Hello and welcome to Laughing Place’s regular recap of new episodes of The Simpsons on the FOX Network. This week’s installment, entitled “Three Dreams Denied,” was the 7th episode of the long-running animated sitcom’s 32nd season.
Chalkboard gag: None.
Couch gag: Dinner is set for the Simpson family on the run in front of the couch. The couch remarks, “You said you’d be home at seven.”
The episode begins with Agnes Skinner (voiced by Tress MacNeille) bringing a wagon full of her son Seymour’s (Harry Shearer) belongings into the Android’s Dungeon to sell to Comic Book Guy (Hank Azaria). He finds a rare Radioactive Man action figure and sells it online so he can finally afford a trip to a comic book convention called Comicalooza he’s always wanted to attend, though he can’t also pay for his wife to go. At Springfield Elementary School, Lisa (Yeardley Smith) spots a new student named Blake (guest star Ben Platt of the Pitch Perfect movies) who plays saxophone: “I wouldn’t kick him out of the library for ignoring my shush.” In music class, she tries not to stare openly into his blue eyes. Mr. Largo (also Shearer) announces a chair challenge between the two students, and they have some witty banter between them. “Less meet-cute, more toot-toot!” chastises Largo.
Back at the comic shop, Bart finds Comic Book Guy’s temporary replacement Phil, who also happens to be a voice-over artist for cartoons. Bart reveals he can do voices as well, and does a dead-on Nelson Muntz (both characters are voiced by Nancy Cartwright). At the Simpson home, Marge (Julie Kavner) is worried that Lisa is trying too hard and Bart isn’t trying hard enough. Homer calls Bart on his cell phone to see if he’s coming home in time for dinner, but is satisfied when Bart tells him he’s hanging out with a stranger. Flying in an airplane, Comic Book Guy prepares to land in San Diego and reviews his questions to ask at the comic convention panels. His seat neighbor tells him about a guy who asked a question so good he got to write for Marvel on the spot. Comic Book Guy fantasizes about his chances, and then meets another passenger dressed as Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy.
Arriving in the exhibit hall at Comicalooza, Comic Book Guys remarks in wonder, “Every man a Batman, every woman a Harley Quinn.” He meets Ant-Man star Paul Rudd on an escalator, bothers him with questions about time travel and gets a tantalizing peek inside the VIP room. At the bus stop outside, Comic Book Guy composes what he believes to be the perfect panel question and is complimented by a bald man in a wheelchair he mistakenly believes to be dressed as Professor X. At school, Lisa and Blake continue to bond, though Milhouse (Pamela Hayden) is upset at his competition for Lisa’s admiration. After walking around the corner, Blake removes his “adorable blue” contact lenses to reveal evil red eyes.
In Hall H at Comicalooza, a moderator introduces a panel of creators. “My god, I’ve been blocked on Twitter by all of them,” marvels Comic Book Guy. He lines up to ask a question and is annoyed by those in front of him. He gets to the microphone and can’t find the index card on which he wrote his question. The guy in front of him gets offered a job at Marvel, and then a DC representative offers Comic Book Guy a job as consolation, which he immediately turns down. At the saxophone tryouts, Lisa discovers that Blake is deceiving her in order to succeed at claiming first chair, so she swears revenge. Phil successfully auditions for a voice-over role with Bart waiting in the booth, and Bart makes the casting director laugh so she hires him as well. At home, Bart tells his family the good news: “I made more in a minute than you do in a month, fatso,” he brags to Homer. Later, Bart’s family and friends gather around to watch Cookie Castle, the show in which Bart has a voice role. It turns out he’s playing a princess, and the bullies mock him. “Bart plays a girl, Bart plays a girl!” “And his accent’s inconsistent!”
Lisa comforts Bart by saying she’s “proud he isn’t bound by gender stereotypes of hetero-normative thinking.” “Ugh, I hate the way your generation talks,” Bart responds. Lisa manages to convince him he should go back to school with his head held high because of his achievement, which he does and is almost immediately pummelled by the bullies. Comic Book Guy returns to the Android’s Dungeon downtrodden, but regains his confidence by insulting Ralph Wiggum (Cartwright again). Milhouse calls Bart and tells him to turn on Cookie Castle, and he and the bullies are impressed that Bart’s character has become a murderous queen in the model of Game of Thrones’ Daenerys Targaryen. At the mall, Lisa plays saxophone for the fun of it, and soon draws a crowd. Customers begin dancing in the aisles and Lisa is awarded with a free pretzel. In the future, Lisa has mounted the pretzel as the first award she ever won, though she regrets her father having eaten the original pretzel. A cyborg Homer wheels over and asks Lisa to put the new pretzel on his automated tray, and she denies him.
In the coda, Lisa says she’s addicted to playing saxophone for free, “which is the least dangerous addiction a musician can have.” Homer and Marge watch her perform in a nightclub and Marge complains, “I want to like it. I just don’t.” We then see further outtakes of Comic Book Guy attempting to come up with the perfect comic convention panel question: “If you could go back in time to unmake any of the Incredible Hulk movies, which one would it be?”
The Simpsons airs Sunday evenings on the FOX Network.
Next week: “The Road to Cincinnati”