March 15th episode - Gone Maggie Gone

This episode was another that also dealt with the Christian faith. When Marge’s vision is damaged from looking at the solar eclipse, Homer is in charge of looking after the children and taking care of the house. When Maggie ends up being taken in by a convent under the supervision of Homer, the nuns keep her there, refusing to let any child leave who is left on their doorstep. This episode was interesting because it dealt with a lot of mystery solving, both for Homer and for Lisa, who went into the convent to try and save Maggie. The funny part was that Lisa’s mystery was so much more complicated than Homer’s and she was very close to being able to solve the whole thing. All Homer had to do was find a way to get Maggie, Santa’s Little Helper, and the poison for their rat problem over to the other side of the river by boat. Homer failed at this because Maggie was left alone on the other side and ended up being taken. Lisa’s mystery involved deciphering codes, playing “Heart and Soul” on the piano, and reading Latin. In the end it turned out that the nuns at the convent discovered that Maggie was the “gem child” and that she would bring peace to Springfield. This shows that Maggie is also some kind of child prodigy like Lisa is, making the girls of the Simpsons family humorously much more exceptional than the boys.