&R thread.

First off, this episode makes me really sad more than anything else. Not because of the tragedy that occurs within, but because it made me realize how far the series has fallen. Honestly, what happened to the family itself? In this episode, you see Lisa sobbing over her journal because Bart left home for a few hours. She knows it's not really her fault, but she's sad anyway, simply because they're family and they love one another. The rest of the family is equally concerned and guilt-stricken. Bart is in perfect form; oblivious to how cruel he's actually being and extremely selfish, yet you can understand because he's 10 and doesn't know any better. He also figures out the error of his ways eventually.

Not only are the characterizations great in this episode, but I would also like to bring to your collective attention the episode's pacing. I know it's more difficult to accomplish this now that the show has had a solid 3 minutes cut from its time slot, but why can't the show actually feel longer than 18 minutes again? This episode feels like a 45-minute short film; it's cinematic, it feels complete, and the entire episode unfolds perfectly. The first 5 minutes feel like an eternity, but I never wanted it to end because I like the characters and because the writing is so clever.

Also, it's the little things that separate episodes like this from the current Jean era. The way Patty and Selma look so subtly bored as Lisa tells them about her centerpiece, or the way Homer sings along so happily with the radio as he's driving, flashing his lights in time. Of course, we can't forget the strangely disturbing bit of animation during Bart's fantasy sequence as he arrives home.

Now, I would never call this episode perfect. It' idea of humor, while effective, is not particularly funny, and I hate the last 30 seconds of the episode. It's so rushed and lame.

"HEY, BART'S BACK!"

"Lord, help us to do better next time."

THE END.

Regardless, this is everything that the recent seasons aren't, and explains in great detail why they are so consistently mediocre. Having the family actually care about one another, using more creative animation, and pacing the episodes correctly would be a great start towards a brighter future for the show. Every single man and woman on staff needs to be given the Alex DeLarge treatment and have this episode forced on them weekly.

4.5/5

[LilyVonSchtupp]

flawless classic

[Sniper Squirrel]

another one of season 2's more emotionally based episodes, very good 4.5/5

[Moe Nopoly]

i not really like this episode. It's of course a good one.
But i prefer more the funny episodes and don't really like the stories where they wanna be a teacher.
The intention of this episode with Barts behavior is in a way obvious and this way also the outcome.

A good episode, but not really the type i prefer.

[Fox Executive]

5/5

[Starman]

It's decent. Characterisation is slightly off, but decent. B+

[Capt Hammer]

Great Ep loved most of it not all so i give a 4/5

[sconer]

I really loved this episode. We see more sibling fighting between Bart and Lisa during thanksgiving and Selma, Pattie(?), and Marge's mother all so negative. The ending was touching as well with Bart very happy to be given a D-. 5/5

[ThatAsianGuy]

nice use of bart/lisa relationship. 5/5

[Jesse Pinkman]

a great episode, i try to always watch it on Thanksgiving

[hughes]

Very good emotional scene, but somewhat lacking in humor. A good first act, but most of it just has way too much of a depressing tone for me to really enjoy it. Like I said, the emotion is good, but the stuff with the homeless, although it turned out okay, was kind of an odd tangent to go off on, but thankfully it wasn't near as heavy-handed as it could've been. Also, the act break (I think it's an act break, I've only seen this episode on DVD) with Bart passed out after giving blood is extremely disturbing--they should have tried to make some sort of joke, this is one of the times where the effort to make the show hardcore realistic in the first two seasons overshadowed the comedy too much. Not a bad episode by any means, but one that makes me feel a little uncomfortable in its stark realism. Which is I suppose what they were going for, but not something I enjoy watching all that much. 10/15

[CousinMerl]

Even though it's not really one of Season 2's best or funniest episodes, it has a really good plot and even some nice humorous moments. Most of the characters really feel human in the episode (mostly since this season was overall more about the plots themselves rather than hilarity), the dialogue is great and the part at the end where Bart and Lisa reconcile was sweet.

4/5

[Nauru-1]

Classic Bart episode. Don't think it quite reaches the ranks of an elite episode, but a typical season 2 blend of drama and comedy makes for a good viewing. 4/5 (B)

[Old painty-can Ned]

A pretty touching episode. Although in my top 30 8 episodes are from season 2 but this one just can't reach it still an A-