'Lisa the Vegetarian' is easily one of the best episodes in the history of The Simpsons. In the episode, the family take a trip to a children's amusement park where they visit a petting zoo. A cute, baby lamb that Lisa pets later comes back to her in her mind when Marge serves lamb chops for dinner, and Lisa realises she can no longer eat any kind of meat. Her newfound vegetarian beliefs are mocked by her family members, especially Homer and even including Marge. She is also ostracised by her teachers and classmates at school, which drives Lisa to try and force her newfound beliefs on all the residents of Springfield at a barbecue hosted by Homer. After receiving advice from Apu (the only notable town resident who is also vegetarian) and fellow vegetarians Paul McCartney and the late Linda McCartney (voiced by themselves), Lisa realises she was wrong to try and force her beliefs. She apologises to her dad for this, who in turn apologises for mocking Lisa.
What makes this such a great episode? For starters, it's an episode that focuses on Homer and Lisa's relationship, which is always a good start as it ensures an episode packed with heart as well as humour. But the real magical thing about LTV is that it teaches two very important lessons that everyone could really do with learning. First of all, the obvious one - it is wrong to unjustly criticise and ostracise someone just because they have beliefs that are different from your own. It Homer who learns this at the end of the episode when he realises how hurt Lisa is when she is driven to run away from home. But not just that, the episode also teaches that it is equally wrong for the 'victim' to attempt to force their beliefs onto other people who don't share them. Lisa is taught this by Apu and the McCartneys when it is revealed that Lisa and Apu's beliefs are actually different - Lisa is vegetarian whilst Apu is technically vegan, and despite this Apu does not force his view on Lisa.
Put simply, this is a wonderful episode in the middle of one of the Simpsons's strongest seasons, with plenty of humour and drama. Lisa gets a lot of hate because she has certain beliefs - this episode is essentially addressing this as it rightfully explains that hating on someone for believing in something you don't is a very wrong thing to do.
What makes this such a great episode? For starters, it's an episode that focuses on Homer and Lisa's relationship, which is always a good start as it ensures an episode packed with heart as well as humour. But the real magical thing about LTV is that it teaches two very important lessons that everyone could really do with learning. First of all, the obvious one - it is wrong to unjustly criticise and ostracise someone just because they have beliefs that are different from your own. It Homer who learns this at the end of the episode when he realises how hurt Lisa is when she is driven to run away from home. But not just that, the episode also teaches that it is equally wrong for the 'victim' to attempt to force their beliefs onto other people who don't share them. Lisa is taught this by Apu and the McCartneys when it is revealed that Lisa and Apu's beliefs are actually different - Lisa is vegetarian whilst Apu is technically vegan, and despite this Apu does not force his view on Lisa.
Put simply, this is a wonderful episode in the middle of one of the Simpsons's strongest seasons, with plenty of humour and drama. Lisa gets a lot of hate because she has certain beliefs - this episode is essentially addressing this as it rightfully explains that hating on someone for believing in something you don't is a very wrong thing to do.