WhileThe Simpsonsseason 36, episode 1 might break a lot of the show’s rules, the outing also found time to bring back one of its oldest and most controversial jokes.The Simpsonsis constantly changing its own canon. WhileThe Simpsonsseason 37 mightgive the show a more consistent, serialized plot line, the season 26 premiere “Bart’s Birthday” reveled in just how messy and unclear the show’s canon is with a string of increasingly audacious meta-jokes. The entire episode was presented as an in-universe series finale forThe Simpsons, written by the AI software “Hack GPT.”
6 The Simpsons Episodes That Would’ve Worked As The Series Finale
The Simpsons season 36 episode 1 revealed itself to be the series finale, but many other episodes would have provided the show with a perfect ending.
Host and formerSimpsonswriter Conan O’Brien introduced the episode’s story, wherein Bart finally turned 11. At least, that was what appeared to happen in the episode. However, as the finale continued, its events became more and more absurd. Moe sold his tavern, Principal Skinner announced he was moving out of town, and Mr. Burns died, inadvertently leaving his fortune to the power plant workers. As ifMr. Burns’ death inThe Simpsonsseason 36episode 1 wasn’t enough to clue viewers in, the episode’s ending made it abundantly clear thatthe Simpsons would not age normallyfrom now on.
The Simpsons Bringing Back The “Homer Strangles Bart” Gag Fits The Episode’s AI Premise
Homer Strangling Bart Reset The Show’s Reality
In the in-universe finale, Bart struggled with the chaotic, but paradoxically too-neat events that surrounded him. Everyone’s individual character arc seemed to suddenly come to an abrupt end to facilitate the show’s finale and set up potential spinoffs, something that stressed out Bart as he realized blowing out his birthday candles would permanently trap him in this new reality. Instead,Bart rebelled by tricking Homer into strangling him, and this ugly, awkward moment jarred so badly with the finale’s AI-generated schmaltz that it caused Hack GPT to short-circuit. This was an ingenious callback to a real-life controversy from 2023.
A season 35 episode jokingly implied that the show had retired the problematic gag since, as Homer put it, “Times have changed.”
The manywild twists ofThe Simpsonsseason 36 episode 1were undone when Homer strangled Bart, and there is a good reason this gag facilitated the show’s return to its status quo. The classic gag of Homer strangling Bart caused controversy in 2023, eventually prompting a defensive response from series producer James L. Brooks. A season 35 episode jokingly implied that the show had retired the problematic gag since, as Homer put it, “Times have changed.” However, “Bart’s Birthday” brought back the gag to proveThe Simpsonsseason 36 isn’t a soulless, AI-generated series.
What The Simpsons' Writers Have Said About Homer Strangling Bart (& What It Tells Us About Future Seasons)
The Simpsons Season 36 Still Stands By Its Deeply Flawed Characters
Since the episode’s story was an AI-generated finale complete with schmaltzy endings and unlikely twists, it made sense that Homer reverting to his usual terrible parenting was what brought the show back to its imperfect reality.The Simpsonsimproved onSouth Park’s AI commentaryby implying the technology can only produce predictable, risk-averse, soulless creative work. By contrast, the controversial gag of Homer strangling Bart was the sort of problematic joke only human writers could come up with. As such,The Simpsonsseason 36 premiere used this divisive joke to prove the show isn’t perfect, but it is at least not machine-generated.
