A fortuneteller predicts Lisa Simpson will decide to forgo college, but she will eventually become president of the United States. Lisa is so estranged from Marge that Marge fails to realize her own daughter is now the president.
The classic episode "Bart to the Future" also imagined a future with Lisa Simpson as president, successor to the disastrous Donald Trump. In this episode, Trump is not mentioned, but he is alluded to, when President Simpson complains that the transition tantrums are getting longer.
Tropes:
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Bart apparently finished high school and then didn't bother applying to any colleges because he got really into Fruit Ninja. Averted later as he rose to become a CEO of a marijuana company and the owner of three NBA teams, similar to Lisa's successful goal of becoming the new U.S. President.
- Black Comedy: In the couch gag. The eggs that Bird!Homer breaks with his weight are supposed to be his children.
- Biting-the-Hand Humor: The episode claims that in the future Disney will buy out the U.S. Government.
- Celebrity Paradox: Werner Herzog plays himself in this episode, having previously played Walter Hotenhoffer and Dr. Lund.
- Continuity Nod:
- We see a glimpse of Nelson's two sets of twin daughters via Sherri and Terri, per "Future-Drama."
- Lisa has Mr. Bergstrom's note framed in the Oval Office.
- Cool Teacher: Parodied with Lisa after she strikes out on her own as an extracurricular educator, approaching her down-and-out students with "every trick there is"—arranging their desks in a circle, putting the toughest kid in charge of group behavior, and teaching Shakespeare using TikTok dances. It actually works, though possibly not the way she intended:Student: Her incredible lameness has me riveted.Other Student: Finally, someone who gets me as a stereotype!
- Dramatically Missing the Point: Upon hearing from Lisa that she will not go to any college, Marge fears that this would be a horrible decision that she would regret her entire life and barely speaks to Lisa. Even after decades when Lisa has successfully build herself up to become the new President of the United States, Marge find this to be a minor success compared of going to college, which forced an annoyed Lisa to bring up a 'mom translator' in order to show Marge the error of her ways.
- Eyepatch After Time Skip: Played for Laughs with Abe, who realizes his is on the wrong eye and switches.
- Internal Deconstruction: Being admitted to the best possible college is a frequently-mentioned goal of Lisa's throughout the series and figures heavily into the plot of many Flash Forward episodes, such as "Future-Drama" and "Mr. Lisa's Opus," with most futures showing her attending either Yale or Harvard. This episode examines a scenario in which her growing disillusionment with the university system (not helped by the fact that many colleges have been bought out by major corporations, an occasional gag in such episodes) causes her to forgo college entirely and forge her own path, and even raises the question of whether college was truly what Lisa wanted or whether she took her cues about what she should want from the people around her.
- Irony: The magic shop owner's decision to read the family's future is spurred by an exasperated Marge wondering aloud whether Homer and Bart will ever stop fighting. According to his prediction, both will take a turn for the better and it's Marge and Lisa who will spend years locked in a pointless power struggle.
- Manchild: Rod and Todd, ages 20 and 16 (according to the most recent calculations), behave no differently from their younger selves, causing Ned to admit that he may have coddled them a little too much.
- Oddly Small Organization: In the future, the Springfield Police Department seems to still consist of just Chief Wiggum, Officer Lou and Officer Eddie, only older.
- Once More, with Clarity: Early in the episode, Lisa flashes back to various moments in her life when she was studying instead of having fun. While she and Marge are attempting to reconcile, the same flashbacks occur again, continuing beyond the point we saw earlier to show that Marge was always by her side helping her. This helps Lisa to realize that despite Marge's stubbornness with regard to accepting Lisa's decisions, she has always been on her side and wanted her to succeed.
- Parental Substitute: Marge begs Lisa to have a talk with "the man who's been there for every birthday—the one man who took pride in your every achievement." Naturally, she means Ned Flanders.
- Ridiculously Successful Future Self: As in "Bart to the Future," Lisa becomes President of the United States. Unlike in that episode, Bart also does very well for himself, becoming the CEO of a marijuana company and owning three NBA teams.
- Sherlock Can Read: Homer and Bart are surprised when the magician about to read their fortunes addresses them by their names. When he reveals that he read them off their (previously-unseen) Starbucks coffee cops, they're still impressed.
- Shout-Out: Homer asks Herzog if they make more Ghostbusters movies.
- Sore Loser: Lisa's predecessor only concedes after her inauguration as President.
- Take That!: A couple to Donald Trump.
- Lisa's predecessor taking way longer than desired to concede defeat.
- The drones at Lisa's inauguration spelling out "Congratulations from Russia".
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: This episode gives a definitive answer. A map of the United States seen in this episode shows that Springfield is in a 51st state, with Colorado to the west, Kansas to the south and southeast, and Nebraska to the north and northeast. The name of the state is still unknown, as George Stephanopoulos mumbles after saying Lisa is the "governor of..."
