Another pretty good Lisa related episode. It's not one of my favorites from the season, but it's one of the rare later episodes that have the touch of the early years, such as seasons 2 and 3. It reminds me of Mr. Lisa goes to Washington or Lisa's substutute in some way.
Although the begining was a little bit Scully-ish and wacky, it was quite entertaining. There were some funny jokes at the contest, such as Barney winning the audience and judges with his burping. Lisa is her classic self in the first act, and the episode picks up from the moment when she writes the letter. The Mensa scenes were great, comic book guy and Frink shined in particular.
Meanwhile, we get in the subplot which brought the episode down in my opinion. It wasn't very nessesary and it's not the type of humor that belongs in The Simpsons. Seems like season 10 is the one with terrible subplots and I'm glad that trend didn't continue in the next seasons.
The third act was also good, the appearence of Stephen Hawking was excellent. Some of the other great moments here include Moe being excited about his invitation to the court, ''Larry Flint is right, you guys stink!'' and the conversation between Stephen Hawking and Homer at the end.
B