Product: The Best of The Simpsons, Vol. 9 - Three Men and a Comic Book/ Lisa's Substitute [VHS] (1989)
Rating: 5.0
Lisa's Sub: Heartbreaking, devastating, and hilarious
3 Men...Comic Book: Notable for the first big role of the hysterical Comic Book Guy (ten years later and we still don't know his name). Bart's last line is classic. Pretty funny overall. Lisa's Sub: The reason I bought this video. "The Simpsons" transcends just being a cartoon with this one. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better half-hour of drama anywhere on TV, even live-action. (Actually, especially live-action.) A fascinating character study of the most complex little person in prime time. She doesn't quite fit in with the family that she loves and is underappreciated and often ignored by the society she's growing up in. As she searches for some semblance of meaning and purpose, a compassionate, cultured teacher enters her life. Dustin Hoffman is impressive as her ideal lover/father figure. Not only is this the first (and probably best, running neck-and-neck to the future "Lisa's Wedding") in the long line of the troublesome Homer/Lisa relationship episodes, but watch closely in the first scene between Marge and Lisa. They reach some sort of understanding ("You have to understand that I feel that way about your father too!") that's subtly and realistically written. Bart's sub-plot is the standard (in other words, brilliant) satire from the early years. He is the outright funnier character, but Lisa's the star in this episode, and a very worthy one at that.