Lisa's Belly
| "Lisa's Belly" | |
|---|---|
| The Simpsons episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 33 Episode 5 |
| Directed by | Timothy Bailey |
| Written by | Juliet Kaufman |
| Production code | QABF20 |
| Original air date | October 24, 2021 |
"Lisa's Belly" is the fifth episode of the thirty-third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 711th episode overall. It aired in the United States on Fox on October 24, 2021[1], making it the third episode to air in October after the annual Treehouse of Horror, the first being season 28's "Trust but Clarify" and the second being season 33's "The Wayz We Were". The episode was directed by Timothy Bailey and written by Juliet Kaufman.
Plot
At an abandoned water park, Bart and Lisa contract a bizarre infection, requiring treatment from steroids that cause temporary weight gain. Before they go back to school, Marge says "Someone's getting chunky" to Lisa in affection, which causes her to be insecure about her weight.
Meanwhile, when Bart's arm sleeve of his shirt got ripped while playing basketball, Jimbo, Dolph, Kearney, and Nelson take him to an underground basement in school where they teach him to get into shape and become a man.
Marge takes Lisa to the mall, shopping for back-to-school clothes to make her feel better. She later says "Flattering" into Lisa's mind, making the word "Chunky" grow bigger. Lisa gets cranky in front of the customers and workers, so Marge carries her and takes her away from the mall.
As Marge arrives home with Lisa, Homer talks to her about what the problem was. Marge responded to him that she asked Lisa what the problem was to her. He later goes upstairs to Lisa and tells her about the problem Marge said. She responded that Marge had called her "Chunky". He lets Patty and Selma take her to the park to teach her to calm her feelings and live her life. Later, Marge apologized to Lisa about what she said to her, but says words like "Normal" and "Perfect" to Lisa, making "Chunky" grow bigger and causing her more frustration. In the piano store, Luann tells Marge about a hypnotherapist named Dr. Wendy Sage, specifically for women who had mastectomies and chose to stay flat rate than endure breast reconstruction surgery.
Meanwhile, Bart arrives in the school underground basement with toaster strudel and extra glaze packets for Jimbo, Dolph, Kearney, and Nelson, but he sees them hanging around with their girlfriends. Feeling that they hadn't been friends with him, he runs away from the basement and plays basketball with the other children.
Lisa and Marge visit Dr. Wendy Sage. She uses hypnotherapy on them, transferring them to Lisa's mind. They see the "Chunky" word which took up the entire space of her mind. Marge tried to punch the word out of Lisa's mind but lost hope. They then travel to Marge's mind. At Marge's childhood memory, they discovered that Marge's mother had said a hurtful word: "Plain", to her in affection about her haircut. The word had been in her head for years. Marge and Lisa now know each other's feelings and love each other, thus, making "Chunky" and "Plain" shrink.
In the end, Marge believes that if Lisa is aware of them, the words would lose their powers over her very slowly.
Reception
Viewing figures
The viewing figures for this episode is 1.83 million.[2]
Critical response
Tony Sokol of Den of Geek gave the episode 4 out of 5 start stating ““Lisa’s Belly' works because her healing and acceptance comes from the most unlikely of places. Homer, Patty and Selma are what they are and don’t care how other people see them. This is valuable and the message is much more effective coming from them. This is a very sweet, and mature episode. It is just such a shame what happens to the Powerpuff Girls.”[3]
Mark Gibson of Bubbleblabber gave the episode a 8 out of 10 stating “Overall, 'Lisa’s Belly' continues the show’s strength in delivering humorous yet relatable stories that deal with current issues. This is another episode that provided a healthy balance between comedy and drama in terms of representing real-life problems and mental health. No amount of harmful words can stop this season from chugging along smoothly.”[4]
References
- ^ "Listings - SIMPSONS, THE on FOX | TheFutonCritic.com". www.thefutoncritic.com. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
- ^ Metcalf, Mitch (October 26, 2021). "ShowBuzzDaily's Sunday 10.24.2021 Top 150 Cable Originals & Network Finals Updated". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
- ^ "The Simpsons Season 33 Episode 5 Review: Lisa's Belly". Den of Geek. 2021-10-25. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
- ^ Gibson, Marcus (2021-10-25). "Review: The Simpsons "Lisa's Belly"". Bubbleblabber. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
External links
- Lisa's Belly at IMDb
