One classic episode of The Simpsons season 37’s renewal was announced.
However, that same year, season 14, episode 3, “Bart vs. Lisa vs. the Third Grade,” tacitly acknowledged one of the show’s biggest issues. The Simpsons has known about its reliance on the show's status quo for decades and, rather than trying to hide this, the show has mocked its own reliance on easy storytelling devices. While The Simpsons teasing viewers can sometimes set the audience up for disappointment, the self-aware gag at the end of this episode proves the series knows both its strong suits and its most shameless plot contrivances.
The Simpsons Season 14 Episode 3 Acknowledged The Show’s Reliance On Status Quo
Principal Skinner Claimed No Good Came From Changing Things
In “Bart vs. Lisa vs. the Third Grade,” Bart is demoted to the third grade while Lisa is simultaneously promoted to the same class, meaning the pair briefly share the same homeroom. This causes all manner of chaos as Bart irritates his sister endlessly, but things don’t really go off the rails in earnest until the duo are paired up for a field trip to Capital City. The bus leaves them behind, and they are forced to survive in the wilderness with only their wits and each other’s company for protection.
Skinner eventually decides that the entire incident proves “No good comes from changing things,” resulting in Bart being returned to the fourth grade while Lisa returns to the second grade.
Inevitably, the siblings learn their lesson and end up relying on each other, resulting in their eventual rescue. This sets up the best self-aware gag in “Bart vs. Lisa vs. the Third Grade” as a frustrated Principal Skinner tries to wrangle a moral from the story. He eventually decides that the entire incident proves “No good comes from changing things,” resulting in Bart being returned to the fourth grade while Lisa returns to the second grade. Thus, The Simpsons effectively itted that it shamelessly resets its status quo way back in 2002, years before this complaint became commonplace.
By The Simpsons season 36, Bart and Lisa’s fight could cause a literal apocalypse and the very next episode would simply revert to normal as if nothing had happened. However, the series wasn’t always this brazen when it came to simply reinstating its status quo at the end of each episode. Events like the death of Bleeding Gums Murphy were poignant and permanent in the show’s earlier seasons, when its zany cartoon humor was balanced with occasional moments of emotional resonance.
This Self-Aware Joke Was An Ironic Gag For The Simpsons
“Bart vs. Lisa vs. the Third Grade” Succeeded By Changing The Show’s Norm
As The Simpsons continued, moving episodes became less frequent, and outlandish events became more common in the world of the series. This shift in the show's writing style came down to numerous factors, but among the most important was a swing toward more cartoony, absurd storylines after season 10. Earlier seasons of focused on Homer meeting his half-brother, Bart struggling to improve his grades, or Lisa’s heartbreak when the family couldn’t afford horse riding lessons.
The Simpsons Season 36, Episode 13 Repeats Its Rival Show’s Story 1 Year Later
The Simpsons season 36 episode 13 borrows its storyline from another adult animated comedy with whom the iconic show shares a long, storied rivalry.
In contrast, episodes from season 11 involved a tomato/tobacco hybrid driving cows insane, killer robot toys, a secret society of elven jockeys, Homer and his friends getting captured by Chinese pirates, and Bart becoming a faith healer. The Simpsons got zanier after season 10 and needed to reboot its status quo more often as a result, as events like Homer leaving his job were becoming increasingly commonplace. “Bart vs. Lisa vs. the Third Grade” calling out this reliance on its status quo was particularly ironic.
The Simpsons Relies Heavily On An Unchanging Status Quo
The Series Has Obscured Birth Dates Ages and Locations To Maintain Consistency
The episode was great precisely because it changed Bart and Lisa's classes, only for the show to then promise never to change things again. Despite how ironic this was, this was far from the last time that the show would obscure its status quo for the sake of consistency. Even though The Simpsons season 36 pays off gags from earlier seasons, the show also frequently forgets or changes major details of the family’s life stories.
Marge and Homer supposedly slept together because Jake from State Farm got Marge in the mod, but that character didn't appear until 2011 and Maggie has featured in countless episodes set before then.
One recent example came in season 36, episode 6, “Women in Shorts,” which ended with a brief vignette set on the night Maggie was conceived. The gag was that Marge and Homer slept together because Jake from State Farm got Marge in the mod, but that character didn't appear until 2011 and Maggie has featured in countless episodes set before then. She even saved Homer and Bart at the end of The Simpsons Movie, which was released four years before the Jake from State Farm character debuted.
The Simpsons Season 36 Highlighted The Show’s Absurd Longevity
Bart Feared Turning 11 In Case It Changed His Entire World
The absurd longevity of The Simpsons means that the show has needed to develop a sense of humor regarding its inconsistent canon. According to different episodes, Homer was a teenager in the early ‘70s and the late ‘90s, while Marge apparently attended high school in both 1999 and 1972. Even the darkest episodes of The Simpsons rarely contend with this existential nightmare, although one season 36 story daringly addressed the issue head-on.
Season 36, episode 1, “Bart’s Birthday,” was presented as an in-universe “Series finale” complete with corny endings for all the show's main heroes. Throughout the self-referential episode, Bart feared that finally turning 11 after forty years as a ten-year-old would somehow destroy his reality. Indeed, at the end of “Bart’s Birthday,” he instead turned 10 again and the cycle continued.
Like most sitcoms, The Simpsons can leave its heroes in complete disarray one week, only for them to reliably return to normal in the next episode.
Thus, The Simpsons season 36 proved the show has more stories to tell with a gag that itted its canon makes no sense, but noted that this didn't really matter. Like most sitcoms, The Simpsons can leave its heroes in complete disarray one week, only for them to reliably return to normal in the next episode. As Principal Skinner noted, this is what makes the world of The Simpsons work, even if it technically makes no sense under even the smallest amount of scrutiny.
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The Simpsons
- Release Date
- December 17, 1989
- Network
- FOX
- Showrunner
- Al Jean
Cast
Tress MacNeille
WHERE TO WATCH
- Directors
- David Silverman, Jim Reardon, Mark Kirkland
- Writers
- Matt Groening, James L. Brooks, Sam Simon
- Franchise(s)
- The Simpsons
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