The Simpsons Revealed How Lisa And Bart Will Die (And It's Perfect)

The latest episode of "The Simpsons," season 36's "Stew Lies,' features an opening storyline between Lisa and Bart that wraps up surprisingly fast. Bart tries to drive Lisa crazy by repeating everything she says, committing hard to the bit even after days, weeks, and months have passed. At first, Lisa is annoyed, but she decides to use the opportunity to improve Bart's life. She gets him to learn the saxophone, learn another language, and perform better at school. By the end of the first act, Lisa reads aloud a heartfelt letter to her brother that celebrates their sibling bond, while a moved-to-tears Bart copies along with her. 

It's a storyline so sweet it makes me uncomfortable. (My cold and bitter heart can no longer handle things so pure.) Luckily for the more cynical "Simpsons" fans, this opening Bart/Lisa storyline is quickly scrapped for the main storyline about Homer becoming friends with a Guy Fieri-esque character. When the episode does loop back around to Bart and Lisa, in a surprise mid-credits scene, things are back to being pure silly. 

The mid-credits scene jumps forward 20 years to show adult Lisa Simpson, NASA's lead astrophysicist, about to enjoy the honor of being the first human to speak directly to aliens. Lisa tries to give the aliens a warm, professional welcome, but adult Bart pops up to start copying her again. They start arguing, and the aliens (beloved Kang and Kodos) overhear it. They conclude that Earth must be a warlike planet, so they blow it up. As Earth explodes, we hear Lisa yelling "Your fault!" to Bart, and Bart stubbornly repeats it. 

Does this ending kind of undermine the heartfelt conclusion Bart and Lisa's storyline got this week? Sort of, but at least it's on brand for them to die in a petty sibling squabble. The only issue is that it's not clear if this counts as "Simpsons" canon.

The main reason to think Lisa and Bart's deaths here don't count is the inclusion of Kang and Kodos. These two aliens are rarely on-screen outside of "Treehouse of Horror" anthology episodes, which are always non-canonical. They almost popped up at the end of "The Simpsons Movie," but the scene was cut after test audiences disapproved. When Kang and Kodos do pop up in non-"Treehouse" episodes, it's typically for a one-off meta gag, something not meant to be taken too seriously.

The other complication is that, well, we've already seen Lisa and Bart's futures countless times before. In season 11's "Bart to the Future," Lisa was President of the United States, not an astrophysicist. In season 23's "Holidays of Future Passed," Lisa is a successful businesswoman. If we want to believe this death scene is real, we'll have to discount both of those other, fuller glimpses into the Simpson family's future. 

Then again, "The Simpsons" has always been a show that's asked us to accept multiple canons and timelines. Homer and Marge's teenage years, for instance, have been constantly rewritten for new decades, same as Lisa and Bart's adult years. "The Simpsons" has made clear that the details of these characters' pasts and futures may always be in a state of flux, but the gist of them stays the same: Homer and Marge will meet and fall in love in late high school, Lisa will be successful, and Bart will sadly be cursed to be kind of a loser. At least in "Stew Lies," he got to go out as a loser having fun.