Recap / The Simpsons S 35 E 12 Lisa Gets An F 1

As a means of dealing with anxiety rooted from lack of control, Lisa becomes a go-kart driver. However, as her anxiety melts away, Homer's anxiety rises. Meanwhile, Bart enjoys the perks of being the first friend of a new Italian student.

Full Recap

The Springfield Little Grand Prix is in the final lap. Lisa's kart is in a spin-out, but with a look of steely confidence in her eyes, the commentator is sure Lisa has never ever felt any unease in any sort of vehicle.

Cut to two months earlier, and Lisa is feeling plenty of unease in her dad's vehicle. Homer is driving particularly recklessly as he drops Bart off at soccer practice without stopping the car, before speeding off to Lisa's destination, therapy. Marge joins in with the current therapy session, worriedly knitting all the while. But Lisa has made a breakthrough as to what is causing the feelings of lack of control that feed into her anxiety. Homer assures Lisa that they'll fix whatever it is that's causing it, shedding a tear when making that promise. Then the therapist says the root cause is Homer's driving. Homer's face turns red, his fury evaporating his tears. He storms off, then he calls the therapist on a video call to argue with her while driving, before his car flips over and he's apprehended by Chief Wiggum. This display did not help Lisa's anxiety, but the therapist has an idea. The therapist takes Marge and Lisa to the Cognitive Behavioral Center, to display that her idea is immersion therapy. If Lisa can become comfortable in cars, that could be the key to dealing with all other anxieties. But it won't be fun...

Cut to the Funland Family Fun Center go-kart track. If Lisa is driving, she's in total control. Lisa isn't having any of this, demanding they try the pills again, her mood swinging rapidly as she argues with herself in favor and against the pills. The therapist assures her that it's gonna be alright, just give it a try. Lisa objects, putting her foot down... on the gas pedal. She drives straight into a tire, and she just wants to get the kart back to the starting area, but once she gets going, the better she feels. Two laps pass, and it's working! Lisa is in total control and feels great!

Kids Formula One

Karts of Thunder

"Episode Five: Leadfoot Lisa"

After the commercial break, the episode takes a temporary format shift to a documentary, narrated by Chester Arborday. Lisa has become an amazing go-kart racer with unshakeable confidence, about to make her formal debut on the international stage of kart racing, KF1. Her mental health has also improved significantly, she's not even stressing out about an A-minus on a test (though she is stressing out about how she tore the test in half to show how little she cared). The KF1 racing season is soon to begin, taking place in Springfield. Mayor Quimby gladly accepts the rich kid international racers and their hot trophy moms. But the team to beat is, as usual, Italy's Team Dooshé, their star racer being Paolo Paoletti, son of a tracksuit mogul. He's glad to be a place as "wonderfully disgusting" as America. The international racers have to attend Springfield Elementary for the duration of their stay in Springfield, Chester pre-emptively declaring they won't fit in.

Paolo is served lunch, and Lunchlady Doris' beanie-weenies isn't to his more refined tastes. Bart sees Paolo cry into a wad of hundred-euro bills, and he decides to reach out and take advantage. He presents himself as the guy who makes things happen, for a price. Paolo is willing to pay, and after pulling some strings, Bart gets Luigi to serve Paolo spaghetti. Paolo is thankful, and enlists Bart onto Team Dooshé.

The international race is soon to begin. Homer is finished with his community service sentence for his reckless driving, so he's in the stands, finally able to see Lisa in action. But seeing Marge so unworried, Homer fears there's a worry vacuum that he has to fill, and Homer takes Marge's stress yarn and starts knitting. Lisa is in the lead, but to Homer, that just means she's going faster than everyone else. Lisa wins, and Paolo takes second.

It's bedtime, and after Homer buries Lisa in teddy bears and cranks the nightlight up high, Lisa assures Homer she's fine, and anxiety-free, and it's all because of Homer's reckless driving. It's Homer's fault, and buried in the same teddy bears, he has a nightmare, in the form of a Simpson-ified Mario Kart race. With Milhouse-Yoshi blue-shelled off of Rainbow Road, Lisa-Mario takes the lead, but Homer-Wario shows up and bombs Lisa-Mario out of the race and into the abyss. Homer awakens, yelling about how it's all his fault before letting out a Wario-like "Wah!"

Bart has converted Skinner's office into a club for Paolo and the other international racers. Skinner wants to have a word with Bart, but Bart bribes him into taking the afternoon off with a handful of euros. But before he can take off, Lisa shows up outside of the office, wanting a clarification about how she should write about the school hamster's suicide for the school paper's obituaries. Paolo tries to intimidate his arch-rival, but Lisa isn't affected. Paolo confesses to Bart that he hates Lisa "and her whole family", and he gives Bart a wad of euros to say bad things about her, sure that she's just a stranger to Bart.

It's time for the next race, but Homer forbids Lisa from going, telling her about the Wario nightmare he had the night before. It's his job to keep her safe, but Lisa calls him out for not caring about her safety when he was an active risk to it, only caring now that she's in control. Lisa leaves through the window, and a worried Homer tries to stop Marge from letting her go, but a relaxed Marge lets Lisa drive the car to the track.

It's time for the final race. Bart gets Paolo gelato, but their bonding is interrupted by Marge wishing Paolo good luck, he'll need it to beat Bart's sister. Paolo is outraged that Bart Simpson and Lisa Simpson are blood siblings, and they heartbrokenly argue in Italian. Paolo kisses Bart goodbye, their friendship is over, and Bart is driven home in a fancy car.

At home, Bart sees that Homer is knitting and not watching the race, stressing about how he's the only one who cares about her safety. Bart turns on the TV, and Lisa is in the lead. But Bart gets a notification on his phone, he's still in Team Dooshé's group chat. Amidst stereotypical Italian emojis, Bart sees Paolo's message; "Sabotaggio automobile di Lisa." Lisa's safety really is in danger!

The Springfield Little Grand Prix is in the final lap, and Paolo has loosened all the bolts in Lisa's kart. Lisa's kart is in a spin-out, but with a look of steely confidence in her eyes, Lisa regains control of her vehicle, and takes back first place. Paolo wonders why nothing has fallen off Lisa's kart. On cue, the sabotaggio takes effect, and the front-right and steering wheels fall off. Lisa is not in control, but she's still calm. Calmer than her therapist. Homer barges onto the track, and swears he'll get Lisa out of this mess by driving recklessly. He steers directly in front of Lisa, and hits the brakes. His brake-checking, once used to torment Hans Moleman, is giving Lisa's kart the extra stability it needs in order to secure first place. Homer and Lisa hug, with Lisa's safety assured as havoc ensues at the finish line.

Tropes:

• Absurd Phobia: The blue-haired lawyer is afraid of rotisserie chicken, so he's seen eating some off a toilet seat at the Cognitive Behavioral Center.
• The B Grade: To showcase how much racing has helped with Lisa's anxiety, she subverts this trope by not caring about an A-minus she got on a test. She does stress out a bit about tearing up the test, worrying if that means extra points off.
• Big "NO!": Homer's reaction when Marge lets Lisa drive the car to the final race..
• Bilingual Bonus: Bart and Paolo have an argument in Italian, without subtitles.
  Paolo: (Traitor!)
  Bart: (No, no, please, please, I'm your friend!)
  Paolo: (You lie to Paolo!)
  Bart: (That girl is trash to me! Garbage!)
  Paolo: (I can't believe I let you oil my thumb! You are lower than a donkey. You are like American cheese — a disgusting lie. I want to make your head into sausage.)
  Bart: (No, I love you! You have to believe me. You taught me how to be how you say, "Euro Trash" and I'll never forget that. I would do anything for my Paolo. I have your back every day of the week: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday...)
• Butt-Monkey: Milhouse-Yoshi in Homer's Mario Kart nightmare is present solely to be knocked off the course by a Blue Shell (which evidently means he was also in first place).
• Call-Back: Once again, Homer gets into a car accident with Maggie's Goobie Woo doll seen among the litter that flew around the car from the impact.
• Catapult Nightmare: After Bob-ombing Lisa-Mario off of Rainbow Road in his nightmare, Homer wakes up with a start, still in Wario mode.
  Homer: It's-a-me Wario! This is all my fault! Wah!
• Cat/Dog Dichotomy: The Crazy Cat Lady has canophobia (a fear of dogs), so she's surrounded by puppies as a part of immersion therapy.
• Cheaters Never Prosper: In spite of sabotaging Lisa's kart, Paolo still loses to her.
• Cross-Referenced Titles: The title references "Bart Gets an F" and "Lisa Gets an A".
• Drives Like Crazy: Homer's driving is the root cause for Lisa's anxiety. His method of dropping Bart off at soccer practice is to swerve so rapidly that Bart is shot out of the car by centrifugal force, into the goal, while Homer never stops the car.
• Gilligan Cut: Lisa's therapist says exposure treatment won't be fun. Immediate cut to the Funland Family Fun Center.
• Gratuitous Italian: This episode contains so much Italian that there is a credit for the Italian translation.
• High-Pressure Emotion: Upon being told his driving is the root of Lisa's anxiety, Homer's face turns red and his tears evaporate.
• In Medias Res: The episode starts when Lisa's cart is in a spin-out and then it cuts to two months earlier.
• Irony: Despite Lisa being a vegetarian, the sponsor on her car is Lunchables, a company mostly known for their meat products.
• Kids Driving Cars: Marge lets Lisa drive the car to the final race.
• Never Trust a Title: Lisa doesn't become a Formula 1 driver.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Because Paolo's crew forgot to exclude Bart from their group chat, Bart became aware of their plans to sabotage Lisa.
• Nightmare Sequence: Homer has a nightmare sequence that takes the form of a Mario Kart race where a Wario version of him bombs Lisa-Mario off Rainbow Road.
• Personality Swap: In the beginning, Marge is the family's designated worrier, while Homer is the reckless "fun dad." Once Lisa starts go-karting, however, Marge stops being anxious and encourages her, while Homer becomes the worrier.
• Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Despite Homer's nightmare being all about Mario Kart and how he correctly described all the terms...he's completely unfamiliar with the actual name of the game when Lisa says it to his face.
• Product Placement: In-universe, the kids' karts have their sponsors just like F1 racers do, just with brands with a more kid-centric target demographic, like Goldfish Crackers, OshKosh B'gosh, and Pokémon GO.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Homer's worry for Lisa's safety is due to the inherent nature of the sport, despite constant reassurances that it's safe. Under normal circumstances it is safe and Lisa is indeed fully in control, but Homer becomes vindicated in his fear when Lisa's rival in the race outright sabotages her car, making the situation genuinely dangerous.
• Safety Freak: Homer becomes this after seeing how worry-free Lisa and Marge become, stressing out about Lisa's safety as she races.
• Shout-Out: When Homer is doing community service, a group of kids are seen playing with a blue-skinned Shrek piñata.
• Special Guest:
  • Rachel Bloom as Annette, Lisa's therapist previously featured in "Springfield Splendor" and "Mothers and Other Strangers".
  • Matt Berry as Chester Arborday, the documentarian and race commentator.
• Swapped Roles: Marge knits endlessly out of stress worrying about Lisa's safety while Homer nonchalantly ignored it and liked to think everything was fine (it wasn't). But once Lisa gets into go-kart racing and Homer has to do community service while being barred from driving, Marge becomes incredibly relaxed (that she even lets Lisa drive the family car) seeing Lisa doing everything right without risking her safety while Homer becomes the worrywart knitting out of stress because he doesn't know how to properly worry.
• "Take That!" Kiss: Paolo cuts Bart off mid-argument by giving him the "kiss of death" a la The Godfather Part II.
• Tempting Fate: When Homer's car flips over while he's on a video call, he tells the therapist not to say anything because he's not the one on trial. Cue Chief Wiggum showing up and saying when he'll be tried.
• Would Hurt a Child: While he doesn't intend to, a lot of Homer's actions wind up risking the safety of his children, be it physically - like with slingshotting Bart out of his car and into a soccer goal while driving to the latter's practice session - or mentally with Lisa's anxiety. He ends up inadvertently causing a massive pileup at the starting line while hugging Lisa upon saving her, creating flaming wrecks and potentially injuring several racers in the process.