Episode 8F22
Written by Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky
Directed by Jim Reardon
Also starring: Maggie Roswell, Pamela Hayden, Russi Taylor
Special guest voices: Kimmy Robertson (as Samantha Stanky), Phil Hartman (as Troy McClure), Marcia Wallace (as Ms Krabappel)

Premise: What could come between Bart and Milhouse? Samantha Stanky could. She's the new girl at Springfield Elementary. Meanwhile, Homer's trying to lose weight using a subliminal tape to make him eat less. But it's the wrong tape - and instead, his vocabulary starts to improve dramatically.

Features: Milhouse, Principal Skinner, Ms Krabappel, Troy McClure, Otto, Kent Brockman, Dr Marvin Monroe, Martin.

Couch: The Simpsons rush in - and the sofa topples backwards.

Trivia:

• Samantha is keen on the Doomed Romance series of comics, including the adventures of Bonnie Crane: Girl Attorney.

Homage: The opening sequence, as Homer steals Bart's money, is a direct lift from Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981) - and the closing sequence is a direct lift from Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942). We see a singing nun singing Dominique, the Singing Nun's hit from 1965. Lisa's reading a magazine with the headline The Year 2525 - were Zager & Evang Right? Zager and Evans were behind the song In the Year 2525.

Hi, I'm Troy McClure, you may remember me from: such educational films as Lead Paint, Delicious But Deadly and Here Comes the Metric System.

Notes: One for everybody's top 10, and a fitting end to a season that had seen The Simpsons consolidate its success and become even more daring and intelligent.