Simpsons Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Episode
References
Gags
Appearances
Gallery
Quotes
Credits
Paths of Glory
Barthood
The Girl Code
Donut Homer This episode is considered non-canon, and the events featured are not part of the timeline of the series' continuity.


"Barthood" is the ninth episode of Season 27. It is a flashback episode revolving around Bart's life.

Synopsis[]

Bart’s coming of age story, a la “Boyhood”, chronicles his life from six years old to his time as an accomplished young man. Along the way, his tense relationship with Homer, an overly uncaring version of himself, and Lisa, who overshadows him in every way possible shape Bart more than he realizes.

Bart's life story is told using flashbacks to when he was as young as six and flash-forwards into the future, featuring a series of fights with Homer and experiences of being overshadowed by Lisa.

Full Story[]

The episode begins with Homer and a six year old Bart laying down on grass. Bart asks his father things about nature, only for Homer to ask him why he left his toy cars on the stairs, as it resulted in many injuries to Homer. The family decides to take Bart to Abe's house to get him away from Homer. As Bart asks grandpa if he can play with toy cars, he remembers an old car he had bought brand new in 1954 and forgot about. Bart asks if he can sit on it, but Grandpa reveals he'll let Bart drive it.

The episode fast-forwards two years into the future, with Bart still driving Grandpa's car and running late for his reading class. Jonathan Frink tries to teach him without much success, but discovers that Lisa, who is two years younger, can read almost perfectly. Later, Lisa paints a boat on the sea, to which Marge replies they're placing it over the couch. That's when Bart reveals that he made a painting on the entire kitchen. While Homer is painting the walls and furniture to restore them to their original color, Bart tries to impress Lisa by driving Homer's car, only to crash it through the kitchen wall, almost hitting his father.

Homer and Marge decide to go to a psychologist to find out why their son is such a troublemaker. The psychologist says Bart acts out because Homer doesn't pay enough attention to him and they should go camping together. However, instead of taking the boy camping, Homer takes him to an inn and lounges on the bed watching sports, making Bart sad. Back at home, he discovers that Lisa is the student of the month at Springfield Elementary, even though she's in the school only for a month, while Bart has been there for two years and hasn't won anything. Homer tries to reconcile with him by saying he loves both of them the same amount: 40%. Bart makes a bumper stickers for Homer's car, but he ignores it because there's no more space for stickers on his bumper.

Ssi 5 The contents of this article or section are considered to be non-canon and therefore may not have actually happened/existed.

The episode fast-forwards to Bart's 12th birthday, where Lisa gets the news she's student of the month at Springfield Elementary for 48 consecutive months. Marge tells Lisa she should have waited after the celebration to tell them but Bart gets angry that his sister can overshadow him even at his birthday party, so he changes the name on the cake to Lisa and decides to go skateboarding with Milhouse. They decide to break street lamps; while Milhouse gets arrested and taken to juvenile hall, Bart hides at the Retirement home, where Grandpa gives him a BMX.

Three years later, Bart is good at making stunts with his bike, Marge and Lisa go to a camp together, leaving Homer and Bart alone. Marge mentions that this could be Homer's last chance to have a close relationship with Bart, only for them to talk a few seconds, with Homer leaving him at home alone once again. Bart throws a party at their home, and he finds Homer and Chief Wiggum high on pot. Wiggum jumps out the window attempting to fly. Homer reveals that he was exactly like Bart, but when he was born, this meant he was not a kid anymore. They hug each other, but their moment is ruined when Homer mentions that he will not go anywhere or do anything.

Bart goes to visit Grandpa's grave and gets the idea of going to a BMX competition, where he would never be overshadowed by Lisa. During one of his stunts, however, he gets distracted by Lisa's shadow, hits the ground too hard and blacks out. He discovers that he was revived by Lisa, who's proclaimed as a hero, and this revelation makes him angry at her yet again. Bart decides to make caricatures at the port, where he's invited to Milhouse's graduation party. He's reluctant to go because Lisa is also in their graduation class, but he decides to attend anyway.

At the party, Milhouse's parents fight in front of him, so Lisa tries to make him happy by saying he's "cuter then ever", and kisses him on the cheek. This results in Milhouse replying that she's the best thing at the party. Bart gets irate that he's always the second best Simpson in everything, but Lisa confronts him, saying she's tired of him blaming her for every setback in his life and that he's a good artist, even though he never does anything with his talent. Bart decides to take his sister's rage as advice.

Two years later, Bart opens a bike customization shop, where he's surprised by Nelson. He wants to give all the lunch money he stole at school back, so he presents Bart with $5,000. Bart's also surprised to see that Lisa and Nelson are dating (again). He shows them a giant painting on a wall, showing various moments through his life. Lisa realizes that she's not on any part of the mural, so Bart lowers one of the shop's doors to show her a giant mural made in her homage of one of his favorite sisters. The episode finishes with Nelson discovering that El Barto is actually Bart.


Season 26 Season 27 Episodes Season 28
Every Man's DreamCue DetectivePufflessHalloween of HorrorTreehouse of Horror XXVIFriend with BenefitLisa with an "S"Paths of GloryBarthoodThe Girl CodeTeenage Mutant Milk-caused HurdlesMuch Apu About SomethingLove is in the N2-O2-Ar-CO2-Ne-He-CH4Gal of Constant SorrowLisa the VeterinarianThe Marge-ian ChroniclesThe Burns CageHow Lisa Got Her Marge BackFland CanyonTo Courier with LoveSimprovisedOrange is the New Yellow
Advertisement