The Girl on the Bus

The Girl on the Bus is the twelfth episode of Season 30.
==Synopsis==
When Lisa spots a new best friend from the window of the bus, she gets a taste of what life could be like with a different, more cultured family, and proceeds to try and live a double life.
==Full Story==
Kent Brockman does a news report on the history of Springfield, which includes the city introducing a fleet of school buses. Flash forward to the present, where Otto Mann is driving one of the school buses, which is now in a crappy, unkempt condition, complete with a league of poorly behaved, rabblerousing rascals of children, and Lisa, the only sane one of the group. While Lisa sits there and sulks, she sings a musical number, wishing for a friend like her to ride the bus with. She looks out the window and sees a nice little girl, sitting on the front porch, playing the clarinet.
At home, the Simpson family watches TV while eating dinner, catching the new episode of an unintelligent, network-pandering wrestling show called Beast Blaster. Naturally, Lisa shows no interest in such drivel, unlike her family. While the show is on, Lisa talks about the girl she saw out the window and expresses her interest in meeting her and learning about her ways in life, but her family does not seem to care.
The next day on the bus, Lisa sulks once again, while the bus is as chaotic and horrifying as usual, and she sees that same girl in the window again. Here, Lisa finally snaps and tells Otto to let her off. Lisa gets dropped off and comes across The Promenade on the Grove at Springfield Heights, where the girl lives. She goes to her house, where she sees her crying in her room.
Lisa walks right into her house without even asking permission, and is immediately blown away by all the cultural artifacts in her home. Lisa goes into the girl's room to comfort her. The girl, who is then introduced as Sam Munroe, says that she was crying over the expansion of the mass of garbage in the Pacific Ocean. Lisa and Sam bond over playing a harmonious tune on the saxophone and the clarinet. Lisa worries their friendship will have a bad ending, but her fears are put to rest when Sam says she has the same strife.
Lisa meets Sam's parents, who both play a beautiful song and she has a wonderful time, but Lisa has to leave, to have dinner with her own annoying, uncultured family. At home, Bart infuriates Homer with his foul language and pranks, while Homer screams like a maniac, and Marge watches another crummy TV program called Rollercoaster Romance and tunes her out completely. Lisa complains about the fact that she has to put up with this kind of madness every night, but Marge insists that she has to eat dinner with the family.
Later, Lisa eats dinner with the Munroe family, and Sam says that her family is going to be moving away soon, much to Lisa's disappointment. Although they have never met, Sam's parents presume that Lisa's family is just as intelligent and worldly as she is. Lisa knows that this is not the case, but because the Munroe family will be leaving so soon, they will never actually meet her family, so she lies about them, building them up to be a very beautiful cast of colorful characters. She says that Homer is a sculptor, Marge is a chemist, and Maggie is a professor of non-linguistic communication. All of the positive things she says about her family are loosely based on facts about them. Because of this method, she has to lie, saying that she doesn't have a brother, as any mention of Bart would show what a terrible person he is, given that, in Lisa's eyes, he has no positive character traits or any qualities that could even be perceived as decent character traits, whatsoever.
When Sam's father goes to drop Lisa off at her house, Lisa fears that this means he will be meeting her family, so she thinks up another lie, and she thinks it up quick. She directs Sam's father to The Flanders House and as she goes to her "father", she quietly whispers to Ned to "go with it". Ned greets Sam's parents and claims to be Homer, and they buy into the act.
Lisa goes to the Munroe house to say her goodbyes to Sam and the family. However, when she does, Sam happily tells Lisa that her father's order to the government has been rescinded, and his money is coming back, so their family is not moving. The family is excited about meeting her family, so Lisa has to come up with another lie, saying that her own family is moving to Lithuania. The Munroe family suggests that Lisa live with them, and Lisa has to start leading a double life. The second she is put to bed at her normal home, she rides her bike all the way across town to live with the Munroe family during the night, and when she needs to wake up, she instantly goes right back home, just in the nick of time to be woken up for her normal life. To patch up for her spotty schedule with the Munroes, she says that she has multiple swimming lessons and Sam's father says that as a swimmer, her schedule is not to be questioned.
Lisa deprives herself of sleep to the fullest extent, making her sleep though her classes. One night, when Lisa leaves to see her other family, Marge catches her in the act saying "Hello Lisa" in a similar way to Sideshow Bob, and Lisa says "Ahhh! Sideshow Mom"!
Marge claims to have heard about this from Ned, who felt guilty about lying, but still couldn't break the act of being her father. Ned is then shown working at the plant, acting like Homer. Lisa admits to being embarrassed by her uncouth family, and gives her the full story of all the lies she told. Marge is very unhappy with this, as she does not think she is uncultured. She devotes all of her time to making Lisa's miserable life a little better and she deserves a little thanks for it. She punishes Lisa by making her invite the Munroes over to her house for dinner, so they can see the truth. Heartbroken, Lisa miserably tells her family that the Munroes will be coming over on Saturday.
On Saturday, Marge wants to prove to Lisa and the Munroes that her family is actually very nice the way they are, flaws and all. She tells Homer, who is drinking from the garden hose, which he has going from the yard, all the way up to his bedroom, that she wants him to neither lie about himself, nor be truthful about himself and rather, just make bland, generic statements, all of which she has written on a cue card. Homer has trouble pronouncing a few of the basic words, like "Agree" so Marge trains him on some of it.
At dinner, Sam's father pumps Homer for information on himself. Homer has run out of cue card quotes, and he's just been put on the spot to say something original. Things get very tense, as the family watches in anticipation, waiting for Homer to say something. Homer nervously asks "Uh, you like beer?", which actually goes over very nicely with the Munroes. Lisa tells the Munroes about how the Munroes really are, and the truth comes out. Marge admits that she wasn't honest either, as she trained the family to act a certain way at dinner. The Munroes actually accept everything about her true family; in addition, they admit that they weren't entirely truthful about their own family. Sam's father says that he's not from Nigeria; he's actually from Cameroon. This much breaking of the ice really makes the dinner completely awkward and quiet.
Bart breaks up the tension by inviting the party up to his room. Apparently, while everyone was focusing on Lisa, Bart took the time to remodel his entire room, and transform it into a nightclub, complete with a flat screen plasma HD TV, an inflatable kiddie pool (maxed out and upgraded to serve as a fully functioning hot tub), a watercooler chock full of sodas and beers, a water couch, a weight lifting arena, a basketball court, a hammock, and much, much more. The two families party there and spend the rest of the night happy. Lisa celebrates the previous events that transpires, as her first ever happy ending to anything, as even through all of these trials and tribulations, she gets to maintain her newly established friendship with Sam.
== Broadcast History ==
===United Kingdom===
Broadcast date(s)	Channel aired
*November, 15th, 2022	
==Citations==
fr:La fille dans le bus
pl:The Girl on the Bus
pt:A garota no ônibus
Category:Episodes featuring guest stars
Category:Episodes named after songs
Category:Episodes with alternate end credits
Category:Lisa episodes
Category:Musical-themed Episodes
Category:Written by Joel H. Cohen
Category:Directed by Chris Clements
Category:Lisa seeks understanding episodes
Category:Episodes with a title card