History Recap / TheSimpsonsS8E25TheSecretWarOfLisaSimpson

--> '''Teacher (talking to cadet)''': Sometimes truth is horrible. How can you call something like that "beautiful"?\\

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: 15 megaphones working in tandem couldn't even crack a glass of water, much less create a massive glass shattering shockwave of sound.

* PoliceAreUseless: Before leading the Springfield Elementary student tour around the station, Wiggum checks the police station's answering machine. He sees that there's ''seventy-five'' recorded messages and ''deletes them all'' with an annoyed "doesn't anybody takes the law into their own hands in this town?"

* PoliceAreUseless: Before leading the Springfield Elementary student tour around the station, Wiggum checks the police station's answering machine. He sees that there's ''seventy-two'' recorded messages and ''deletes them all'' with an annoyed "doesn't anybody takes the law into their own hands in this town?"

* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: Showcase of bully cruelty by ignoring Lisa or not, cadets that don't think of ducking for cover when they notice a fellow cadet is shooting an assault rifle full-auto and is unable to control the gun is just potential Darwin Awards material. Good thing Lisa doesn't hits ''them''.

* TheHedgeOfThorns: The Eliminator. It consists in a rope suspended several feet over a thick bush of thorn-filled brambles, and all cadets must go through it as a final test.

** The MilitarySchool used to have a DeadlyGraduation (students fighting each other to the death) and now has The Eliminator (an incredibly grueling and potentially life-threatening physical test). Both were ordered to be removed by the Supreme Court, being blatant acts of child cruelty.

* StockShoujoBullyingTactics: A rare Western example has Lisa's classmates pretending not to hear her when she asks for help with an out-of-control firearm.

* RealityEnsues: When the cadets are introduced as being highly disciplined, Homer throws rocks at them thinking they won't move. The boys recoil in pain as a response, because even though they might be disciplined, they are still just children.

* BaitAndSwitch: Homer and Marge manage to swindle their kids into coming with them to places they don't want to go (military school and the dentist) by saying that they are going to go to Disneyworld. They even snicker that they fell for it twice at the end.

--> '''Teacher (talking to cadet)''': Sometimes beauty is horrible. How can you call something like that "beautiful"?\\

* JackieRobinsonStory/ YouGoGirl: Possibly attempted by Lisa but ultimately subverted. She gets through the semester but the cadets don't change their opinion of her and she doesn't prove better than them at any of the subjects.

* RealityEnsues: When the cadets are introduced as being highly disciplined, Homer throws rocks at them thinking they won't move. The boys moan in pain and move in pain, because even though they might be disciplined, they are still just children.

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: 15 megaphones working in tandem could't even crack a glass of water, much less create a massive glass shattering shockwave of sound.

* BaitAndSwitch: Homer and Marge at the end.

* JackieRobinsonStory/YouGoGirl: Possibly attempted by Lisa but ultimately subverted. She gets through the semester but the cadets don't change their opinion of her and she doesn't prove better than them at any of the subjects.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Homer and Marge laugh when they take Bart and Lisa to the dentist instead of Disneyland.
* BaitAndSwitch: Homer and Marge at the end.

* {{Determinator}}: Lisa didn’t let the other students, all male, get the best of her. They tried to get rid of Lisa on [[NoWomansLand grounds of her sex]] and proved that she can be just as tough as they are.

* JackieRobinsonStory/ YouGoGirl: Possibly attempted by Lisa but ultimately subverted. She gets through the semester but the cadets don't change their opinion of her and she doesn't prove better than them at any of the subjects.

* AccidentallyAccurate: The instructors assertion that the wars of the future will be fought be robots.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Homer & Marge laugh when they take Bart & Lisa to the dentist instead of Disneyland.

* LostAesop: Lisa Simpson mainly due to a combination of AudienceAwarenessAdvantage and RecycledScript. This episode is often described as a poor mans "Summer of 4 Ft. 2" in that they both dump Lisa into a new location, talk about why she can’t have friends with Bart ultimately learning how to be supportive. Except that in this episode the audience is bombarded with scene after scene of everyone being mean to Lisa making it hard to wonder what the point of the episode is. Lisa overcoming social adversity is pretty much every Lisa story line. While the scenario of Lisa finding out how strong she is hard to take seriously [[SpaceWhaleAesop when the challenge is so ridiculously over the top]].

* NoodleIncident: Who had the idea of setting up a field trip to the police station?
** Probably Principal Skinner, since Springfield Elementary is so low-rent that a field trip to the police station is all they could afford.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Lisa comes to the school looking for a challenge but nearly gives up when confronted with The Eliminator. Bart lampshades this "I thought you wanted a challenge".

!!Tropes of this episode: [[YMMV/TheSimpsonsS8E25TheSecretWarOfLisaSimpson YMMV Here]]

* SpecialGuest: WillemDafoe as the military school's commandant.
* StockShoujoBullyingTactics: A rare Western example has Lisa's classmates pretending not to hear her when she asks for help with an out-of-control firearm.
* YankTheDogsChain: When the class is ready to tackle the Eliminator:
--> '''Commandant''': Gentlemen, I regret to inform you that the state supreme court has determined that forcing cadets to cross the Eliminator is a barbaric and malicious practice.\\
'''Lisa''': Yes!\\
'''Commandant''': Hence, you will be the ''last'' class to be subjected to it.

** Actually no, they didn't. It just so happened that the semester ended.
*** They never really hated her because of her sex. The only one who actually freaked out over her gender was the Drill sergeant the students were upset about the PositiveDiscrimination given to Lisa on account of her gender.