History Recap / TheSimpsonsS6E2LisasRival

* DropTheHammer: Nelson's diorama of ''Literature/TheGrapesOfWrath'' amounted to him taking a large pile of grapes and unleashing his wrath; in other words, smashing the grapes with a wooden mallet to splash juice on everyone around him.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Sabotaging a competitor doesn't necessarily guarantee you will win. Principal Skinner takes only one look at Lisa's diorama, bluntly says it doesn't deserve to win and moves on.

** Nelson's showcase is on ''Literature/TheGrapesOfWrath''. He demonstrates it by smashing a bunch of grapes with a mallet.

* CondescendingCompassion: Mr. Taylor has shades of this possibly reflective of his worst aspects of his character (even for a flat one time character), with some mix of TVGenius and NotGoodWithPeople. Constantly during Lisa's visit, he gives her a ball to play with due to how she doesn't have the sort of intellect that he and Allison have, and patronizes her constantly about it as if she was but a brainless child.

* ToTheBatNoun: "To the Beemobile!" [[note]]Yeah, his Chevy.[[/note]]

* AdBreakDoubleTake: {{Subverted|Trope}}. Lisa tires herself up while having a saxophone duel against Allison, triggering a fade-to-black when fainting. When she wakes up, she's told Allison won the part, prompting her to scream as another fade out occurs. Except the ad break doesn't come, but rather a phony double take follows showing the exact same scene. When she wakes up, she's told Allison won the part, except "[[ThatWasNotADream this time it's NOT a dream!]]", prompting her to scream as a ''third'' fade out occurs and the actual break finally begins. The scene that comes after the actual break is not a double take at all.

* AcquiredSituationalNarcissism: A funny version. As his speech to Marge demonstrates, Homer thinks [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative having a big pile of sugar in his back yard makes him a king among men.]]

* BuxomIsBetter: In Marge's ImagineSpot, she's well-endowed. The beefcake pirate she's with comments on it.

* AllJustADream: Lisa is competing so hard against Allison for the first chair saxophone position that she faints in the middle of it. After "regaining consciousness", she's told that Allison got the chair and Lisa screams. The screen then blacks out and she really wakes up ... only to be told the exact same thing with the added disclaimer, "And believe me, this is not a dream!"

* ApatheticTeacher: Ralph wins, even though he didn't even do the assignment, because he brought in Star Wars action figures in their original packaging, which impresses Skinner, and it was close to lunchtime.

* CrackDefeat: Lisa reluctantly enlists Bart's aid in attempting to defeat Allison in a diorama competition. However, Ralph Wiggum's 'diorama', which is nothing but a bunch of Franchise/StarWars action figures in their original packaging, wins the competition, making this an example of both a Crack Defeat and a DarkHorseVictory.

* HardWorkHardlyWorks: Both Lisa and Allison took a lot of time building their dioramas (Lisa hand-carved over 70 characters and Allison built an automatically moving floorboard). Not only do both of them lose, but the winner of the contest ends up being Ralph, who didn't even know what a diorama was and just loaded a box up with unopened ''Star Wars'' action figures.

* FailedASpotCheck: Lisa managed to create a diorama of all the characters from ''Literature/OliverTwist'' and turns on a fan to recreate a snowstorm...only for the display to blow out an ''open window'' and get destroyed. Justified as Lisa pulled an all-nighter to complete it and was therefore not her usually logical self.

'''Beekeeper 2:''' Yes, a little ''too'' quiet ... if you know what I mean.\\
'''Beekeeper 1:''' Hmm ... I'm afraid I don't.\\
'''Beekeeper 2:''' You see, bees usually make ... a lot of noise. [[SuddenlyShouting NO NOISE]] ... suggests no bees.

* ShaggyDogStory: After a whole third act of buildup on whether Lisa should let Allison win or sabotage her to guarantee victory ... it turns out that Skinner and Hoover are too {{apathetic|Teacher}} to care how good either diorama is, leading Skinner to award Ralph because he liked his action figures.

* ShoddyKnockOffProduct: ''Mmmmm ...'' Farmer Homer's Sugar. Complete with glass shards, metal bits, and even rocks and pebbles from where it was salvaged from.
* SignificantAnagram: One game Allison and her father play is making anagrams out of people's names, e.g. Creator/AlecGuinness = Genuine Class. When they ask Lisa to make an anagram out of Creator/JeremyIrons, Lisa is stumped, answering "Jeremy's ... Iron?"[[note]]Well, ''most'' people couldn't make better anagrams out of Jeremy Irons, besides "Jeremy's Iron", than names like "Simone Jerry," "Jerry S. Mione," Jerry E. Simon," etc.[[/note]] In response to this, Allison's father gives her a ball, saying "You know what? I have a ball. Perhaps you'd like to bounce it?"

[''Lisa screams ... and then groggily wakes up to the same scene'']\\
'''Lisa:''' Ga...huh? Oh, it was all a dream!\\

'''British Man''': I nicked it when you let your guard down for that split second and I'd do it again. [''Sips tea''] Goodbye.

-->'''Homer''': All right pal, where did you get the sugar for that tea?
-->'''British Man''': I nicked it when you let your guard down for that split second and I'd do it again. [''Sips tea''] Goodbye.

-->'''Allison:''' Can we still be friends?
-->'''Lisa:''' Only if we're the best.

-->'''Beekeeper 1:''' Well, sure is quiet in here today.
-->'''Beekeeper 2:''' Yes, a little ''too'' quiet ... if you know what I mean.
-->'''Beekeeper 1:''' Hmm ... I'm afraid I don't.
-->'''Beekeeper 2:''' You see, bees usually make ... a lot of noise. [[SuddenlyShouting NO NOISE]] ... suggests no bees.

-->'''Lisa:''' "Relatively"?
-->'''Bart:''' Well, there's bound to be some splashback.

--->'''Beekeeper 2''': To the BEEMOBILE!
--->'''Beekeeper 1''': You mean your Chevy?
--->'''Beekeeper 2''': ...Yes.

-->'''Mr. Largo:''' Well, that was a close one, Lisa, but you made it!
-->'''Lisa:''' I won first chair?
-->'''Mr. Largo:''' No, you regained consciousness. Allison got first chair.
-->[''Lisa screams ... and then groggily wakes up to the same scene'']
-->'''Lisa:''' Ga...huh? Oh, it was all a dream!
-->'''Mr. Largo:''' Well, that was a close one, Lisa, but you made it!
-->'''Lisa:''' I won first chair?
-->'''Mr. Largo:''' No, you regained consciousness. Allison got first chair. And believe me, this is not a dream!
-->[''Lisa screams again.'']

-->'''Lisa (to herself)''': After the way I behaved, I don't deserve to win--
-->'''Principal Skinner (passing without breaking stride)''': [[StrangeMindsThinkAlike Well, this doesn't deserve to win.]]
-->'''Lisa''': [[FlatWhat What?]]
-->[''Principal Skinner selects Ralph's diorama -- which is just pristine original ''Franchise/StarWars'' action figures -- as the winner'']

Episode - 1F17\\
First Aired - 9/11/1994

* IdiotBall: Lisa is no less smart than she usually is, but she's ''feeling'' like an idiot because Allison has proven to be better than her at everything. Visiting Allison's house, Lisa attempts to play an anagram game with Allison's father (a professor) but fails miserably. Taking her to be a simpleton, Allison's father hands Lisa a red rubber ball, saying "this is a ball. Perhaps you'd like to bounce it."

* AdBreakDoubleTake: {{Subverted|Trope}}. Lisa tires herself up while having a saxophone duel against Allison, triggering a fade-to-black when fainting. When she wakes up, she's told Allison won the part, prompting her to scream as another fade out occurs. Except the ad break doesn't come, but rather a phony double take follows showing the exact same scene. When she wakes up, she's told Allison won the part, except "[[ThatWasNotADream this time it's NOT a dream!]]", prompting her to scream as a ''third'' fade out occurs and the actual break finally begins.
** The scene that comes after the actual break is not a double take at all.

* CharlieAndTheChocolateParody: Uter's book report diorama is based on this book. Unfortunately, Principal Skinner didn't heed the boy's request to look at his first -- by the time he gets there, Uter has already ''eaten the diorama'' (apparently it was actually made of chocolate) leaving only an empty box!

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: After finishing an exam, Ms. Hoover makes an additional question for extra credits. Allison after waiting a bit, raises her hand and answers it, impressing Ms. Hoover and Lisa, and establishing her as a smart girl.
** Later, when Lisa greets Allison, the latter introduces herself as a 7-year-old girl that was advanced from 1st grade and reveals to be a saxophone player.

** And it seems the guy never left Homer's backyard because when rain dissolves the sugar, he does a SpitTake.

* SpotOfTea: A stereotypical Englishman stole part of Homer's sugar pile.
-->'''Homer''': All right pal, where did you get the sugar for that tea?
-->'''British Man''': I nicked it when you let your guard down for that split second and I'd do it again. [''Sips tea''] Goodbye.

* LesserStar: Parodied. Lisa takes solace in that there's nothing wrong being the second-best at anything. She then imagines a future in which she, [[Music/SimonAndGarfunkel Art Garfunkel]], Jim Messina, and John Oates play their #2 song ''"Born to Runner-Up"''. The concert is sponsored by Avis (the #2 car rental company). They get booed off the stage, and she wakes up {{lampshad|eHanging}}ing the [[invoked]]FridgeLogic of why people would show up to their concert just to boo them.

* BeeAfraid: Subverted. Homer has a giant sugar pile and is initially annoyed when a swarm of bees lands on it ("Oww! Oh, they're defending themselves somehow!"). However, the beekeepers arrive and offer to buy all the sugar to get their bees back. Unfortunately for Homer, a flash rainstorm melts the sugar and disperses the bees before he gets paid.

* BrickJoke: Milhouse gets chased by the FBI and is later shown [[Film/TheFugitive jumping off a damn]], breaking his glasses. During Diorama-rama, Milhouse's glasses are cracked and covered in tape.

* CutLexLuthorACheck: In a fairly silly case of this, Marge points out that Homer's stolen sugar scheme actually makes him far less money than he would have made if he just went to work normally (because selling bags of heavily contaminated sugar for rates higher than storebought sugar turns out to have been dumb). Homer insists that he's actually doing it simply because he wants to live a more exciting life.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: After finishing an exam, Ms. Hoover makes an aditional question for extra credits. Allison after waiting a bit, raises her hand and answers it, impressing Ms. Hoover and Lisa, and establishing her as a smart girl.
** Later, when Lisa greets Allison, the latter introduces herself as a 7 year old girl that was advanced from 1st grade and reveals to be a saxophone player.

-->'''Lisa:''' Can we still be friends?
-->'''Alison:''' Only if we're the best.

* IdiotBall: Lisa is no less smart than she usually is, but she's ''feeling'' like an idiot because Alison has proven to be better than her at everything. Visiting Alison's house, Lisa attempts to play an anagram game with Alison's father (a professor) but fails miserably. Taking her to be a simpleton, Alison's father hands Lisa a red rubber ball, saying "this is a ball. Perhaps you'd like to bounce it."