Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for The Simpsons season 35, episode 18.
Summary
WhileThe Simpsonsseason 35 focused on Marge more than ever before, its finale saw her character arc culminate with a shockingly dark twist. Marge is not the main character ofThe Simpsons. She might be the wife of Homer Simpson and the mother of Bart and Lisa, but she gets much less screen time and story focus than all three of them. While Marge has been the star of some classic outings throughout the show’s long history, she has also historically been undervalued and sidelined by the series. Fortunately, season 35 changed this trend and centered her stories.
AlthoughThe Simpsonsseason 36might return to business as usual, season 35 featured a string of stories that delved into Marge’s character development. Episodes 2, 6, 13, 14, and 17 all focused on Marge’s personal life, touching on themes as diverse as her spending habits, her childhood memories, anxieties over her children growing up, and her professional ambitions.The Simpsons never agebut the series still managed to make Marge feel more believable and fleshed out than she has done in decades. However,The Simpsonsseason 35’s underrated heroineoffered viewers a nasty surprise in the finale.
The Simpsons Season 35 Finale Proved Marge Can Be Cruel
Bart’s Mother Admitted Her Love Was Conditional
Unlike a lot of the outing’s preceding episodes, season 35’s finale didn’t center on Marge’s perspective. Season 35, episode 18, “Bart’s Brain,” saw Bart buy a human brain in a jar from a military surplus store so he could pull off an ambitious prank at school. As punishment, Bart’s teacher, Ms. Peyton, tasked him with carrying the brain around for a few weeks, journaling his experience and treating it like his baby. This plan backfired and Bart grew attached to the brain, eventually becoming socially ostracized. Springfield’s citizens shunned Bart and his parents followed suit in the finale’s grim twist.
Marge had her meanest moment in a long time when she snapped, saying that Bart continually carting a brain around town was an unforeseen condition that rendered her promises of unconditional love moot.
AlthoughThe Simpsonsseason 35 made Marge’s stories darker, the show saved her bleakest character change for the finale’s closing moments. When Bart showed up in church with his brain and challenged his family to accept him despite this morbid eccentricity,Marge told her son that her love for him was conditional after all. Marge had her meanest moment in a long time as she snapped, saying that Bart continually carting a brain around town was an unforeseen condition that rendered her promises of unconditional love moot. Bart soon lost interest in the brain, but this bitter moment remained jarring.
The Simpsons Season 35 Made Marge More Complex
Numerous Episodes Fleshed Out Her Internal World
Although none of season 35’s earlier episodes featured a moment this bleak, some of Marge’s earlier stories did tease the darkness under the surface of her cherry veneer. Outings like episode 14, “Clan of the Cave Mom,” and episode 2, “A Mid-Childhood Night’s Dream,” hinted at this ruthless edge by showing how stressed, anxious, and fearful Marge could be.Marge’s fear of Bart being ostracized drove her to extremes earlier in season 35, when “Clan of the Cave Mom” saw her spend hundreds of dollars to get Bart into a concert after a feud with Luann Van Houten.
Bart’s antics during a museum field trip led Luann to ban Milhouse from hanging out with him, and Marge reacted by doing everything possible to ruin Milhouse’s social standing and improve Bart’s popularity. WhileThe Simpsonsseason 35’s biggest problemwas silly humor that went nowhere, this dark episode leaned in the opposite direction. Interludes set in the Stone Age cast Marge as a fiercely protective cave woman saving her children from Luann, envisioned as a saber-toothed cat in Marge’s mind. Before the finale, this proved that Marge saw her son’s school socializing as a life-or-death issue.
Marge Also Disavowed Lisa In The Simpsons Season 35 Finale
Marge Thought Her Daughter Was Going To Hell
As if the closing scene of “Bart’s Brain” weren’t dark enough,a joke earlier in the episode saw Marge claim that Lisa was going to Hell. When Homer chided her for worrying about Bart’s new habit of lugging a brain in a jar around, he reminded his wife that she once feared Lisa would go to hell for being a vegetarian. Marge then said that she still feared this fate would befall their daughter, although she never explained why. While this gag was funny, it was also a striking insight into just how quickly Marge was willing to disavow her children.
Marge admitted that her love for Bart was conditional on him acting normal and said that she feared Lisa was going to Hell, but neither of these comments were followed up on.
Like manypost-Golden Age episodes ofThe Simpsons, this outing never fully contended with the dramatic impact of its storyline. The fact that Bart eventually discovered the brain belonged to a scientist, and not a fellow daredevil as he had imagined, was ultimately irrelevant. Marge admitted that her love for Bart was conditional on him acting normal and said that she feared Lisa was going to Hell, but neither of these comments were followed up on. A mid-credits scene where Marge took Bart to an “Eccentric Child” support group ameliorated this bleak ending, but the finale was still dark.
The Simpsons Season 35’s Marge Focus Is A Double-Edge Sword
Marge’s Storylines Simultaneously Made Her More Relatable And Less Likable
AlthoughThe Simpsonsseason 35’s tired tropesdid rear their head on occasion throughout the outings, Marge’s storylines made an admirable stab at offering viewers of the long-running series something genuinely fresh. Marge’s frustrations, anxieties, and dreams made her a more fully rounded character, but this was a double-edged sword. The insight into Marge’s world also proved that her attitude toward Bart and Lisa was surprisingly cold. Although her role in “Bart’s Brain” was relatively small, it was still strange to see Marge admit that Bart’s relatively harmless behavior could distress her enough to disown her son.
Bart let the brain go, but the plot remained dark.The Simpsonsgot away with risky gags about Marge and Homer not loving their kids beforesince these subvert the saccharine golden moments viewers anticipate from family sitcoms. However, after season 35 spent so long illustrating the intricacies of Marge’s internal world, it was bleak to see her disavow both of her children over trivial issues in the same outing.TheSimpsonsseason 35 finale was a goofy adventure for Bart, but Marge’s reaction to his latest antics proved that not all the show’s revelations about her character were fun.
