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“Lisa’s Pony” is episode eight of the The Simpsons’ third season, which aired on November 7, 1991.

The episode is, modeled after the novel The Yearling, a boy receives a deer, but his family has to work harder as the deer destroys the farm. When the father can’t work anymore, the boy must give up the deer. The mother also doesn’t like the idea of a deer in the house. The book is mirrored in almost all aspects.

Plot
Lisa requires a reed for her saxophone because there is a talent show that evening. After calling Marge, Flanders, Reverend Lovejoy, Patty and Selma and “the nice man who caught the snake in our basement”, she finally calls Homer at work. Homer agrees but goes into Moe’s before the music shop, which is right next door. The shop closes in 5 minutes. Homer, thinking he has enough time to drink the beer, enters Moe’s. He walks out with 15 seconds to spare but is too late as the shop is closed. Dejected, he goes back to Moe’s where the shop owner is enjoying a drink. Moe helps Homer convince the man to re-open his store. Homer, who barely remembers what he is supposed to pick up for Lisa, purchases the reed and heads for the school. Unfortunately he is still late. He arrives just in time to hear Lisa humiliate herself by butchering the song she chose to play.

To make Lisa love him again, Homer takes out a shifty loan from Burns. He purchases a pony for Lisa, despite objections from Marge. In order to pay for all the care it requires, Homer takes a second job working for Apu at the Kwik-E-Mart. Homer becomes more and more exhausted after trying to work both jobs. Finally, Marge admits to the kids that their father has been working two jobs to pay for the pony. Making a heart-wrenching decision, Lisa agrees to give up the pony, allowing Homer to go back to solely working his regular job. Lisa tells Homer that there’s a “big dumb animal” she loves even more than her horse, that being Homer himself.

Continuity
There is a scene recycled from Bart’s Dog Gets an F when we see Lisa laying on the couch with the mumps as she says on the phone to Homer “I want you to know I love you, Dad!”. Also, Homer is wearing the Assassins he bought in the episode but had destroyed. This was added in deliberately to see if any fans were alert. Some realised this joke, but most did not notice.

Apu can be seen dating Princess Kashmir (the belly dancer from Homer’s Night Out). Ralph Wiggum appears in his post season 1 look but speaks with his old voice, which is highly reminiscent of Nelson Muntz. Avid viewers may find this quite humorous as this deeper, more boyish voice is a stark contrast to the high pitched tone which became the characters’ standard voice after this point.

The series’ first clip show, “So It’s Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show,” plays the dream sequence from this episode, but the song “Golden Slumbers” is replaced with the same dream-like song used in syndication due to copyright laws (see below).

Cultural references
The episode starts off with a Dawn of Man sequence spoofing the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Part of the song playing when Homer falls asleep in his car is “Golden Slumbers” from The Beatles’ Abbey Road album, though much of the beginning is based on part of Bohuslav Martinu’s Sonata No. 3. In syndication, the song is replaced with a dream-like guitar piece due to copyright laws.

The scene in which Lisa first awakes with the Pony in her bed is an homage to the scene in Part 1 of The Godfather, in which a movie producer awakens to discover the head of his favourite horse removed and placed in his bed. The musical chords used in the episode are the same, but shortened. The woman at the horse stables is obviously modeled after Katharine Hepburn.

Mr. Burns asks Homer if he is acquainted with the state’s usury laws - state laws which limit the interest rate a lender can charge a borrower. From his reaction to Homer not knowing about them, or even knowing the meaning of the word “usury”, Mr. Burns is likely charging Homer an illegal amount of interest on his loan. Although Mr. Burns has an interesting way of loansharking. When Homer asks about collateral, Burns replies that “Homer’s spirit is collateral” then gives a diabolical laugh. This is likely a reference to the hellish nature of Mr. Burns and that he is trying to somehow claim Homer’s soul should he not repay. As he quits, Homer’s line “You can take this job and restaff it” resembles the hook lyric “You Can Take This Job and Shove It” from a song by David Allen Coe.

The boy before Lisa in the talent show sings the Chuck Berry song “My Ding-A-Ling” before being stopped by Principal Skinner, who angrily exclaims, “This act is over”