Mr. Lisa's Opus

Mr. Lisa's Opus is the eighth episode of Season 29. It is also the 20th episode that Al Jean wrote the script for.

Synopsis
Lisa's version of "Barthood". First, Homer discovers how smart she is, then she will go to college, and finally being scared after getting out of Springfield. Meanwhile, Ned will try to cure Homer of his alcohol problem.

As future Lisa writes her college application essay for, she recalls past disappointing birthdays that helped shape her.

Full Story
Seven years ago, Lisa wakes up Marge and Homer. Homer admires how awesome she is, offending Bart, who stabs him in the leg with a pencil.

In the present, Lisa is writing an admission essay and she starts writing about her past.

She begins with her seventh birthday, showing how Marge gets Maggie addicted to pacifiers. The family and her teacher Ms. Myles forget her birthday, with Ms. Myles sending her to Principal Skinner after she gets sad on them celebrating Hubert Wong's birthday. Homer comes to get her and finally remembers that it is her birthday, and coming home they find out Ned didn't forget and gives her a tricycle as a gift. The family celebrates her birthday with a cake made from a cup of milk and some candles on it.

Next, Homer is working on a stationary bike and is having medical trouble. Lisa shows how the marriage with Marge is troubled, that nearly fell apart when she turned 14. This time the family comes to their senses, and brings Leon Kompowsky to sing new verses for "Happy Birthday, Lisa" while Homer brings a cake with “Happy twelfth twelfth 12th birthday”, upsetting her.

Lisa returns home from school on the bus and discovers a letter in a suitcase while placing some presents in Marge's closet, saying that she left Homer and opened a bed and breakfast with the other kids, and a tablet with Artie Ziff mocking him for it. However, Marge hasn't left yet.

At dinner, Marge gets outraged at Homer for drinking beer in front of the kids, and tells him to go to Moe's Tavern to drink. Marge goes to the kitchen to cry and Lisa is ready to take action. At the tavern, Moe now has artificial spider-like legs while Lisa enters to tell Homer that Marge is going to take off and makes him promise that he will stop drinking. Homer calls his sponsor to control his drinking habit, and it is Ned. He succeeds and the marriage is saved.

Harvard College sends in a drone to Lisa with her acceptance and it destroys other similar drones from other colleges. She goes to college, meets her roommate Caitlyn and sets up her room, but is not happy in her first day. Bart cheers her up and then leaves with the rest of the family, preparing for the new life, also meeting a new roommate who plays the jazz clarinet (a new friend, or maybe more than a friend) that makes college better for himself. We get to see a collage of scenes through her life, back to the first scene.

In the last scene, Homer, Lisa, and Marge sing a new version of "Those Were The Days" from All in the Family. enters the house, telling Homer and Marge that he will see them in court.

A final tour of Springfield is shown during the credits which plays the closing theme to All In the Family with the Duff Blimp saying "Stay tuned for Simpson and Son" (a spoof of ).