The Simpsons Season 35 Brings Back The Show's Most Underrated Character Pairing
One of the most surprising aspects of classic era of "Simpsons" is just how little focus Marge and Bart get as a character duo. As YouTube "Simpsons" expert TheRealJims pointed out, the two characters don't actually get their own special A-storyline until "Marge Be Not Proud," the Christmas episode from season 7 where Bart gets caught shoplifting and is forced to seriously deal with Marge's disappointment. (That's over 150 episodes into the series!) It's a surprise gut-wrencher of an episode, told largely from Bart's perspectiv,e as he worries he might've lost his mother's love forever. The stakes aren't actually that high, of course, but from Bart's 10-year-old point-of-view, they definitely feel like they are.
Bart and Marge episodes did start happening a little more regularly in later seasons, but unfortunately, they tend not to be remembered as well in the fandom as all those Homer and Lisa episodes in earlier seasons. It's not because these later episodes are bad — in fact, they tend to consistently outshine their surrounding episodes — but they're released long past the show's prime. It's common for casual "Simpsons" fans to talk about how they don't bother with any episode after seasons 8 or 9, which means that "Marge Be Not Proud" is basically the only Marge/Bart episode that is consistently re-watched; we've been talking about that episode for twenty-eight years now, and we're not gonna stop any time soon.
But while season 35's second episode, "A Mid-Childhood Night's Dream," has been released decades after the golden age of the show's wrapped up, it'll still likely end up on a bunch of "10 Hidden Gems of Modern Simpsons" lists in the years to come. Those rare Bart and Marge episodes are always winners, after all, and this one's no exception.
A reverse of season 7
Like the aforementioned season 7 storyline, this latest episode also focuses around Marge's fears of Bart growing up too fast, except now it's told almost exclusively from Marge's perspective. Whereas "Marge Be Not Proud" has Bart reading too much into a wounded Marge's decision to give him more space, "A Mid-Childhood Night's Dream" is all about Marge freaking out over those minor signs of Bart growing up. From Bart's perspective, his refusal to do an enthusiastic thumbs-up picture at the school's yearly Bounce-A-Thon is not a big deal, but to a feverish Marge having nightmares about her kids all growing up and leaving her, this is a devastating blow. First, he's too old to enjoy Bounce-A-Thon, next thing she knows, he'll be off to college, never to return.
Like most good Bart and Marge spotlight episodes, this one works because of how well it centers itself on a few strong, relatable emotions. Like with Bart accidentally shooting that bird in season 10's "Bart the Mother," most people can relate to the fear of disappointing a parent to the point where the trust's gone forever. With this episode, most people can relate (or at least understand) the grief Marge feels when realizing Bart's hands are nearly bigger than hers now. "When my newborn son put his tiny hand on my chest, I remember thinking it was as small and delicate as a dandelion flower," the episode's writer, Carolyn Omine, wrote on Twitter as the episode aired. "In a blink of an eye, his hands were bigger than mine." Bart's oblivious to the mini-existential crisis Marge is having as he asks her to remove a splinter from his hand, but the episode itself treats it as seriously as Marge does.
An earnest episode
The last season or so of "The Simpsons" has gotten a reputation for being surprisingly good, but one big thing keeping it away from the show's classic era quality is its overuse of meta humor. It's grown common for the show to throw in a nonsensical ending, followed by commentary from the characters on how nonsensical the ending is. It was funny when classic-era "Simpsons" sometimes did it, but by now it's just frustrating. Not only is the show being lazy, but it's telling us it knows how lazy it's being, as if that's supposed to make it better. Instead, all it does is remind us of those other episodes where the jokes were smoothly interwoven into a compelling plot, where it felt like the stuff we were watching actually mattered.
This is part of why "A Midnight-Childhood Night's Dream" feels like such a breath of fresh air. In a story about Bart growing up too fast, it's so easy to imagine a version of the episode where the show threw in some meta jokes about how Marge technically doesn't have anything to worry about. They could've easily included a line about how Bart's been 10 yeas old for 35 years now, and he's probably not going to get older any time soon. Instead the episode has the restraint to throw any such joke to the side, a choice perfectly in line with all the other best Marge and Bart episodes. It's like how "Marge Be Not Proud" treats Bart's shoplifting as the single most heinous and unforgivable act a kid could do; this episode treats Marge's fears as if they're the most important thing in the world, because to her they are.
Why these two work so well
Marge and Bart episodes are so great in general for much the same reason Lisa and Homer episodes are so consistently strong: the two characters are clearly opposites in so many ways, yet there's always a lot of love and respect between them. There's a small thrill that comes every time the two find themselves on the same page about something, because both they and the audience understand that these moments are rare and fleeting.
It also helps that, just as Lisa's there to speak reason to Homer and talk him down from his more crazy, unhinged behavior, Marge is the angel on Bart's shoulder. As TheRealJims once put it, "Marge is the only character on the show that Bart consistently takes seriously. Homer's a joke, Lisa is his dorky sister, Maggie's a baby, but he's had enough run-ins with Marge to never underestimate her."
On Marge's side of things, Bart shows just how unconditional the love for her kids is, as she never stops trying to spend quality time with him, despite his opposite temperament and disinterest in hanging out with his mother in general. Bart will always be a troublemaker, something the fairly goody-two-shoes Marge has never quite been able to relate to. But she never stops seeing the best in him and still loves him the way he is, to the point that the idea of him changing at all terrifies her.
"A Mid-Childhood Night's Dream" gets to the heart of this dynamic, and reminds us that, even after 35 seasons, there's still fresh, compelling material for these characters to deal with. Bart might not ever grow up for real, but Marge's dread over the idea gives us one of the strongest "Simpsons" episodes in years.