Bull-E

Plot

Bart is reluctant to attend his first school dance, but after accidentally wrecking the orange drink machine brought by Nelson's mom's fiancé, a fifth-grade girl is impressed and asks him to dance. Bart wins the "Best Dancer" trophy, and his date asks him to meet her outside, where bullies break his trophy and mock him, causing his date to abandon him. Humiliated, Bart tells Marge, who goes to a City Council meeting and argues for making bullies fear their victims; a bill granting police broad powers to crack down on bullying passes unanimously.

Chief Wiggum initially arrests bullies like Jimbo, Kearney, and Dolph for stealing sleds, but the law's vague definition soon lets him arrest anyone he wants. Homer, who has abused the law on those who inconvenience him, is arrested when Rod and Todd Flanders, fed up with his treatment of Ned, have him sentenced to 90 days of treatment. In the center, Homer realizes he is cruel to Ned because his neighbor surpasses him in every way. Homer begs forgiveness, which Ned repeatedly refuses, but after Homer kneels on Ned's lawn for a long time, Ned reluctantly forgives him, and the families share brunch.

In a subplot, Otto attends the school dance and drinks fruit punch containing acid, causing him to hallucinate the School Train. During his trip, he meets Miss Frizzle, who uses her Magic School Bus to examine his brain; enraged, Otto removes the shrunken bus from his ear and squishes its occupants. He wakes as jury foreman in a courtroom.

Reception

The episode received a 1.2 rating and was watched by 2.77 million people, making it the most watched show on Fox that night. Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club gave it a B, noting that while the Homer-Flanders dynamic has limits, the episode's attempt at an emotionally satisfying rapprochement falls just short. Tony Sokol of Den of Geek awarded 4 out of 5 stars, praising the social commentary and Moe's seven seconds of cursing. Stacy Glanzman of TV Fanatic gave 4.5 out of 5 stars, liking Homer's modulated voice but disliking the repeated Bart-girl interest and Otto's hallucination.

Did You Know?

• Johnny Mathis recorded lines for the episode after observing Dan Castellaneta perform; he played a gardener singing a modified version of his song "Chances Are."
• The episode's subplot includes a parody of Soul Train called the School Train.