I thought this was an enjoyable episode already, from the strong main story about Lisa becoming a magician's apprentice; but the ending is surprisingly poignant and raised the episode another notch in my estimation. Raymondo the magician was a memorable one-shot character. I kind of hope they don't bring him back because that would lessen the impact of this episode.
In typical Simpsons fashion, the story starts out one place and ends up somewhere quite different, due to life's unpredictability. Lisa becomes an apprentice through a typically Simpson-esque sequence of events. Her relationship with Raymondo was the strongest part of the episode. It was also fun to see the shady character gets his comeuppance.
(Spoiler) Near the end, Raymondo proves he is a greater magician than either Cregg Demon or even Harry Houdini himself! I thought that was a great touch, which was very understated.
In typical Simpsons fashion, the story starts out one place and ends up somewhere quite different, due to life's unpredictability. Lisa becomes an apprentice through a typically Simpson-esque sequence of events. Her relationship with Raymondo was the strongest part of the episode. It was also fun to see the shady character gets his comeuppance.
(Spoiler) Near the end, Raymondo proves he is a greater magician than either Cregg Demon or even Harry Houdini himself! I thought that was a great touch, which was very understated.
