The Good, the Sad and the Drugly

The Good, the Sad and the Drugly is the seventeenth episode of Season 20. It first aired on April 19, 2009. The episode was written by Marc Wilmore and directed by Rob Oliver.

Synopsis
Bart volunteers at the Springfield Retirement Castle in order to impress a girl, but this leaves Milhouse (who took the rap for a school prank he and Bart pulled) less than impressed; Lisa becomes depressed when she writes a report on what Springfield will be like 50 years from now, but her medication makes her see everything happy - bright yellow happy faces, that is.

Plot
When Bart and Milhouse pull off a prank at Springfield Elementary, they unscrew everything in the building and watch as almost everything falls apart. Milhouse takes the fall and gets suspended from school. Homer forces Bart to sign in under Homer’s name and visit Grampa at his retirement home, and Bart soon becomes smitten with a delightful 11-year-old volunteer named Jenny (Anne Hathaway). Hoping to impress Jenny, Bart offers to volunteer at the home. He even "volunteers" to get beat up by Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney (who are being mean to a duck in order to impress Shawna) so he can save a baby duck. But as Bart and Jenny’s relationship progresses, Milhouse emerges from his suspension and is less than thrilled about Bart turning his back on him for a girl. Milhouse blackmails Bart until he cracks under the pressure. He tells Jenny his real persona, and begs her to stay, because she made Bart act good for once. Jenny can't decide what to do, and breaks up with Bart.

Meanwhile, Lisa does a report on what Springfield will look like in 50 years and becomes very depressed at the dreary outlook. A concerned Marge takes Lisa to a psychiatrist who diagnoses Lisa with Environment-Related Despair and puts her on an antidepressant medication to cure her eco-blues. However, the drugs make Lisa nearly kiss a fan, and Marge takes her off the pills. At the Kwik-E-Mart, Lisa tells Bart that she realizes that you can't hide your problems, and must face them head on. Bart agrees, and buys flowers to apologize. However, he apologizes to Milhouse, because Milhouse has always been Bart's best friend. As a make-up prank, they ice the floors in Springfield Elementary, creating a massive ice rink.

Recently Removed

During the episode, Lisa at one point looks out a window while on her medication and sees Chief Wiggum with a smiley face chasing a smiley-faced Jailbird, who has a bag with a money sign on it. Jailbird turns quickly and pulls a gun on Chief Wiggum, shoots him in the chest, and then runs away. As Chief Wiggum, still with a smiley face, lays on the ground moaning and calling for backup, the blood pouring out of the wound appears to Lisa as hundreds of little smiley faces, which all pool on the pavement to form one large, ever-growing smiley face. However, in recent episodes, this short part was removed for unknown reasons, unless someone got touchy about being offensive to police, which seems unlikely.

The Good, the Sad and the Drugly