Here comes a new episode review, this time about one of my favorite episodes, 3F22 "Summer of 4 Ft 2" from Season 7, IMO the last of the truly great seasons.
I hope it�s more or less understandable what I try to say. It would be interesting to compare the classic 3F22 with the new S14 episode. I haven�t seen it yet, so maybe someone else can compare them.
The following review will cover only some parts of the true conceptual range of the episode. There are a lot of well-done references and brilliant humor in 3F22 but I�ll concentrate the review as usual on the things below the surface and the hidden complexity. It�s of course just my own opinion and also a lot of pretty weird interpretation ;-) but that�s how I see the episode and why I consider it as great.
The main aspect of the episode is IMO the distinction between the closed (and stereotypical) role behaviour of the (children)society in Springfield and the much more open concept of the kids in the beach town. Thus I�d say the episode isn�t just deep character material but also a social parable.
But let�s start from the beginning.
In Springfield (as a place of satirically exaggerated role behaviour) there is always a clear distinction of groups - nerds belong to groups of other nerds and hip kids belong to groups of other hip kids (or of "nihilistic dudes" as a certain scientific book about the show says.) Nerds are only accepted among and by each other through knowledge and "hip kids" are also only accepted among and by each other through "kewlness". The borders are clear.
IMO important to understand the episode => no nerd or intellectual would be considered as equal in a group of "hip kids" in the popcultural society of Springfield. The beginning of the episode (the last day of school) is therefore essentially important and shows us that closed "Springfield role concept" once again, just to emphasize it. Bart and Lisa are of course part of the concept.
Lisa�s non-acceptance because of her "mature" behaviour is shown here. She is competent (despite of her age) when she organizes the school yearbook project. Therefore she gets some confirmation from children belonging to her own social group (the nerd girls praise Lisa�s work) but all the other children almost automatically ignore her work. The symbolical scene, when Lisa stands alone on the floor with no entries in her yearbook, is symptomatic => there�s no approval or acceptance for Lisa from the masses on the school floor.
Bart�s "membership" among the "hip society" of the elementary school is shown as counterpart - kids from all classes stay in a crowd before his booth to get autographs from the famous "Underachiever and Proud of it" (we even have some meta-references here). Bart�s role is also satirically exaggerated when even Principal Skinner asks for an autograph. It may seem bizarre and out-of-character at first sight but it just underlines the role images in Springfield, which are important for the episode.
At a closer look, we notice how complex these scenes already are. They build the concept for the following episode and are essential part of the story. I better not compare that with the empty and useless gag rows in recent mainstream episodes.
The following vacation (brilliant idea) is in a certain way a uniqueness in the show. The vacation isn�t just there to bring the family into some funny situations in other places, the vacation can be seen here in a metaphorical way, as a symbol for Lisa leaving her old role scheme by questioning her own role and character. In Springfield, she would have been "trapped" but the vacation gives her possibilities for the development of new facets. For Lisa, the journey is some kind of self-experience in another (youth)social world than Springfield, her new start is shown in the line "Bye Bye Lisa Simpson..."
After her arrival in the "new world", Lisa is uncertain about her actions. That�s illustrated in the only surreal scene in the otherwise completely realistic episode - Lisa is confronted with the "ghosts" of her own intellect - with the fictional characters from books who try to lure her into a library (that�s a brilliant and moderate use of surrealism, not for cheap visual gags in the background but to underline an emotional situation.)
Lisa tries to leave her old role by wearing hip clothes and when she finally meets some other kids, she also tries to adapt verbally. Here we see again her somewhat closed thinking in Sprinfield role schemes, as she starts the communication with the other kids with a rather empty phrase ("Like, you know, whatever...") and she scanns (despite a friendly welcome) for the sarcasm she is used to.
This thinking - not to belong to the group as a "nerd" - is her fear through the rest of the episode, until it is completely unfounded at the end. Lisa develops her character but she also adapts other behaviour and ignores her own character, for example by use of Bart�s "Don�t have a cow, man."
Bart still thinks in the old role schemes of Springfield and is therefore convinced that his skateboard show will make him popular among the kids, because hip kids belong to hip kids and impress themselves with kewlness. Bart is wrong, because the kids in the beach town aren�t the nihilistic (and thus predictable) dudes from Springfield but in a certain way more free characters. Thus Bart�s "show" isn�t accepted and the kids look through his forced coolness. Bart doesn�t get it and assumes that the kids must have seen some nerd and he blames Milhouse "They must have seen *you*..."
Milhouse�s role in the entire episode just emphasizes that nerds are never accepted as equals among the hip kids in Springfield. He appears as inferior character who has to hide in the shrubs if Bart asks and who is blamed when Bart isn�t accepted. The scene when Homer calls Milhouse the "dud" in the date game just underlines his function in the plot => different to Lisa, he�s not able to use the vacation for a "break" with his Springfield role scheme as Bart�s slightly stereotypical sidekick.
Bart makes two mistakes - he assumes, that Lisa�s new friends will leave her, when they only learn the truth from the yearbook (the kids in Springfield would do that) and he also assumes that Lisa will return to her old "silent" role and that things will go back to normal for him. He hasn�t expected all the frustration and anger Lisa focusses on him, as the automatism - which makes nerds give in to their usual roles in Springfield - is "deactivated" because of Lisa�s new character development.
To come to an end - eventually, Lisa is desperate enough to return to her old self, when she learns from the kids that they are "more" than she had expected, that they are above the (too) closed role behaviour Lisa is used to. It doesn�t count for them whether Lisa is a "nerd" in Springfield, it just counts what kind of person she is and what she did for the friends. "Lisa rules" thus can be seen (again) as some kind of message about self-finding. She doesn�t have to copy other characters or deny herself, she�s all right the way she is. You are Lisa Simpson.
Some 47 seconds are cut in syndication, including the funny "fill me/with water" joke. There are no important scenes missing but I recommend as usual the full version. The syndication guide on snpp also has some very interesting information about entirely missing scenes that were never aired, that scenes just seem to back up my interpretation.
One last thing - the voice performance by Yeardley Smith seems excellent to me in many scenes, especially in the "I�m the sister of a rotten, jelaous, mean little sneak" scene.
I�d say the episode is a masterpiece in the tradition of "Lisa�s Substitute" and IMO the best episode of the middle seasons. A wonderful episode with three-dimensional and open characterization and also a social parable about (children)society and role schemes and more. A real uniqueness among vacation episodes and maybe one of the last truly great episodes. Grade A+.
Chris