Season Six - Episodes 1-3

Episode 1: Bart of Darkness
This episode always messes with my head. Popular Lisa irritates the shit out of me and the new Bart on the other hand seems cool. The Rear Window parody was great stuff and the plot was intriquing enough. That said, it was obvious that Ned didn't really murder anyone. So Lisa was popular, but I don't think she was out-of-character, even if I like her much more when she doesn't care whether she's popular or not. There wasn't any real flaws in this, so I have to rate it high, 7/10 for this memorable episode.

Episode 2: Lisa's Rival
Excellent episode. There's lot of small stuff going on - Homer with his sugar, Milhouse on the run, Marge's fantasies, Lisa's imagination and a top-of-his-form Ralph. All of it is framed inside a well-built plot where everyone is in-character. Funny, emotionally-involving and clever. There's some stuff though that is only made to use time though, so it's not perfect, but it comes close enough to deserve a 8/10 rating. Who doesn't love Homer quoting the Scarface in his sleep?

Episode 3: Another Simpsons Clipshow
So, another clipshow, that seemed to try to trick us into thinking it's not a clipshow at the start, but basicly then admitted it pretty flatout. This is basicly just a condensed version of three of the love-stories that has been made over the years and one remainder scene from some others. Throw in Homer's "Mmmm.." compilation and you've pretty much got this episode. It wasn't very effectively cut (meaning parts of it were too long) and the new material were just a frame, not adding really anything. Only thing that prevents it from getting the lowest possible score is the Moe prank calls -compilation, which was nice to see. 2/10, clipshows are worthless and it doesn't help when the staff just doesn't care.