In a room full of a hundred people, if asked whether or not they ever watched or heard of The Simpsons, chances are everyone would say yes. The show has been around since the late 1980s and is arguably one of the most popular cartoons that ever existed. Beloved by both children and adults, The Simpsons has witnessed the kind of winning streak that we simply don't see on television anymore, with the fight for quality content between networks and streaming services always on the rise.
This eccentric yellow family should be praised for its mostly refined humor and imperfect characters which are, at the end of the day, the two most important characteristics of the show. These imperfections can sometimes rub people the wrong way. Even though Lisa Simpson is considered the star of the family, even she doesn't have a perfect track record. Let's rank the top ten worst things she's ever done, and dive deeper into this issue.
Ruining Her Dad's Barbecue
The moment when Lisa realized that she could never eat any kind of animal again was pivotal for her character. Lisa has always been written as a way to convey more controversial topics, and in many ways, she's the ultimate justice warrior. Except she's eight years old, and she certainly acts like one sometimes.
Like when she decided to sabotage Homer's barbecue and steal the pig. Now, we understand she wasn't getting a lot of support from her circles, but being a vegetarian isn't an excuse to push your beliefs onto somebody else the way Lisa did. Thankfully, she learned her lesson by the end of the episode.
Sabotaging Bart's Career
In its later seasons, the show received a fair amount of backlash for the writing of its characters. Keeping a show running for so long can't be easy, and it's understandable to run out of ideas. What isn't understandable is pretty much ruining an entire character, like many believe Lisa Simpson did.
In Season 30, Bart gets incredibly good at e-sports, and Lisa goes with him to North Korea for a tournament. She preaches to Homer about the lack of inner peace in Bart's career, which eventually leads him to ruin the tournament for Bart. What was the point?
Her Attitude Towards Maggie's Intelligence
It's no secret to anyone who knows The Simpsons that Lisa's worst trait is her jealousy. Many of the worst things she's done are in one way or another related to this. Because she believes she's so smart and special, Lisa simply can't stand when someone is better at the things than her.
When her baby sister Maggie revealed she might be a prodigy, Lisa's entire attitude is simply horrible. We can almost tell she hates her sister now, so much that, even when it's revealed Maggie isn't super smart after all, Lisa steals her saxophone away from her when she begins to play like a pro. Really, Lisa?
Putting Pride In Front Of Her Team
There was an episode during Season 22 that shows Bart and Lisa teaming up to use statistics in order to come up with an incredible baseball team. Bart comes out as the best player of the bunch and Lisa, the one in charge of all the math and probability calculations, isn't happy when he refuses to take her advice.
Even without Lisa's input, Bart is still the best player. Being the resentful person she can sometimes be, Lisa drops Bart. All ends well when Lisa sees where she went wrong. But it seems to be a recurring theme for her that she consistently does bad things without even thinking of the consequences beforehand.
Sabotaging A Girl Smarter Than Her
Coming back to the issue of jealousy, back in the episode "Lisa's Rival," we're introduced to a girl that is pretty much Lisa on steroids. She's incredibly smart, she plays the saxophone like a seasoned professional, and overall aces all of the things Lisa is known for being the best at.
Obviously, Lisa doesn't take this too well and just whines the entire time. She even goes as far as teaming up with Bart to destroy the other girl's project so she can be the best. We can't think of a worst way to act when presented with a situation like this. Instead of focusing on improvement, Lisa takes the low road.
Endangering An Innocent Girl
Nope, we're not done with jealousy. Even though this is romantic jealousy as opposed to academic, it's still one of the worst things Lisa has ever done. When she and her family spends some time a ranch to get away from Springfield, Lisa falls in love with one of the boys that works and lives there.
When she hears him on the phone with a girl named Clara, jealousy strikes again, and Lisa sends poor Clara on a very dangerous path when asked for directions. Lisa eventually corrects herself, but just because she finds out Clara was Luke's sister. Does anyone else see ten thousand red flags?
Undermining Bart's Injuries
Lisa is so proud of herself, she can't stand even the possibility that someone will be disappointed in her if she does something wrong. Even if that means putting other people at risk to save herself from the potential consequences — which is what happens when she babysits Bart and Maggie.
Bart is horrible the whole way through, but when he falls down the stairs and sustains serious injuries, instead of calling her parents, she pushes him in a wheelbarrow to secretly look for help.
Being Angry At Bart For Doing Something Good
In Season 30, Bart becomes a member of a protest group made up of girls, after trying to sabotage the female version of Itchy & Scratchy, but enjoying it instead. This leads to him now working in favor of one of Lisa's many causes. This should be a good thing, right? Her brother doing good for the world.
Wrong. Instead, she annoys him and preaches to him on how to do it the right way because he simply wouldn't know how to do it. She should be the one doing it! Question is...why didn't she? Talk is cheap, Lisa!
Making Bart Live Outside
By now you've probably realized Bart tends to be the target of most of Lisa's wrongdoings. The boy is awful, we'll give her that, but shouldn't she just take the high road and practice what she preaches? Like the time when he was being a brat to her, and she decided she finally had enough.
What did she do? She got a restraining order that forced her own brother to camp out in the yard. We understand he can be insufferable, but this is way too much, even for Lisa.
Being Overall Horrible During Bart's Coma
We can pretty much agree that when it comes to revenge, you probably don't want to mess with Lisa. Like dropping Bart from the baseball team, stealing Homer's pig, and getting a restraining order, the girl blows everything completely out of proportion. And perhaps the worst instance of all was when Bart went into a coma.
Because he forced her to look at a scary magazine, Lisa decides it's a good idea to whisper horrible things into his ear while he's unconscious, causing him intense nightmares. She only stops because the doctor tells her it could cause serious brain damage. As a response to a prank, this is just plain mean.