Bart of Darkness

"Bart of Darkness" is the first episode of The Simpsons' sixth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 4, 1994. It was written by Dan McGrath, and directed by Jim Reardon. In the episode, Bart breaks his leg and becomes increasingly isolated in his room. He starts spying on neighbors with a telescope and begins to suspect that Ned Flanders has murdered his wife. The episode was produced during the 1994 Northridge earthquake, which delayed production by a month, and is largely a parody of the film Rear Window.

A heatwave in Springfield leads Bart and Lisa to persuade Homer into getting a swimming pool. Word soon spreads that the Simpsons have a pool and every child in the town comes to use the new facility. After being dared, Bart attempts an ambitious dive into the pool from the top of his treehouse, but gets distracted by Nelson, and falls and breaks his leg. This forces Bart to spend the rest of the summer wearing a cast and, unable to socialize with the other children, he retreats to his bedroom. Lisa loans Bart her telescope to entertain him. Soon, Bart hears a woman's scream next door, and witnesses Ned Flanders burying something in his backyard. He becomes convinced that Ned has murdered his wife Maude. During Bart's exile in his room, Lisa becomes popular with the other kids thanks to the pool, but soon loses her newfound popularity to Martin Prince, who gets an even bigger pool.

Bart asks Lisa to go and look for evidence of the murder while Ned is out of the house. When Ned returns, Lisa becomes trapped in the Flanders house. Bart makes his way over there, just in time to discover that Ned was actually storing an axe and not using it against Lisa. Maude is actually alive and had gone to Bible Camp for the weekend. The victim of Ned's "murder" was merely her favorite plant, and the woman screaming actually came from Ned. Meanwhile, Martin's pool is destroyed from being overcrowded and his friends abandon him, with Nelson pulling down his pants.