Separate Vocations
Encyclopedia
"Separate Vocations" is the eighteenth episode of The Simpsons
' third season
. It originally aired on Fox
in the United States on February 27, 1992. In the episode, the Springfield Elementary School makes the students take career aptitude tests. When Lisa
discovers that she is best suited to become a homemaker
, her dreams of becoming a professional musician are shattered and, as a result, she becomes a troublemaker in school. Meanwhile, Bart
discovers that he is best suited to become a policeman; this significantly improves his grades and behavior and he is chosen to be the school's new hall monitor
.
The episode was written by George Meyer
and directed by Jeffrey Lynch
. American actor and television personality Steve Allen
guest starred in the episode as the voice of Bart in a fantasy sequence. The episode features cultural references to films such as Bullitt
, The Wild One
, and Beverly Hills Cop
, and the television series The Streets of San Francisco
. Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a Nielsen Rating
of 14.8 and was the highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired. Nancy Cartwright
received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance
for her performance as Bart in the episode.
discovers that the occupation she is best suited for is homemaker, while Bart
's test show that he should be a policeman. Lisa is heartbroken over the result and is determined to prove the test wrong. She consults a music teacher for his opinion, but he tells her that, having inherited her father's stubby fingers, she can never be a professional saxophone player. Lisa is therefore required by the test to spend the day doing chores with her mother Marge
, while Bart goes on a ride-along
with the police.
Lisa hates her role as a homemaker and, realizing that her future dreams have been shattered, loses interest in being a good student. Bart enjoys spending time with the police, and he even ends up stopping Snake Jailbird during a car chase. When Principal Skinner
discovers Bart's new interest in law enforcement, he enlists him as a hall monitor. Bart starts handing out demerits to his classmates for minor infractions and has order restored to the school. When Lisa secretly steals all of the Teachers' Editions of the schoolbooks, revealing the teachers' incompetence, it is up to Bart to figure out who stole the books. Realizing his sister is the culprit, Bart takes the blame and returns to his life as a bad student and detention regular, while Lisa goes back to being a good student. As Bart spends his time in detention, Lisa plays her saxophone outside his classroom to comfort him.
The episode was written by George Meyer
and directed by Jeffrey Lynch
. Mike Reiss
, show runner
of The Simpsons with Al Jean
at the time, said Meyer wrote most of the episode by himself without help from the show's other writers. Few changes were made to the first draft that he pitched to the producers. It was near identical to the final script. The episode was inspired by the vocation
al tests taken by several members of the show's staff when they went to school; Reiss, for example, said he was told he would become a librarian. Jean said "one of the first things that sold us on doing the episode" was the idea of Bart becoming a policeman. He said it was "a funny, realistic depiction of what a kid like Bart might wind up to become, and it wasn't something you would immediately think of." Jean said the episode deals with the emotion that many adults feel when they grow older and realize that they are not going to achieve the dreams they once had. "[It's about] how people in life cope with that problem. Maybe Lisa, at eight years old, is a little bit young to worry about that, but that's what we were trying to explore here."
In one sequence where Bart imagines himself testifying in court, his voice has been censored and electronically altered. The altered voice was provided by American actor and television personalty Steve Allen
. The Simpsons creator Matt Groening
said the older writers were "thrilled" to have Allen appear on the show, John Swartzwelder
in particular. It took nine takes for Allen to pronounce Bart's catchphrase "¡Ay, caramba!
" correctly. There was a discussion amongst the staff of whether the episode should end with a joke or have a "sweet" ending. Reiss said "With the better angels in our nature, we went with the sweet ending [of Lisa playing saxophone for Bart]."
on it. When Principal Skinner is questioning Lisa about her newfound sense of irresponsibility, he asks "What are you rebelling against?" She responds "Whaddaya got?", like Marlon Brando
's character Johnny Strabler did in the film The Wild One
. She also has a toothpick in her mouth, like Johnny had in the film. The fifth graders that Lisa talks to in the school washroom are smoking Laramie
cigarettes.
The car chase scene with Snake is a reference to the car chase scene in the 1968 film Bullitt
. Music similar to the soundtrack of the television series The Streets of San Francisco
is heard in the scene. Alf Clausen
, a composer on The Simpsons who had previously worked on several police shows, wrote the music for the scene. In another reference to The Streets of San Francisco and other Quinn Martin
productions, a voice-over
and caption proclaims the name of act two of the episode, "Act II - Death Drives a Stick
", after the episode's first act break in the middle of the Snake car chase. In the sequence where Bart imagines himself testifying in court, his face is obscured with a blue dot; this is a references to the television coverage of the rape trial of William Kennedy Smith
, in which the woman who accused Smith of raping her was obscured with a blue dot over her face. The way the scene changes from Bart and Skinner talking in Skinner's office to them searching through the lockers is a reference to the same style of scene change used in the 1960s Batman
television series, in which a close-up of Batman
's face with dramatic music in the background is shown for a brief moment before the scene changes. The song heard when Bart and Skinner search through the lockers for the Teachers' Editions is a variation of Harold Faltermeyer
’s "Axel F
" from the film Beverly Hills Cop
.
In its original American broadcast, "Separate Vocations" finished 29th in the ratings for the week of February 24–March 1, 1992, with a Nielsen Rating
of 14.8, equivalent to approximately 13.6 million viewing households. It was the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week. Bart's voice actor, Nancy Cartwright
, received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance
in 1992 for her performance in the episode.
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, thought the episode displayed The Simpsons "at its best – not only hilarious but daringly outspoken on a whole range of issues – the failures of the education system, police abuses of power, the stifling of children's creativity." Bill Gibron of DVD Verdict said "Separate Vocations" represent The Simpsons "at its apex as a well tuned talent machine grinding out the good stuff with surprising accuracy and skill." Gibron added that the episode shows that "even in territory they're not used to (Bart as a safety patrol, Lisa as a cursing class cut up), the Simpsons' kids are funny and inventive." Nate Meyers of Digitally Obsessed gave the episode a four out of five rating and commented that the script's "departure from the traditional roles assigned to Bart and Lisa makes for a fresh experience with many laughs." Meyers thought the highlight of the episode was Bart's ride in the police car. DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson thought the theme of the episode was unoriginal, but commented that Bart's "rapid embrace of fascism" and Lisa's "descent into hooliganism" provide "a number of funny opportunities, and 'Separate Vocations' exploits them well. Though it’s not one of the year’s best shows, it seems like a good one for the most part."
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
The Simpsons (season 3)
The Simpsons third season originally aired on the Fox network between September 19, 1991 and May 7, 1992. The show runners for the third production season were Al Jean and Mike Reiss who executive produced 22 episodes the season, while two other episodes were produced by James L. Brooks, Matt...
. It originally aired on Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
in the United States on February 27, 1992. In the episode, the Springfield Elementary School makes the students take career aptitude tests. When Lisa
Lisa Simpson
Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
discovers that she is best suited to become a homemaker
Homemaker
Homemaking is a mainly American term for the management of a home, otherwise known as housework, housekeeping or household management...
, her dreams of becoming a professional musician are shattered and, as a result, she becomes a troublemaker in school. Meanwhile, Bart
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
discovers that he is best suited to become a policeman; this significantly improves his grades and behavior and he is chosen to be the school's new hall monitor
Hall monitor
A hall monitor is a student volunteer in American schools who is charged with maintaining order in the school's corridors. They may be either students who are chosen for the position because they are responsible, or that may be chosen on a rota from all available students...
.
The episode was written by George Meyer
George Meyer
George A. Meyer is an American producer and writer. Raised in Tucson, Arizona in a Roman Catholic family, Meyer attended Harvard University. There, after becoming president of the Harvard Lampoon, he graduated in 1978 with a degree in biochemistry. Abandoning plans to attend medical school, Meyer...
and directed by Jeffrey Lynch
Jeffrey Lynch
Jeffrey Lynch is an American animator and graphic artist. He has worked as an animation director on The Simpsons and Futurama, and as an assistant director on Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3 and The Iron Giant....
. American actor and television personality Steve Allen
Steve Allen
Steve Allen may refer to:*Steve Allen , American musician, comedian, and writer*Steve Allen , presenter on the London-based talk radio station LBC 97.3...
guest starred in the episode as the voice of Bart in a fantasy sequence. The episode features cultural references to films such as Bullitt
Bullitt
Bullitt is a 1968 American police procedural film starring Steve McQueen, Jacqueline Bisset and Robert Vaughn. It was directed by Peter Yates and distributed by Warner Bros. The story was adapted for the screen by Alan Trustman and Harry Kleiner, based on the 1963 novel Mute Witness by Robert L....
, The Wild One
The Wild One
The Wild One is a 1953 outlaw biker film directed by László Benedek and produced by Stanley Kramer. It is famed for Marlon Brando's iconic portrayal of the gang leader Johnny Strabler.-Basis:...
, and Beverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop is a 1984 American comedy-action film directed by Martin Brest and starring Eddie Murphy, Lisa Eilbacher, John Ashton, Judge Reinhold, and Ronny Cox...
, and the television series The Streets of San Francisco
The Streets of San Francisco
The Streets of San Francisco is a 1970s television police drama filmed on location in San Francisco, California, and produced by Quinn Martin Productions, with the first season produced in association with Warner Bros...
. Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a Nielsen Rating
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
of 14.8 and was the highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired. Nancy Cartwright
Nancy Cartwright
Nancy Campbell Cartwright is an American film and television actress, comedian and voice artist. She is best known for her long-running role as Bart Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons...
received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance is a creative arts Emmy Award given out by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. It is awarded to a performer for an outstanding "continuing or single voice-over performance in a series or a special." Prior to 1992, voice-actors...
for her performance as Bart in the episode.
Plot
After taking career aptitude tests, scored by a malfunctioning computer, LisaLisa Simpson
Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
discovers that the occupation she is best suited for is homemaker, while Bart
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
's test show that he should be a policeman. Lisa is heartbroken over the result and is determined to prove the test wrong. She consults a music teacher for his opinion, but he tells her that, having inherited her father's stubby fingers, she can never be a professional saxophone player. Lisa is therefore required by the test to spend the day doing chores with her mother Marge
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
, while Bart goes on a ride-along
Ride-along
A ride-along is an arrangement for a civilian to spend a shift in the passenger seat of a police car, observing the work day of a police officer, Firefighter, or Paramedic....
with the police.
Lisa hates her role as a homemaker and, realizing that her future dreams have been shattered, loses interest in being a good student. Bart enjoys spending time with the police, and he even ends up stopping Snake Jailbird during a car chase. When Principal Skinner
Seymour Skinner
Principal W. Seymour Skinner is a fictional character in the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer. Born in Capitol City, he is the principal of Springfield Elementary School...
discovers Bart's new interest in law enforcement, he enlists him as a hall monitor. Bart starts handing out demerits to his classmates for minor infractions and has order restored to the school. When Lisa secretly steals all of the Teachers' Editions of the schoolbooks, revealing the teachers' incompetence, it is up to Bart to figure out who stole the books. Realizing his sister is the culprit, Bart takes the blame and returns to his life as a bad student and detention regular, while Lisa goes back to being a good student. As Bart spends his time in detention, Lisa plays her saxophone outside his classroom to comfort him.
Production
George Meyer
George A. Meyer is an American producer and writer. Raised in Tucson, Arizona in a Roman Catholic family, Meyer attended Harvard University. There, after becoming president of the Harvard Lampoon, he graduated in 1978 with a degree in biochemistry. Abandoning plans to attend medical school, Meyer...
and directed by Jeffrey Lynch
Jeffrey Lynch
Jeffrey Lynch is an American animator and graphic artist. He has worked as an animation director on The Simpsons and Futurama, and as an assistant director on Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3 and The Iron Giant....
. Mike Reiss
Mike Reiss
Michael "Mike" Reiss is an American television comedy writer. He served as a show-runner, writer and producer for the animated series The Simpsons and co-created the animated series The Critic...
, show runner
Show runner
Showrunner is a term of art originating in the United States and Canadian television industry referring to the person who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of a television seriesalthough such persons generally are credited as an executive producer...
of The Simpsons with Al Jean
Al Jean
Al Jean is an award-winning American screenwriter and producer, best known for his work on The Simpsons. He was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and graduated from Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his writing career in the 1980s with fellow Harvard alum Mike Reiss...
at the time, said Meyer wrote most of the episode by himself without help from the show's other writers. Few changes were made to the first draft that he pitched to the producers. It was near identical to the final script. The episode was inspired by the vocation
Vocation
A vocation , is a term for an occupation to which a person is specially drawn or for which they are suited, trained or qualified. Though now often used in non-religious contexts, the meanings of the term originated in Christianity.-Senses:...
al tests taken by several members of the show's staff when they went to school; Reiss, for example, said he was told he would become a librarian. Jean said "one of the first things that sold us on doing the episode" was the idea of Bart becoming a policeman. He said it was "a funny, realistic depiction of what a kid like Bart might wind up to become, and it wasn't something you would immediately think of." Jean said the episode deals with the emotion that many adults feel when they grow older and realize that they are not going to achieve the dreams they once had. "[It's about] how people in life cope with that problem. Maybe Lisa, at eight years old, is a little bit young to worry about that, but that's what we were trying to explore here."
In one sequence where Bart imagines himself testifying in court, his voice has been censored and electronically altered. The altered voice was provided by American actor and television personalty Steve Allen
Steve Allen
Steve Allen may refer to:*Steve Allen , American musician, comedian, and writer*Steve Allen , presenter on the London-based talk radio station LBC 97.3...
. The Simpsons creator Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
said the older writers were "thrilled" to have Allen appear on the show, John Swartzwelder
John Swartzwelder
John Swartzwelder is an American comedy writer and novelist, best known for his work on the animated television series The Simpsons, as well as a number of novels. He is credited with writing the largest number of Simpsons episodes by a large margin...
in particular. It took nine takes for Allen to pronounce Bart's catchphrase "¡Ay, caramba!
¡Ay, caramba!
¡Ay, caramba! comes from the Spanish interjection ¡ay! and caramba ,; which is an exclamation used in the Spanish of Spain to denote surprise...
" correctly. There was a discussion amongst the staff of whether the episode should end with a joke or have a "sweet" ending. Reiss said "With the better angels in our nature, we went with the sweet ending [of Lisa playing saxophone for Bart]."
Cultural references
The music school that Lisa visits has a sign out front with a picture of a diapered baby Ludwig van BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
on it. When Principal Skinner is questioning Lisa about her newfound sense of irresponsibility, he asks "What are you rebelling against?" She responds "Whaddaya got?", like Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
's character Johnny Strabler did in the film The Wild One
The Wild One
The Wild One is a 1953 outlaw biker film directed by László Benedek and produced by Stanley Kramer. It is famed for Marlon Brando's iconic portrayal of the gang leader Johnny Strabler.-Basis:...
. She also has a toothpick in her mouth, like Johnny had in the film. The fifth graders that Lisa talks to in the school washroom are smoking Laramie
Laramie (cigarette)
Laramie was a brand of cigarettes extant in the United States from the 1930s into the 1950s.Later, the name was used for a cigarette rolling system ....
cigarettes.
The car chase scene with Snake is a reference to the car chase scene in the 1968 film Bullitt
Bullitt
Bullitt is a 1968 American police procedural film starring Steve McQueen, Jacqueline Bisset and Robert Vaughn. It was directed by Peter Yates and distributed by Warner Bros. The story was adapted for the screen by Alan Trustman and Harry Kleiner, based on the 1963 novel Mute Witness by Robert L....
. Music similar to the soundtrack of the television series The Streets of San Francisco
The Streets of San Francisco
The Streets of San Francisco is a 1970s television police drama filmed on location in San Francisco, California, and produced by Quinn Martin Productions, with the first season produced in association with Warner Bros...
is heard in the scene. Alf Clausen
Alf Clausen
Alf Clausen is an American film and television composer. He is best known for his work scoring many episodes of The Simpsons, of which he has been the sole composer since 1990...
, a composer on The Simpsons who had previously worked on several police shows, wrote the music for the scene. In another reference to The Streets of San Francisco and other Quinn Martin
Quinn Martin
Quinn Martin was one of the most successful American television producers. He had at least one television series running in prime time for 21 straight years , an industry record.-Early life:...
productions, a voice-over
Voice-over
Voice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...
and caption proclaims the name of act two of the episode, "Act II - Death Drives a Stick
Manual transmission
A manual transmission, also known as a manual gearbox or standard transmission is a type of transmission used in motor vehicle applications...
", after the episode's first act break in the middle of the Snake car chase. In the sequence where Bart imagines himself testifying in court, his face is obscured with a blue dot; this is a references to the television coverage of the rape trial of William Kennedy Smith
William Kennedy Smith
William Kennedy Smith is an American physician whose work focuses on landmines and the rehabilitation of people disabled by them....
, in which the woman who accused Smith of raping her was obscured with a blue dot over her face. The way the scene changes from Bart and Skinner talking in Skinner's office to them searching through the lockers is a reference to the same style of scene change used in the 1960s Batman
Batman (TV series)
Batman is an American television series, based on the DC comic book character of the same name. It stars Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin — two crime-fighting heroes who defend Gotham City. It aired on the American Broadcasting Company network for three seasons from January 12, 1966 to...
television series, in which a close-up of Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
's face with dramatic music in the background is shown for a brief moment before the scene changes. The song heard when Bart and Skinner search through the lockers for the Teachers' Editions is a variation of Harold Faltermeyer
Harold Faltermeyer
Harold Faltermeyer is a German musician, keyboardist, composer and record producer.He is recognized as one of the composers/producers who best captured the zeitgeist of 1980s synth-pop in film scores...
’s "Axel F
Axel F
"Axel F" is the electronic instrumental theme from the 1984 film Beverly Hills Cop performed by Harold Faltermeyer. The title comes from the main character's name, Axel Foley , in the film. It topped musical charts in 1985 and remains a popular remix track. Mixes of "Axel F" topped European pop...
" from the film Beverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop is a 1984 American comedy-action film directed by Martin Brest and starring Eddie Murphy, Lisa Eilbacher, John Ashton, Judge Reinhold, and Ronny Cox...
.
Analysis
In the last scene of the episode, Bart is seen writing "I will not expose the ignorance of the faculty" on the blackboard as a punishment for exposing the ignorance of the teachers by removing the Teachers' Editions. In his book The Small Screen: How Television Equips Us to Live in the Information Age, Brian L. Ott describes this scene as one of the "key ways The Simpsons appeals to audience, which tends to be younger, by critiquing authority figures, and in particular educators." Toby Daspit and John Weaver write in their book Popular Culture and Critical Pedagogy: Reading, Constructing, Connecting that the writers of The Simpsons are "particularly interested" in questions about authority and the abuses of powers in school. Another scene from the episode sees Ms. Hoover telling the students to stare at the blackboard for ten minutes until class is over. Daspit and Weaver writes that it is "the absolute power that teachers have over students' every action that allows for the image to be presented on The Simpsons. It would be comforting to tell ourselves that this is simply parody run amok, that the writers are stretching reality to make a point, but the discussants in the study [of The Simpsons in this book] had memories of a reality very much like the one presented in this program." One of the discussants said she believes everyone have experienced similar situations in their school years, and she thinks the thought that "an educator could ever do something so useless and pointless with the children's time" is "frightening".Reception
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
of 14.8, equivalent to approximately 13.6 million viewing households. It was the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week. Bart's voice actor, Nancy Cartwright
Nancy Cartwright
Nancy Campbell Cartwright is an American film and television actress, comedian and voice artist. She is best known for her long-running role as Bart Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons...
, received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance is a creative arts Emmy Award given out by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. It is awarded to a performer for an outstanding "continuing or single voice-over performance in a series or a special." Prior to 1992, voice-actors...
in 1992 for her performance in the episode.
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, thought the episode displayed The Simpsons "at its best – not only hilarious but daringly outspoken on a whole range of issues – the failures of the education system, police abuses of power, the stifling of children's creativity." Bill Gibron of DVD Verdict said "Separate Vocations" represent The Simpsons "at its apex as a well tuned talent machine grinding out the good stuff with surprising accuracy and skill." Gibron added that the episode shows that "even in territory they're not used to (Bart as a safety patrol, Lisa as a cursing class cut up), the Simpsons' kids are funny and inventive." Nate Meyers of Digitally Obsessed gave the episode a four out of five rating and commented that the script's "departure from the traditional roles assigned to Bart and Lisa makes for a fresh experience with many laughs." Meyers thought the highlight of the episode was Bart's ride in the police car. DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson thought the theme of the episode was unoriginal, but commented that Bart's "rapid embrace of fascism" and Lisa's "descent into hooliganism" provide "a number of funny opportunities, and 'Separate Vocations' exploits them well. Though it’s not one of the year’s best shows, it seems like a good one for the most part."
External links
- "Separate Vocations" at The Simpsons.com
- "Separate Vocations" at TV.comTV.comTV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...