The Simpsons Season 35’s Best Meta Gag Highlights A Major Story Shift For This Underrated Character

Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for The Simpsons season 35, episode 16.

Summary

• Marge is the unsung hero of
  The Simpsons
  , finally getting recognition in season 35, episode 16.
• Recent episodes focus on pivotal relationships within the Simpson family, improving the series as a whole.
• The show’s meta acknowledgment of Marge’s underrated role highlights her importance to the series.

Although The Simpsons season 35, episode 16, isn’t perfect, the outing does use a clever early meta gag to highlight the show’s most underrated cast member. The Simpsons has a massive cast. The show has been on the air for 35 years, has aired over 760 episodes, and, despite The Simpsons season 35 killing off a character who has been around for years, rarely drops major supporting stars. As such, The Simpsons has amassed a cast of thousands over the decades. Despite this, some of the show’s main characters still haven’t gotten the story focus that they deserve yet.

Although The Simpsons season 36 may change this, recent outings have continued the show’s oldest trend by mostly centering Homer as their main character. The reasoning behind this is understandable since Homer is one of the most recognizable and beloved characters in TV history. However, this sometimes comes at a cost to the rest of the show’s heroes. The greatest improvement The Simpsons season 35 has made is centering another member of the eponymous family, and the show even openly acknowledged how underrated this star is in season 35, episode 16, “The Tell-Tale Pants.”

The Simpsons Season 35 Acknowledged Marge’s Underrated Role In The Show

Marge Imagined Herself Receiving An Award For Her Under-Recognition

Meta gags allowed
The Simpsons
to tacitly admit how underrated Marge’s role in the series has historically been over the decades.

The opening scene of “The Tell-Tale Pants” was a fanciful dream sequence and this allowed the show to mock its own formula while highlighting an underrated star. Marge had a dream where she received an award calling her Springfield’s “Most Under-Appreciated Person,” much to Homer’s shocked chagrin. This dream sequence also included Homer demanding to know whether the interminably overlong show was ever going to end, an obvious nod to the longevity of The Simpsons itself. These meta gags allowed The Simpsons to tacitly admit how underrated Marge’s role in the series has historically been over the decades.

While Marge’s dark character change in season 35 has been a welcome surprise, The Simpsons has always devoted occasional episodes to fleshing out her internal world. Some of these, like the Golden Age outing season 6, episode 11, “Fear of Flying,” are outright classics. However, the majority of the show’s episodes focus on Homer and, since he was originally intended to be the show’s hero, Bart gains the second-highest number of storylines. Lisa allows the show to explore more serious, politically complex, and poignant stories, so she gets her fair share too. This leaves Marge with the short straw.

Marge’s Season 35 Role Proves She’s Pivotal To The Simpsons

The Show’s Heroine Has Been Highlighted Throughout The Outing

Despite how often she is relegated to a supporting role, Marge is secretly the heart and soul of The Simpsons. Even though season 35, episode 16 revived a tired series trend, “The Tell-Tale Pants“ still succeeded precisely because Marge is a compelling heroine in her own right. Season 35 has repeatedly proven this point, giving Marge an array of different roles across a string of strong outings. In episode 2, “A Mid-Childhood Night’s Dream,” The Simpsons finally delved into criticism that Marge has no life outside of her role as a mother when she suffered fever dreams about Bart growing up too fast.

Marge’s fear of ending up alone was moving and funny in this outing, while episode 13, “Clan of the Cave Mom,” illustrated a whole new side of her. Surprisingly dark, grim segments set in the Stone Age depicted Marge as a protective warrior attempting to shield her children from harm while, in the present, this impulse materialized as Marge escalated a silly feud with Luann Van Houten. Meanwhile, episode 14, “Night of the Living Wage,” saw Marge gain a new job, suffer burnout, and become an unlikely union leader in a plot that proved she is tougher than she seems.

The Simpsons Season 35’s Best Episodes Have Mostly Focused On The Family

The Simpsons Is Returning To Its Roots In Season 35

While many of these episodes succeeded due to Marge’s central role, this also points towards a bigger improvement in the series as a whole. The Simpsons season 35 is focusing on the Simpson family themselves again and, although this may seem obvious, this has massively improved the series. Post Golden-Age Simpsons seasons often featured anthology episodes, novelty outings that centered on random supporting stars such as Duffman or Moe’s sentient bar rag, or critically abhorred episodes built around celebrity cameos.

Like “The Tell-Tale Pants“, season 35’s best episodes have focused on pivotal relationships like Bart/Marge, Marge/Homer, and Lisa//Homer. Although Marge is undoubtedly the season’s MVP, the season as a whole has succeeded primarily because of centering on the titular antiheroes. Season 35’s weaker episodes, such as episode 9, “Murder, She Boat,” fell down mainly due to unnecessary celebrity cameos. Even these outings were largely elevated by sweet subplots between the main characters, such as Lisa clearing Bart’s name when he was accused of a crime. Ironically, The Simpsons season 35 is saving the series by simply centering on the Simpsons.