Bart vs. Thanksgiving

"Bart vs. Thanksgiving" is the seventh episode of Season 2.
== Synopsis ==
Bart destroys Lisa's Thanksgiving centerpiece and runs away from home when he gets punished for refusing to apologize to her.
== Full story ==
On Thanksgiving Day, Lisa is making a centerpiece for Thanksgiving which honors women such as Georgia O'Keeffe, Susan B. Anthony, and Marjory Stoneman Douglas (the latter worked her entire life to preserve the Florida Everglades). Meanwhile, Bart is in the kitchen with Marge while cooking Thanksgiving dinner, while Homer watches the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and a football game on TV.
While Grandpa, Patty, Selma, and Jacqueline arrive and assemble at the table, Lisa brings in her carefully-crafted centerpiece and proudly presents it. Bart brings in the turkey, and he complains that the centerpiece is "taking up real value estate" for the turkey (meaning that the centerpiece was taking up space). Bart and Lisa descend into chaos, in the chaos, Bart throws it into the fireplace and quickly burned to a cinder. The siblings are then separated by Marge and Homer. Lisa runs upstairs to her room in tears and an angry Homer and Marge send Bart to his room without Thanksgiving dinner and strictly tell him that he ruined Thanksgiving!
=== Lisa's Lament ===
Some time later, Marge goes upstairs to talk to the children. She first tries to console Lisa, who is still upset and now playing her saxophone mournfully. After assuring her daughter that she is free to come down whenever she's ready, Marge leaves Lisa to lament the loss of her centrepiece. Once she has finally finished crying, Lisa doesn't come down to dinner. 
Still full of anger and thinking that Bart is still next door, refusing to apologise, Lisa writes a poem called Howl of the Unappreciated. Within its passages, she expresses how badly Bart has hurt her, whilst comparing her brother to a demon/monster. Once she is finished, she asks to read it to the rest of her family. Like the rest of them, Lisa doesn't realise what has transpired until it is too late.
=== Bart's Misadventures ===
Having finished with Lisa, Marge goes next door to speak to Bart. Knocking on the bedroom door, Marge tells Bart sternly that he can only come down to dinner again, when he is ready to publicly apologise to his sister. For Bart, who is stubbornly insisting that he did nothing wrong, this is the last straw. Furious, he shouts back that he was only clearing the table and that Lisa is to blame for the whole thing. Furious, Bart states that he won't let his family treat him like this, before climbing out of the window and into the garden. 
A moment later, Homer, unaware that Bart is outside, also evicts Santa's Little Helper for stealing one of the turkey legs. With his loyal companion at his side, Bart runs away from home in search of a meal. After walking aimlessly for some time, Bart finds himself outside Mr. Burns' mansion. Spotting a freshly baked pie cooling on the window sill, he tries to swipe it but instead ends up triggering the mansions alarm systems. When security notifies him about the intruder, Mr Burns, who is eating an overly extravegant meal by his lonesome, orders Smithers to release his vicious attack hounds. Bart manages to force his way back through the hedge just in time. 
Deciding its best not to stick around, the now really hungry Bart and Santa's Little Helper wander over to the seedy side of town (known as "The Wrong Side of the Tracks"). After seeing a sign at blood bank for $12 and a free cookie, Bart donates some of his plasma using Homer's ID. Naturally of course, the loss of so much blood causes Bart to pass out. He is found afterwards by two homeless men, who take him down to the soup kitchen, where Thanksgiving dinner is served to homeless people. There he witnesses local anchorman Kent Brockman giving what the others describe as a pretentious report. 
After enjoying a pretty decent meal, one of the men asks Bart if he's got a home to go too. Bart sheepishly admits he does and, upon seeing how lucky he is compare to the other people, begins to doubt his actions. Feeling remorseful, he gives the money from his blood donation to the two men and then runs back home. 
=== The Families Despair ===
Back at the Simpson residence, the adults try their best to enjoy Thanksgiving without the children. Whilst Jacqueline expresses her regret at coming, as the minutes tick by Selma begins to wonder why Bart hasn't come down to apologize yet. Patty thinks that he is just being stubborn which, as Abe points out, is in complete contrast to his father. 
After finishing their meal, the family sits down to watch television. They turn on the news but like the people at the shelter, consider Brockman's report to be nothing more than a self-serving piece of garbage. Thus, when Marge says that Lisa would like to recite her poem, they agree to hear it, thinking that it will be more interesting than the news. However, Lisa has barely read the first sentence, when everybody's attention is drawn back to the television. As part of his report, Brockman interviews some of the people at the shelter ... and the first person he speaks to is Bart! 
As the family gathers around the screen in horror, Brockman asks the young boy if there is anything he would like to say to his family. Looking straight into the camera, Bart laughs mockingly (in a style similar to Nelson Muntz), declaring that he is still not sorry and managed to get dinner without them. This declaration leaves Marge distraught, as she realises to her horror that it was her words that made him run away. Horrified, the family rushes over to the phone, where Homer frantically calls the police. In the ensuing chaos, Lisa and her poem are completely forgotten about. 
Lou and Eddie eventually come by to take a report, revealing that by the time they got to the shelter, Bart was long gone. When they ask if there is any reason Bart may have run away, Marge and Homer sheepishly admit that it was because they yelled at him. Having proven to be of no help at all, Grandpa and the Bouvier's eventually leave, their attempts at reassurance offering little comfort. In the aftermath, Homer and Marge cannot help but worry. Marge tries to reassure both herself and her husband that they were right to discipline Bart, but all Homer can think about is what may happen. The couple embrace each other, worrying about whether or not they will ever see their only son again. 
=== Reconciliation ===
Unbeknownst to his family, Bart does indeed return home. However, once he arrives home, Bart considers what his folks might say to him. He imagines himself being greeted warmly and offering an apology, only to be scornfully mocked and laughed at in his face as he grovels an apology, then blamed for everything (Homer being bald, Grampa being old, Maggie not talking, and Uncle Sam blaming Bart for making America lose its spirit). Bart assumes that he shouldn't have came back and goes on top of the roof.
Meanwhile, Homer and Marge are interviewed by the police after the rest of their somewhat unsympathetic family leave. Lisa is in her room, writing in her diary and conceding defeat. She begins to cry because of Bart's absence, after which Bart calls her outside. There, the two discuss what happened, and Bart still refuses to apologize in the belief that he has done nothing wrong. Lisa tells him to look deeper. Bart comes to realize that he hurt her feelings by destroying something that she considered dear. Bart finally apologizes and Lisa happily accepts and kisses his face and Homer watches them from the window, telling Marge they are great parents. Then Homer leads the family except Grandpa, Patty, Selma and Jacqueline in prayer blessing the meal for Bart's reunion, as they enjoy a late night Thanksgiving feast of turkey sandwiches and displaying the thankful spirit that was absent from the earlier debacle.
== Transcript ==
* Bart vs. Thanksgiving/Transcript
==Broadcast History==
===United States===
Broadcast date(s)	Channel aired
*November 22, 1990
*May 23, 1991
*November 28, 1991
*November 25, 1993	
*December 20, 2020	
==Production==
The episode was written by George Meyer and directed by David Silverman. It was the first script Meyer wrote on the show, and he thought he made "quite a few mistakes, but it turned out really well overall." The staff decided to do a Thanksgiving episode after they realized an episode would air on Thursday, November 22, 1990 (Thanksgiving Day). The Simpsons had previously aired at 8:00 p.m. EST on Sunday night but Fox switched its timeslot to the same time on Thursdays at the beginning of the second season. The idea of Bart going up on the roof was suggested by Meyer who used to go up on the roof himself when he had fights with his family.
Voice actor Greg Berg guest starred as Rory, one of the homeless people at the soup kitchen. Marge's mother, Jackie Bouvier, voiced by Julie Kavner, makes her first physical appearance on The Simpsons in the episode, though she was first referenced in a flashback in the season one episode "Moaning Lisa". Bill and Marty, voiced by Dan Castellaneta and Harry Shearer respectively, also make their first visual appearances, although they were heard on the radio in previous episodes, including "Bart Gets an 'F'". They are two radio show hosts and DJs on Springfield's own radio station KBBL. Homer listens to their radio show when he drives to pick up Grampa at the retirement home for the Thanksgiving dinner.
In Bart's fantasy, Maggie says "It's your fault I can't talk." Carol Kane voiced this line, although she was uncredited.
=== Reception ===
In its original broadcast, "Bart vs. Thanksgiving" finished thirty-seventh in the ratings for the week of November 19–25, 1990, with a Nielsen rating of 11.9, equivalent to approximately eleven million viewing households. It was the third highest-rated show on Fox that week, following Married... with Children and In Living Color.
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, wrote: "Marge's mother Jackie is particularly nightmarish in her first real appearance. The final sequence on the rooftop with Lisa and Bart is lovely, and Homer's comment to Marge is a magical wrap-up to a good episode." DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson said the episode "maintained a nicely irreverent tone most of the time – irreverent enough to make it amusing, at least," and added: "The interaction of the Simpson and Bouvier families at dinner was terrific, and Bart's experiences on skid row made their point while they still managed to be pointed and clever. 'Bart vs. Thanksgiving' was another winner."
Bryce Wilson of Cinema Blend said "Bart vs. Thanksgiving" and "Lisa's Substitute", another season two episode, were the first episodes that "asked [the audience] to truly care about the characters, and they work beautifully". Both Dawn Taylor of The DVD Journal and Jacobson thought the most memorable line of the episode was Jackie's line to Marge: "I have laryngitis and it hurts to talk, so I'll just say one thing – you never do anything right."
==Video==
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de:Bart bleibt hart
fr:La Fugue de Bart
it:Bart sfida la festa del Ringraziamento
pl:Bart vs. Thanksgiving
pt:Bart contra a Ação de Graças
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