The episode opens with Edna Krabappel getting ready to teach, telling herself that it will be a good day, that she will be successful if she can teach one thing to one child. Her positive mood is quashed when her entire class is too distracted by their cell phones to pay attention. She confiscates the devices, much to the dismay of Bart and the other students. Bart and his classmates hold a meeting in the Simpsons’ back yard and decide that Mrs. Krabappel needs to “chill out.” Bart notices that Homer is goofy and easy-going once he’s had a few beers, so the students decide to spike Mrs. Krabappel’s coffee with liquor they steal from their parents.

Once she has consumed a mug of heavily-spiked coffee, Mrs. Krabappel is quickly intoxicated, singing incoherent songs with her class, leading them shrieking and careening through the elementary school halls, and ultimately insulting the school choir, trying to seduce Mr. Largo, and falling off a giant globe in front of the entire school. Principal Skinner is forced to fire her, and immediately replaces her with a hip graduate of Tufts University, named Zachary Vaughn. The students are immediately impressed with Zach, as he calls himself, for he returns their cell phones and teaches them by sending them text messages, “friending” them on Facebook, and giving them assignments to work on Twitter.

Bart raves to his mother about how much fun it is to have Zach as a teacher, but Marge worries about Mrs. Krabappel’s well-being. Bart goes to visit her and is stricken with guilt when he sees her moping in front of the television. Meanwhile, at parent-teacher interview night, Zach tells Homer that he is clearly a caring father. Homer confesses that no teacher has ever told him that before, and he breaks down in inconsolable tears.

Bart and Milhouse meet at a bookstore and decide to get Mrs. Krabappel rehired. They buy a self-help book entitled The Answer, which professes to have all the answers to help someone achieve their dreams by breaking a “big dream” into smaller “dreamables,” and those into even smaller “dreamable actions.” Mrs. Krabappel is initially skeptical, but reveals her dream is to open a muffin shop. Some time in the future, it is revealed that she did open a reasonably successful muffin shop. Bart, upon seeing her success, confesses that he spiked her coffee with alcohol and is responsible for getting her fired. Mrs. Krabappel is furious, tells him that her real dream was to be a teacher, and concludes that Bart is the only kid she has ever met who is “bad on the inside.”

Bart is deeply troubled by Mrs. Krabappel’s statement, and decides to get her job back by spiking Zach’s “Blue Bronco” energy drink with alcohol. He sneaks into the empty classroom, but instead decides to tell Principal Skinner the truth. Principal Skinner is pleased that Bart was honest, but tells him he cannot just rehire Mrs. Krabappel when Zach is doing a good job in her place. Their conversation is suddenly disrupted by a belligerently drunk Zach, who is insulting the school children and telling them they have no future. Principal Skinner asks Bart if he went ahead and spiked Zach’s energy drink, but Zach states that he mixed vodka in his drink by himself. Groundskeeper Willie drags Zach away and Mrs. Krabappel is reinstated. Bart hopes that there will be no hard feelings between Mrs. Krabappel and himself. She responds by making every student in the class eat a very stale muffin, as part of her “muffin-based revenge.”

“Bart Gets a ‘Z’” is the second episode of The Simpsons’ twenty-first season. The episode aired on October 4, 2009 on Fox.

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