Plot
Lisa is participating in a school talent show and needs a new reed for her saxophone. She calls her father, Homer, who agrees to buy one before heading to the show. However, he decides to visit Moe's Tavern first, and when he arrives at the music shop, it has closed down for the night. Dejected, Homer goes back to Moe's where the music shop owner is enjoying a drink. Moe helps him convince the man to re-open his store. Homer is happy that he remembered exactly which reed he needs to get; however, he then forgets which instrument Lisa plays. After going through many of the instruments in the store, Homer finally remembers that Lisa plays the saxophone and rushes to the school. However, he is too late, arriving in time to hear Lisa humiliate herself by butchering the song she chose to play.
Despite Marge's warnings that they cannot afford it, Homer decides to purchase a pony for Lisa to win back her love. To afford the pony, he applies for a loan through the Power Plant Credit Union. Mr. Burns personally reviews the loan, and approves it only after determining that Homer does not intend to eat the pony and has no knowledge of the "state's stringent usury laws." Homer buys the pony (named Princess) for Lisa, and, after waking up to find it lying next to her, she gallops into her parents' bedroom happily telling Homer she loves him. While Homer is happy that Lisa is no longer angry with him, Marge is upset that he made such an extravagant purchase.
In order to pay the rent for Princess's shelter, Homer takes a second job working for Apu at the Kwik-E-Mart. Homer becomes more and more exhausted after trying to work both jobs. Finally, Marge admits to the children that their father has been working two jobs to pay for the pony. Marge tells Lisa that she is not going to make her give up the pony, as it is something Lisa needs to decide for herself. After watching a meek, sleep-deprived Homer being bullied by his own son at the Kwik-E-Mart, Lisa agrees to give up the pony, and she shares a heart-breaking goodbye with Princess. Lisa tells Homer that there is a "big dumb animal" she loves even more than her horse, that being Homer himself.
Read more about this topic: Lisa's Pony
Famous quotes containing the word plot:
“The plot! The plot! What kind of plot could a poet possibly provide that is not surpassed by the thinking, feeling reader? Form alone is divine.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)
“The westward march has stopped, upon the final plains of the Pacific; and now the plot thickens ... with the change, the pause, the settlement, our people draw into closer groups, stand face to face, to know each other and be known.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
““The plot thickens,” he said, as I entered.”
—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930)