It has been true the previous few years, and it’s nonetheless true at present: “The Simpsons” remains to be good, individuals! Even 36 seasons in, the cultural phenomenon has confirmed to be the one actually dependable American establishment left, a staple of tv, a titan of popular culture, some of the influential animated exhibits of all time.
In season 36 we noticed nice episodes that includes pairings we do not see that usually anymore, like an episode the place Homer and his dad create a sport, or one the place Bart and his grandpa bond over baseball, and an episode that parodied “The White Lotus” (and killed a personality we hadn’t seen in a long time). And but, the perfect two episodes of the season have been all about Marge Simpson (Julie Kavner). The primary one is titled “P.S. I Hate You” and offers with Marge’s should be preferred and the chaos that ensues when her secret hate letters she’s been writing to everybody in Springfield for years are stolen. Then now we have the season finale, “Estranger Issues” which offers is all about how Bart (Nancy Cartwright) and Lisa (Yeardley Smith) bonded over “Itchy & Scratchy” and the way they drift aside in a potential future the place Marge dies earlier than Homer (Dan Castellaneta).
Sure, you heard that proper. Marge dies earlier than Homer. In some way.
It is a large change to how “The Simpsons” had portrayed issues up to now, resulting in lazy writers and followers on-line who haven’t watched the present in years to leap to conclusions and speculate that Marge Simpson is formally and unequivocally lifeless for good. Not less than, the noise received loud sufficient that govt producer Matt Selman needed to affirm to Selection that Marge Simpson isn’t truly lifeless.
“There is no canon,” Selman mentioned, responding to a query about whether or not Marge’s loss of life is canon for the long run timeline of the present. ‘The Simpsons’ would not even have canon!”
The Simpsons is at all times in flux
“Clearly, since ‘The Simpsons’ future episodes are all speculative fantasies, they’re all totally different each time,” Selman mentioned. “Marge will in all probability by no means be lifeless ever once more. The one place Marge is lifeless is in a single future episode that aired six weeks in the past.”
Certainly, the hypothesis round Marge’s loss of life got here from the truth that that is the very first time an episode of “The Simpsons” confirmed a future wherein Marge died earlier than Homer. Although each episode of “The Simpsons” ignores what’s come earlier than it, the episodes set sooner or later have — for probably the most half — adopted a comparatively streamlined continuity. Lisa is at all times profitable, if not outright the President of the USA. Bart is a loser, and Homer died younger. Positive, there have been variations, together with the nice episode “Barthood” (probably the greatest parody episodes on the present), which exhibits future Bart discovering success proudly owning a bicycle modification store, nevertheless it’s nonetheless largely the identical large occasions and the identical character fates.
Having Marge die instantly and leaving Homer as a widower is stunning, which helps the episode stand out (like having Marge be concerned in an affair with Ringo Starr in Heaven or Bart run an underground elder care facility for Homer and his mates at their childhood residence). Nevertheless it doesn’t imply each future episode from right here on out will comply with this timeline, in any other case that’d break the only most vital rule of sitcoms — issues cannot change without end and you may’t set something in stone. Nonetheless, it’s true that Julie Kavner isn’t getting any youthful, and her efficiency as of late has actually proven the years in her voice. Ought to something occur to the beloved voice actor, “The Simpsons” already has a method out.