LISA'S SUBSTITUTE
SEASON 2  |  (O)(O)(O)(O)(O)
Lisa falls hard for a substitute teacher who actually sees her. The substitute is Dustin Hoffman, credited under another name, and he's wonderful. The show's first great proof that it could break your heart and then have Homer mend it, clumsily, at bedtime.

HOMER AT THE BAT
SEASON 3  |  (O)(O)(O)(O)
Mr. Burns stacks the plant's softball team with real major leaguers, and one by one they're knocked out of the lineup in ridiculous ways. The sideburns subplot alone is worth the price of admission. A notch below perfect only because it's more parade than story.

LAST EXIT TO SPRINGFIELD
SEASON 4  |  (O)(O)(O)(O)(O)
Lisa needs braces, the union's dental plan is on the chopping block, and Homer stumbles into being union president. There isn't a wasted second. If someone has never seen the show and you can only show them one, this is the one. I've tested it on three people. Three converts.

MARGE VS. THE MONORAIL
SEASON 4  |  (O)(O)(O)(O)(O)
A smooth-talking salesman sells the town a monorail it doesn't need. Written by Conan O'Brien before he got his own late-night show, with Leonard Nimoy as himself and Phil Hartman at his best. It has a musical number. It earns it.

ROSEBUD
SEASON 5  |  (O)(O)(O)(O)
Mr. Burns wants his childhood teddy bear back, and Maggie has it. A Citizen Kane joke stretched into a whole half hour, and somehow Burns ends up sympathetic for a minute. The Ramones play his birthday party. They are not appreciated.

CAPE FEARE
SEASON 5  |  (O)(O)(O)(O)(
Sideshow Bob gets out of prison and the family goes into hiding on a houseboat. Contains the single best physical gag in the show's history, involving a yard full of rakes, which goes on far too long, and then longer, and then becomes perfect. Kelsey Grammer is a treasure.

HOMER'S ENEMY
SEASON 8  |  (O)(O)(O)(
A new man at the plant, who has worked hard for everything he has, cannot stand Homer. The bravest episode they've made and the hardest to sit through, because the new guy is right. I admire it more than I enjoy it, which is why it's the lowest grade on the page, and why it's on the page at all.