While The Simpsons is home to many unsolved mysteries, season 35’s best episode finally addressed one of these. Even if the entirety of The Simpsons season 36 was devoted to explaining the world of Springfield, the show would still struggle to make sense of its confusing, contradictory canon. Since The Simpsons has been on the air for thirty-five years, the show has essentially given up on justifying its many plot holes and continuity errors. The Simpsons season 34 even saw Homer admit he wasn’t sure what decade he was born in, a meta-reference to the show’s elastic canon.

While the Simpsons never age, this has not stopped the show from changing their birthdates whenever it is convenient. In season 2, episode 12, “The Way We Was,” Homer and Marge were seen attending high school together in 1974. By season 33, episode 1, “The Star of the Backstage,” Marge’s high school musical was revealed to be “Y2K: The Millennium Bug,” meaning she attended high school in 1999. The series never addressed this discrepancy beyond a few meta-gags. However, season 35’s best episode did concede that the show’s canon is inconsistent and succeeded as a story despite this.

The Simpsons Admitted Its Hero Don’t Age In Season 35

Marge Worried About Bart Growing Up In “A Mid-Childhood Night’s Dream”

The Simpsons never seem to age, but season 35, episode 2, “A Mid Childhood Night’s Dream” proved the series can address this theme. The episode centered on Marge’s fears about Bart growing up as she came to terms with him no longer caring about the school’s annual Bounce-a-Thon. In the process, The Simpsons drew attention to the fact that Bart has been a ten-year-old since 1989. Despite this risky decision, the episode was a massive success, although not for the reasons that viewers might initially assume. The Simpsons didn’t justify Bart’s lack of aging but simply ignored it.

To viewers, it is obvious that Bart’s age is never going to change. However, there is no reason that Marge would know this since she exists in the same universe as him. The Simpsons betrayed Bart before but this episode made great use of his troubled relationship with Marge. Marge was worried by the prospect of an empty nest as her fever-dreams warned her of a world where, without Lisa, Bart, and Maggie around, she had no purpose. This anxiety felt believable and rooted in reality precisely because the show ignored the meta-reality that Bart and Lisa don’t age.

The Simpsons Season 35 Leaned Into The Show’s Contradictions

Marge’s Trippy Dream World Didn’t Need Logic

“A Mid-Childhood Night’s Dream” was all about Bart growing up, but the show avoided actually aging him up for good. Like season 8, episode 9, “El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer),” the whole outing was shaped by dream logic, so the fact that Marge had nothing to worry about wasn’t relevant. A weaker episode would have featured throwaway jokes where one of Marge’s dream guides pointed at the show’s characters never age, but The Simpsons was right to resist this punchline. The decision made Marge’s plight surprisingly moving despite its lack of stakes.

Viewers technically knew that The Simpsons was never going to make Bart older in season 35, but “A Mid-Childhood Night’s Dream” proved that the characters don’t necessarily need to know this. In season 2, episode 11, “One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish,” it was pretty obvious that Homer wasn’t going to be killed off after eating potentially poisonous sushi, and Milhouse’s mom poisoning Bart in season 35’s finale was clearly not going to result in his permanent canon death. The important thing was that “A Mid-Childhood Night’s Dream” made Marge’s fears relatable despite the show’s absurd cartoon reality.

The Simpsons Season 5’s Best Episode Confirms An Awkward Truth

The Series Is Better Off Ignoring Canon Inconsistencies

The Simpsons can get a few cheap laughs out of pointing out its own internal contradictions with meta jokes, but too many gags like this ultimately undermine the show’s stakes. Acknowledging the many mysteries of The Simpsons can prove that the show is aware of its complex past, but the series is better off sidestepping these issues in poignant outings like “A Mid-Childhood Night’s Dream.” Episodes that sincerely engage with themes like aging, even though the characters don’t really age, prove that The Simpsons can pull more emotionally resonant stories when it ignores these continuity problems.

Not every episode of the show needs to be a tearjerker, so it makes sense for The Simpsons to mock its own canon occasionally. The show is a subversive cartoon comedy and, although it isn’t as abrasively absurd as South Park or American Dad, it remains zany and outlandish. The earliest seasons of The Simpsons were as grounded as Bob’s Burgers, but the show has never returned to this tone since its more cartoony Golden Age. Still, The Simpsons doesn’t always need to highlight its own inconsistencies to maintain a playful, self-referential tone, and dramatic episodes benefit from avoiding this.

The Simpsons Season 35 Episode 2 Started A Great Trend

Marge’s Season 35 Episodes Were All Stand-Out Successes

The reason The Simpsons season 35’s best character arc belonged to Marge is precisely because her character is more sincere and less cynical than the rest of the family. Marge’s episodes were less reliant on meta-gags about the show’s shortcomings since these winking gags seem out of place when they come from the family’s matriarch. The sardonic Lisa, the cartoony Homer, and the rebellious Bart have all acknowledged their role in a TV series over the years, usually via sly meta-jokes about the fourth wall or the show’s longevity, but Marge has fewer of these moments.

Marge’s sincerity made her a perfect heroine in The Simpsons season 35 since episodes like “A Mid-Childhood Night’s Dream” wouldn’t work with a more self-aware character at their center. The Simpsons season 36 must highlight Bart and Lisa too, but the critical success of “A Mid-Childhood Night’s Dream” proves that Marge is the perfect leading lady for the series. It is almost impossible for a show as subversive as The Simpsons to ignore its own plot holes, but centering Marge’s perspective allows the show to avoid addressing the internal contradictions found in the world of the series.