Kredit Kookies: Yes, that was Sharry Bobbins doing a fly-by in the opening credits.The billboard advertises that the Kwik-E-Mart stocks “Porno!Now on the lower shelf”.Chalkboard: “Chalkboarding is not torture.”Couch Gag: The Simpsons take part in an old-west shootout over the couch.Maggie bursts from the wall, fires a gatling gun, and gives a tip of her hat to the audience.

“Bart Gets a Z” is a definite step-up from last week’s dull outing.  Not only touching and amusing, it’s a fun exploration of the not-often explored Bart/Mrs. K dynamic.

Nothing elucidates the gap between the generations than the cell phone revolution.  Mrs. Krabappel, who just wants to teach her class (specifically, at least one kid something worthwhile), calls for a ban on electronic gadgets, confiscating the class’ cell phones and Mypods.  There’s a wonderfully pointed moment when Edna asks the class why they have their phones and they cry out ‘safety!’ and ‘education’…while texting each other and watching the latest ‘Itchy and Scratchy,’ of course.

Bart won’t stand for this little turn of events.  He doesn’t set out to hurt Edna;  instead he looks for a way to make her friendlier.  Observing Homer as he drunkenly runs about the yard with Santa’s Little Helper, Bart declares that alcohol always seems to make adults cheerful, and so Edna’s students collect a variety of liquor, which Bart pours into her coffee while she’s out in the hall flirting with a delivery man.  The booze does its work, eventually causing Edna to humiliate herself during a school assembly (hillariously, she ends up making a pass at Mr. Largo, who's horrified at the very notion).

In a touching scene, Principal Skinner’s forced to fire Edna.  She’s replaced by recent Tufts University graduate Zach Vaungh.  Displaying an instant rappaport with his students, Vaungh uses technology to reach out to the kids.  Bart finds him to be a decent teacher, and loves that the guy's able to relate to him, but is forced to face up to the consequences of his actions when he visits Mrs. K at her apartment.

Edna’s edging closer to destitution, and Bart, feeling guilty, tries to help her out.

  He finds a book, “The Answer” (based, with a deliciously snide twist on the self-help tome ‘The Secret’, and the best bit of satire the show’s done in at least three seasons),  which helps Edna break her dream down into smaller goals.  It turns out that her long-term fantasy is to open a muffin shop, which she eventually does with Bart’s support.

Everything seems to be just swell, but Bart can’t resist blurting out the truth behind Edna’s booze-addled performance.  Marsha Wallace’s voice acting is superb as Edna laments that opening a muffin shop was a minor dream of hers (and there happens to be over five muffin shops already operating in Springfield), and that she'd always wanted to be a teacher.  In a touching moment, she blurts that she always thought that Bart had a little spark of decency within him, but not anymore.  Bart’s tempted to do the wrong thing and get Vaungh drunk, but his conscious gets the better of him, and with the assist of a pep talk from Homer he goes to Principal Skinner to confess.  It turns out, however, that Vaungh hates his job, and has been tippling in secret.  Once he humilates himself with a drunken tirade, he's fired, and Edna returns to work (complete with a basket of stale muffins, which she forces her students to eat).   It's a weak denoument, though Zach's final tirade has its amusing spots.

“Bart gets a ‘Z’” s a solid outing, though not without its flaws.The episode’s point would have been much stronger if the character of Zach had been fleshed out a tad more.We learn that he’s a competent teacher, but it would be better if his style of teaching had proved to be flawed due to his reliance on technology, thus showing that Mrs. K’s ways are better and solidifying its point.

More touching than amusing, “Bart Gets a ‘Z’” isn’t the Simpsons episode that’ll make you laugh yourself sore, but if you miss mid-series-run Bart, the bratty boy with a conscious, this is the episode to watch.

Letter Grade: A-

Ratings: The show pulled in a 9.32, the second-highest rated episode of original programming on Fox that night.

Next Week: Marge protests the arrival of a violent sport in Springfield, and the game’s promoter challenges her to a winner-take-all contest in "The Great Wife Hope".