Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington

Season 3, Episode 2, Aired
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Episode Summary

Lisa enters a nationwide patriotism themed essay contest, and the Simpson family heads off to Washington D.C. for an all expenses paid trip, when Lisa qualifies for the essay contest finals to be held at the Kennedy Center.
8.4
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EPISODE RATING: Great
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Cast & Crew

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  • Nancy Cartwright

    Bart Simpson, Nelson Muntz, Ralph Wiggum, Todd Flanders, and others

  •

    Julie Kavner

    Marge Simpson, Patty Bouvier, and Selma Bouvier

  •

    Hank Azaria

    Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Moe Szyslak, Chief Wiggum, Comic Book Guy, Lou, and others

Fan Episode Reviews (11)

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  • good.

    8.0
    "Great"
    By jmbsonic555, Oct 17, 2011 Report Abuse
    Lisa enters a nationwide patriotism themed essay contest, and the Simpson family heads off to Washington D.C. for an all expenses paid trip, when Lisa qualifies for the essay contest finals to be held at the Kennedy Center.

    Overall, not my favorite episode, but still okay

    8 out of 10

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  • this was a good ep

    8.5
    "Great"
    By cube2k8, May 15, 2010 Report Abuse
    in this ep of the simpsons it was lisa ep that was really well made. anyway this ep is about lisa who goes to washington because she won aessy contest and has made it into the final round. the family comes along also homer is fasinated with the mint and is caought drooling over the money and bart flyes in the spirt of saint louis and this was a good ep with some funny parts and lisa at the end of the day she gets congres to pass a bill to save the her beloved forest. thi was a good epmoreless

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  • good

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By futuramarama, Apr 06, 2010 Report Abuse
    lisa wins an essay and the family goes to Washington D.C. but whilst there, lisa discovers how corrupt some politicians are acting, and so she decides to write an essay on that. she does and she tries to fix the problem, which it seems, works.

    i am not too keen on politics but i overall liked this episode. it has some nice laughs, a good satire on politicians, and it has good characterizations. my overall grade is a B+ or so, because whilst I did in fact like it, I thought some minor parts of it were boring. Still good!moreless

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  • Lisa and family goes to Washington D.C.

    9.1
    "Superb"
    By titiembe, Mar 17, 2008 Report Abuse
    I really enjoyed watching this episode after a while. The first part of this episode was Homer being a book worm, but he quickly loses that trait when Lisa wins a trip to Washington D.C. after writing a patriotic essay. Before the final around though, Lisa witnesses a congress man accepting a bribe to cut down a forest. Lisa changes her essay into something darker, and doesn't recieve a lot of applause for it. Then the asian boy wins, but Lisa still "wins" in the end because the congress man is kicked out of office. So overall this was a good episode with character development on Lisa's part.moreless

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  • Good episode centered around corrupt politicians

    8.7
    "Great"
    By Iverson82094, Jan 29, 2008 Report Abuse
    Lisa writes an essay for a Readers Digest competition and the family gets an all-expense-paid trip to Washington D.C. The morning of the contest, Lisa wanders off to a little known memorial, where she witnesses a Congressman taking a bribe from a lobbyist. Her faith in democracy now destroyed, she tears up the essay she prepared for the final. She writes a new essay exposing the Congressman and condemns the politicians in Washington. He is immediately arrested in a sting operation. Lisa loses the contest, but her faith in the democratic system is restored. Good political episode; one of the best one's centered around politics.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA
    • Senator Arnold tells Lisa that there are quite a few women senators. Lisa tells him that they are two. This was true at the time this episode was first aired, there were two women in the senate: Barbara Mikulski of Maryland and Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas. Edit
    • Outside The White House, people are marching while holding picket signs that read: "No opinion," "Things are fine," and "No complaints here." Edit
    • The Springfield regional finals for the "Patriots of Tomorrow" essay contest are held at the Veterans of Popular Wars hall. Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • This was the first Simpsons episode to be broadcast in Dolby Surround Sound Stereo. Edit
    • Blackboard Joke: Spitwads are not free speech. Couch Gag: Everyone sits on the couch, Santa's Little Helper can be heard whimpering; Homer reaches underneath his bottom and pulls the dog out from under him. Edit
    • We learn that Springfield is in the SE corner of a land-locked state that looks like Utah - but Springfield also has a coastline. When panning over the map of the United States, you actually see what state Springfield is in. The initials "NT" appear above the city name, which is why if you asked most of the crew where Springfield is, according to the Season 3 DVD commentary, they will tell you it is in North Takhoma. In the end, this is all boiled down to nonsense due to one six digit number: 192005. The ZIP code on all of Homer's mail. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Singer: The deficit rag, oh yes the deficit rag! Those budget gaps can be a 12-digit drag! I'm telling you, that's the deficit, they really made a mess of it, that's the deficit ra-a-ag! Edit
    • Singer: The trading gap shuffle, we're in a heap of trouble, doing the trading gap shuffle! Bart: He already sang this song! Marge: No, that was about the budget gap. This is the trading gap. Edit
    • Losing Contestant's Father: "We the purple"? What the hell was that? Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Mark Russell The singer of "The Deficit Rag" is a reference to political satirist Mark Russell. The song is a parody of Russell's "The Vatican Rag". Edit
    • Hamlet A banner reads "Brevity is... wit". This is a reference to the line "Brevity is the soul of wit" said by Polonius in William Shakespeare's Hamlet (Act 2, Scene 2). Edit
    • Presidential Seal When Lisa sees a bald eagle in the forest, it's holding an olive branch in its right talon. A moment later, it spreads its wings and an arrow appears in his left talon. This refers to the United States Presidential Seal, which symbolizes a desire for peace, but the capacity for war. Edit

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