Lisa's Belly

"Lisa's Belly" is the fifth episode of the thirty-third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 711th episode overall. It aired in the United States on Fox on October 24, 2021.^[1] The episode was directed by Timothy Bailey and written by Juliet Kaufman.

Plot[]

At an abandoned water park, Bart and Lisa contract a bizarre infection, requiring treatment from steroids that cause temporary weight gain. Before they go back to school, Marge calls Lisa "chunky" with affection, which causes her to be insecure about her weight. Marge takes Lisa to the mall, shopping for back-to-school clothes to make her feel better. She later says "flattering", making the word "chunky" grow bigger in Lisa's mind. Lisa gets cranky in front of the customers and workers, so Marge takes her home.

Homer asks Lisa what is wrong. He lets Patty and Selma take her to the park where they describe how they no longer care what people think of them. Later, Marge apologizes to Lisa about what she said to her, but says words like "Normal" and "Perfect" to Lisa, making "Chunky" grow bigger and causing her more frustration. In the piano store, Luann tells Marge about a hypnotherapist named Dr. Wendy Sage, who had a mastectomy and chose not to have breast reconstruction surgery.

Lisa and Marge visit Sage, who uses hypnotherapy on them, transferring them to Lisa's mind. They see the "Chunky" word which takes up the entire space of her mind. They then travel to Marge's mind, where they discover that Marge's mother had said a hurtful word to her as a child: "plain". The word has been in her head for years. Realizing each other's insecurities, Marge and Lisa profess their love to each other, thus making "chunky" and "plain" shrink.

Meanwhile, when Bart's sleeve rips while playing basketball, Jimbo, Dolph, Kearney, and Nelson take him to an underground basement in school where they teach him to get into shape and become a man. When Bart sees the guys hanging around with their girlfriends, he feels betrayed, runs away from the basement and plays basketball with the other children.

During the credits, it is shown that there are words in everyone else's heads. Homer is not affected by the words in his head as he is asleep on his hammock.

Reception[]

Viewing figures[]

The viewing figures for this episode is 1.83 million.^[2]

Critical response[]

Tony Sokol of Den of Geek gave the episode 4 out of 5 stars, stating "'Lisa's Belly' works because her healing and acceptance comes from the most unlikely of places. Homer, Patty and Selma are what they are and don't care how other people see them. This is valuable and the message is much more effective coming from them. This is a very sweet, and mature episode. It is just such a shame what happens to the Powerpuff Girls."^[3]

Mark Gibson of Bubbleblabber gave the episode a 8 out of 10, stating "Overall, 'Lisa's Belly' continues the show's strength in delivering humorous yet relatable stories that deal with current issues. This is another episode that provided a healthy balance between comedy and drama in terms of representing real-life problems and mental health. No amount of harmful words can stop this season from chugging along smoothly."^[4]

References[]

External links[]

• "Lisa's Belly" at IMDb