Lisa turns to the Blues to get her out of her deep depression.
A perfect episode of The Simpsons. One that makes me wish I had a rare 5th donut to award. Seasons and years will pass and as I go through my journey to complete this wacky show, I believe it'll be hard to find an episode with as much heart and (literal) soul as this one.
It makes sense why this episode stood out so much to me personally. Ever since I started following the Simpson family, Lisa has always been my favorite. I love how versatile she is and while the other characters can fall into tropes, I feel she always stay true to what the writers were trying to convey. This episode is the prime example of who Lisa is and why we must love her. She is thoughtful and intelligent, but also simply trying to explore the world as an eight year old girl. She sometimes feels out of place in her family, but is smart enough to know that they do love her very much. I found Lisa's struggle in this episode to be highly relatable. Sometimes there isn't a singular event that can get us down, but rather just thinking about the sadness in the world for too long.
But my favorite part of the episode is what Lisa turns to as she seeks an escape, jazz. While I love jazz very much, my personal jazz is movies. Any and all types of film. Whenever I'm having a bad day I look to the silver screen for a reprieve. Art has such a huge influence to remind us there is good in life, and when you just can't get out of a slump- turn it into something beautiful (which is what Lisa does with her song, "Saddest Kid in Grade Number Two").
Another thing that this episode knocks out of the park is the dynamic between Lisa and Marge + Homer. It made my heart melt to see their interactions and how much they care about her. It might've been the stark contrast between the subplot of Bart and Homer fighting, but I love how much Homer cares for Lisa. At the end of the day, I do believe Homer is a girl dad through and through. We see moments where he connects with Bart as well (specifically in the pilot episode), but it's much rarer than the moments where he showcases his love for Lisa and Maggie.
The last thing that completed my love for this episode was the atmosphere. Jazz + Nighttime + Cartoon is my perfect trio. This episode is FILLED with those moments. The soundtrack was great combined with the overall animation style.
So when you combine visually appealing animation, a deep plot, amazing characterization, and get to the root of what makes these characters relatable- You have made a perfect Simpsons episode. I'm very happy to announce that six episodes into the series, we already have 50% of perfect episodes.