They say the season premiere sets the tone for how viewers feel about the rest of the season. I really hope that rule applies in this case, because the start of the new Season 37 was truly inspiring!
First off, it's a classic Marge and Lisa relationship episode, and while new Lisa-centric episodes often fall flat, this one didn't follow suit. It didn't dwell solely on the moral of the story, but also offered some funny gags and jokes - there were even jokes reminiscent of the earlier seasons!
Overall, the comedic aspect of the episode gets a B+, which is pretty good, actually. The episode didn't shy away from satire either: right at the beginning, when the family decided to opt for watching a movie for free instead of going to the movie theater (which was just a few feet away!). It was hilarious watching the Simpsons' reaction to the absurd TV commercials. Hell, even though it was blatant farce, I couldn't help but laugh! Basically, you could say the highest concentration of jokes is in the episode's first 11 minutes, although it would've been nice if the jokes were spread out more evenly. Oh, and I was especially amused by Homer's reaction to Marge mispronouncing the name of a character from a movie (this episode's running gag), and Homer said, turning to Bart: "She is lucky she had got looks". It wasn't just the fact that Marge seemingly dropped in intelligence in Homer's eyes just because she mispronounced a strongman's name (what else could she drop in his eyes), but that it's a joke straight from S6E20, where Homer says almost the exact same thing. And let's be honest, the episode's structure echoes the formula of S7E25, where Lisa also found a group of friends, sacrificing her interest in her mother... but this formula, as we can see, turned out to be the most successful in the implementation of this episode!
I would've loved to see more interaction between Lisa and Homer or Bart. Seriously, I thought Bart would be helping Lisa steal things, which would've led to a lot more gags (given Bart's experience in these matters). So, all in all, this episode didn't thieve my thrifty expectations, but was able to make me laugh and surprise me. Enjoy watching, and don't forget to skip the commercials!
