Simpsons Did It!: “Lisa Goes Gaga”

I once watched a pair of videos on YouTube where a commentator picked the ten best and worst episodes of The Simpsons.  I bring this up because this very episode was, this man felt, the worst episode the series had ever done.  It was, to him, so bad that he railed against it in both videos.  Now, as near as I can make out, his biggest beef was he wasn’t a fan of guest star Lady Gaga.

Well, I’m not either, and I’d never seen this one before, so let’s see…how was it?

Well, it seemed…inconsequential, truth be told.  There wasn’t so much a plot as an excuse to showcase a cartoon version of Lady Gaga’s theatricality and overall weirdness.  That’s fine, I suppose.  But let’s give The Simpsons credit for really utilizing a guest star in a way they rarely do, with the closest being that one time they got that guy who was in the Lethal Weapon movies but wasn’t Danny Glover.

So, in short, Lady Gaga is traveling in her fabulous train through the country and gets the idea to stop at Springfield because word has it that it is the most depressed town in America with the lowest self-esteem of all.  She figures she can bring some (very short-lived) joy to the town.  At the same time, Lisa is voted “least popular student” in a very bizarre student-voting thing at Springfield Elementary and only makes it worse when she anonymously sticks up for herself online only to be discovered as the self-described “truth teller”.  That puts her in an even worse position.

So, Lady Gaga blows into town, everyone is happy to see her since even Grampa knows who she is, and she figures out Lisa is really down and puts it upon herself to cheer the girl up, even visiting the Simpson house.  It doesn’t work, and Lisa tells the well-meaning pop star off, but then Lisa later apologizes when she realizes she can still ignore Homer’s half-assed advice, meaning she’s in better shape than she thought.  Problem solved.

Though there isn’t a damn thing Lady Gaga can do for Moe.

Was it the worst ever?  Not really.  I’ve seen some much worse clip show episodes.

But that’s the end of season twenty-three regardless.