This was not only the best episode of the season (rivaling if not
surpassing "Itchy & Scratchy Land"), but it's one of the best
Simpsons period.  Loads of hysterical humor, of both traditional
Simpsons and surreal flavors, plus a real, warm-hearted story
focusing on the show's most well-rounded character.

The Springfield Renaissance Fair was hilarious in and of itself.
Bart's reaction to the excitement of the loom: "Meh." (rendered
incorrectly, and humorlessly, in closed-captioning as "Nah.")
Lunch Lady Doris in period costume, tending a pig on a spit, which
Homer mirrors, complete with apple in mouth.  "The Happy Leech!"
("Bleed while you wait.")  Lisa's tarot reading--if the Death
card can actually be good, then the Happy Squirrel card is really
bad news!

But the best bits had to do with the Springfield--and Simpsons--
of A.D. 2010.  This was an amazing bit of wish fulfillment: just
a couple of weeks ago, I, unknowing, posted a message here expressing
the wish that we see a glimpse of the future Simpsons, and here it
is!  It was most appealing seeing Lisa as a liberal college student.
I liked the co-ed dorm ("Dr. and Mrs. Dre Hall"! Ha!) where it was
apparent that some things never change--satellite dish on the roof,
but books still sit on a makeshift shelf.  

I don't want to go through a laundry list of every funny detail,
but a few especially tickling highlights were:
     * Big Ben's clock being converted to digital--and blinking 12:00
     * Carl and Lenny being promoted to upper management while robots
       do most of the grunt work (except for Homer's position)
     * The "flashback" to a bewhiskered, pimply Milhouse taking Lisa out
     * Every single appearance of Maggie, now a morose, rebellious
       teenager (just as I predicted!)
     * Dilapidated Springfield Elementary, with an aged Troy McClure
       teaching arithmetic live via satellite--sponsered by Pepsi
     * Martin Prince as the Phantom of the School, playing "A Fifth
       of Beethoven" on the organ (and sounding more like Rex than himself)
     * Kent Brockman's List of Arrested Celebrities (including Sideshow
       Ralph Wiggum and "Madonnabots, Series K")
     * Bart and another guy having a virtual brawl in Moe's--and being
       reprimanded electronically by Moe
     * The river near the nuclear power plant, featuring not only a
       Blinky-type SIX-eyed fish, but also a cow-fish and a Professor
       Brink fish! (complete with trademark circular specs and "Nnghey!")
     * The various familiar wedding guests, including a wheelchair-bound
       Krusty, spinsters Patty and Selma, Nelson Muntz Sr. and Jr., and,
       if one looks carefully, a balding, grey-haired Apu.

Most of all, though, this was a terrific, poignant story addressing
one of the show's lingering paradoxes: what makes Lisa a Simpson.
Offered the man of her dreams, a life of riches both material and
intellectual, she still loves her family, particularly Homer, and will
stand by them no matter what.

--
Scott Hollifield * sco...@cris.com * http://www.cris.com/~scotth/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"I've always liked elevators.  A magic room.  Doors open and you're
always somewhere else.  Just not fast enough." -- Madman