"Bart Gets a 'Z'"
The Simpsons episode
The new teacher of Ms. Krabappel's class, Zachary Vaughn.
Episode no.	443
Prod. code	LABF15
Orig. airdate	October 4, 2009[1]
Show runner(s)	Al Jean
Written by	Matt Selman
Directed by	Mark Kirkland
Chalkboard	Chalkboarding is not torture.
Couch gag	The Simpsons, wearing cowboy hats, exchange gunfire around the couch.
Season 21 September 27, 2009 – "Homer the Whopper" "Bart Gets a 'Z'" "The Great Wife Hope" "Treehouse of Horror XX" "The Devil Wears Nada" "Pranks and Greens" "Rednecks and Broomsticks" "O Brother, Where Bart Thou?" "Once Upon a Time in Springfield" "Million Dollar Maybe?" Unscheduled episodes "Thursdays with Abie" "Postcards From the Wedge" "The Greatest Story Ever D'ohed" "Moe Letter Blues" "To Surveil With Love" "The Bob Next Door" List of all The Simpsons episodes
Seasons 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 21

"Bart Gets a 'Z'" is the second episode of The Simpsons' twenty-first season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 4, 2009. In the episode, The students of Springfield Elementary School decide to spike Ms. Krabappel's coffee in order to teach her a lesson after she takes away their cell phones. She is fired by Principal Skinner, who hires a new teacher named Zachary Vaughn. Although Vaughn is a hip young teacher who impresses the students, Bart is plagued by guilt and tries to get Ms. Krabappel hired back.^[1]

In its original airing, the episode had an estimated 9.32 million viewers and received a Nielsen rating of 5.125.^[2] The episode was written by Matt Selman, and directed by Mark Kirkland.

[edit] Plot

Mrs. Krabappel's positive attitude is crushed when she sees her students distracted from class by their cell phones, so she takes the devices away. This angers Bart and the other children, and they decide Mrs. Krabappel needs to "chill out". Bart notices that Homer is goofy and easy-going once he's had a few beers, so the students decide to spike Mrs. Krabappel's coffee with liquor they steal from their parents. Once she has consumed a mug of heavily-spiked coffee (with sly encouragement from the kids), Mrs. Krabappel is quickly intoxicated. After a day of dangerous and drunken acts including singing a loud, off-key, incoherent version of "This Old Man" with her students, Principal Skinner is forced to fire her.

Principal Skinner replaces her with a hip graduate of Tufts University named Zachary Vaughn. The students are immediately impressed with Zach, as he returns their cell phones and instructs them to use their electronic devices for classwork. Bart raves to his mother about how much fun it is to have Zach as a teacher, but Marge worries about Mrs. Krabappel's well-being, and Lisa doubts Zach's ability to teach. Bart goes to visit Mrs. Krabappel and is stricken with guilt when he sees her moping in front of the television. Bart and Milhouse meet at a bookstore (where Moe is revealed to be a fan of Doris Kearns Goodwin) and decide to get Mrs. Krabappel rehired. They buy a self-help book entitled "The Answer", which professes to have all the answers to help someone achieve their dreams. Mrs. Krabappel is initially skeptical, but reveals her dream is to open a muffin shop. Some time in the future, she does open a muffin shop and becomes very successful, even though Bart handed Ned Flanders, the shop's first customer, a banana instead of his cranberry-bran muffin order. As Ned leaves, Bart inadvertently confesses that he spiked her coffee with alcohol and is responsible for getting her fired. Mrs. Krabappel is furious, tells him that her real dream was to be a teacher, and concludes that Bart is the only kid she has ever met who is "bad on the inside."

Bart is deeply troubled by Mrs. Krabappel's statement, and decides to get her job back by spiking Zach's "Blue Bronco" energy drink, but instead decides to tell Principal Skinner the truth. Principal Skinner is pleased that Bart was honest, but tells him he cannot just rehire Mrs. Krabappel when Zach is doing a good job in her place. Their conversation is suddenly disrupted by a belligerently drunk Zach — who ironically secretly mixes vodka in his own drink — who insults the schoolchildren and tells them they have no future. Groundskeeper Willie drags Zach away with the remark "Ah, it's the good ones who go crazy first," and Mrs. Krabappel is reinstated. Bart hopes that there will be no hard feelings between Mrs. Krabappel and himself. She responds by making every student in the class eat a very stale muffin, as part of her "muffin-based revenge," as the end credits style of text mimics that of The Secret.

[edit] Reception

In its original airing, the episode had an estimated 9.32 million viewers and received a Nielsen rating of 5.1/8, which was an improvement over the last episode.^[2]

Robert Canning of IGN.com stated the episode was "...neither hilarious nor incredibly terrible. It's middle of the road, but has just enough going for it that a fan will enjoy the episode."^[3]

[edit] References