"The Daughter Also Rises" the thirteenth episode of Season 23.
Synopsis[]
Lisa falls for Nick, a boy who loves to read Ernest Hemingway stories. Meanwhile, Bart and Milhouse team up with Adam Savage and Jamie Hynemann (the hosts of the science reality series Mythbusters) to crack some urban schoolyard legends.
Full Story[]
The episode opens with a shot of a Valentine's Day card and a letter, then pans to a large pile. Bart and Milhouse discuss their valentines; Milhouse got one from Lisa and one from his optometrist, who Bart says merely sent him a bill, with Milhouse saying that it is a valentine due to the heart stamp. The two then watch TV, a valentine "Itchy & Scratchy". Kirk appears at the window to tell Milhouse not to watch, as it gives him night terrors, but is rebutted by Milhouse, who says Kirk had the night terrors last night. The two then switch to Mythcrackers, a parody of Mythbusters. Marge comes in and tells them not to watch TV, telling them to play outside as it is a beautiful day, prompting the boys to switch to watching it on a computer, then a smart phone, being stopped by Marge each time. They finally get to watch it at a gas station, but this causes a long line of drivers to start honking their horns.
The Mythcrackers try to prove or disprove the myth that a cat always lands on its feet, performing an ill conceived experiment to try and prove it, involving a build a bear, a steam cannon, and making a graph of the remains. Milhouse says they should become mythcrackers, saying it would make them cool. Bart is unsure, as it was Milhouse's idea, but agrees to it. Milhouse tests their first myth; whether using a cell phone at a gas station is dangerous, taking out his cell phone, which sparks immediately, causing him to throw it and cause an explosion; a large "CONFIRMED" stamp appears on the screen. Milhouse then says that he is at least cool now, making a large "BUSTED" stamp to appear.
The scene then cuts to Homer as he prepares for Valentine's Day, taking a bite out of a rose to help freshen his breath. Bart shows up and asks why men have to do everything for women on Valentine's Day, with Homer saying the reason is because they let the men blow up objects on July 4, saying he hopes they will never fall on the same day. Marge comes in an gives Homer her Valentine, reading it aloud for him as he reads it. Marge tells him to have the day to himself, saying they should show their love every day of the year. Homer tried to still celebrate it, but is convinced by Marge to go out with Bart. The two go to Testoster-Zone, a baseball place where they go to the batting circle. Homer taunts a passerby, who calls him a "lucky bastard", since he doesn't have to spend the day with his wife, who is in the car with him, and says he was talking to his own reflection in the mirror. The man yells that he hopes Homer hits his hands on a ball, and he does. Homer is then shown playing several games with Bart.
The next scene shows Marge and Lisa in a restaurant, where Marge tries to connect with Lisa. Marge sees someone about to dip a ladle from one serving into another, and goes to clean it up. Lisa then looks through a crack, seeing a boy reading a book. She says sorry, but the boy talks to her, saying romantic things to her. They meet at the dessert table, where the boy, Nick, throws a fork into the air, saying he will eat what ever the fork lands on. Lisa tires to tell him her name, but is stopped, saying he wants the first place he hears her name to be special, but Lisa says it anyway, saying the place they were was now the most special place. Marge sees Moe through the crack, who offers her a piece of his ziti, who takes it. Moe then says that she owes him five cents for the food, but that they will talk about it later.
The next day, Lisa meets Nick again and focuses on him as all around her bad events are happening (such as Gil bathing in the water fountain and Snake throwing a tied up and gagged Apu in a dumpster). The relationship goes so well until Marge grows jealous that Lisa is spending so much time with Nick. In order to be sure Nick is the right person for her, Lisa consults Abe's advice, who then tells her that their relationship resembles the same one from a story book (which is quickly labeled as a Disney version inside Lisa's imagination due to adding a talking parrot to it) and that they must kiss under a tree to seal the deal for eternity.
Convinced that she and Nick must kiss under a tree on a small island, Lisa takes Nick with Grandpa's help, while Marge and the others chase after them to stop them. Arriving at the island with the tree, Lisa begins to have second thoughts about committing to a relationship and, coupled with Nick's rather insecure behavior that had begun to show up, starts to doubt going through with the gesture of eternal love that was planned. Once Marge manages to reach the island, they decide to break up instead. Nick tells Lisa things won’t work out and admits that "God gave [him] a gift to lie to ladies" and departs, leaving Lisa and Marge alone, where Marge kisses Lisa under the tree to show their eternal mother-daughter love.
