The following contains spoilers for The Simpsons season 36 episode 5, "Treehouse of Horror XXXV," now streaming on HuluThe thirty-fifth iteration of The Simpsons Halloween tradition creates a new version of Springfield with one key difference from the regular show. Beginning in season 2, "Treehouse of Horror" anthology episodes have become a yearly tradition for The Simpsons. Each episode contains at least three segments that throw the cast of Springfield into a horror-filled version of their world. While many of these shorts take place in a reality similar to the core reality of The Simpsons' family, others take larger tonal swings.
This is true in "Treehouse of Horror XXXV," which shifts time-period and style with each short. The third segment, "Denim," features a major shift for the status quo of the show. Thanks to the non-canon nature of the segment, "Denim" is able to examine one of the show's most fundamental relationships from a new perspective. It's an interesting trend that the episode continues, as it's not uncommon to see The Simpsons' "Treehouse of Horror" episodes undo one of the show's most important relationships.
The Simpsons Season 36 Creates Another World Where Homer & Marge Never Got Together
"Denim" Introduces A Marge And Homer Who Didn't Date Until Long After High School
Season 36's "Treehouse of Horror XXXV" segment "Denim" is the latest example of The Simpsons' Halloween specials imagining worlds where Homer and Marge never got together. "Denim" is largely a parody of Venom, with an alien life-form forming a bond with Homer by becoming his jeans. This timeline is quickly established as a unique world compared to the primary version of Springfield, with an adult Homer pining after Marge from afar. It seems that in this timeline, Homer and Marge never bonded in high school, negating their marriage (and subsequently the birth of Bart, Lisa, and Maggie).
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"Denim" focuses on the burgeoning relationship between the pair, which is complicated by Homer's bond to the Denim symbiote. Ultimately, Denim tries to kill Marge, forcing Homer to choose between them. Choosing Denim leads the alien to spare Marge, but shatters her romance with Marge. It's a surprisingly blunt and quietly somber turn of events, with a lonely Homer playing videogames with Denim and admitting that he still follows Marge's Facebook from afar. It's an interesting exploration of a timeline where Homer and Marge never got together, and is far from the first time the Halloween specials have done this.
Treehouse Of Horror Loves To Imagine Worlds Where Homer Never Married Marge
Earlier Treehouse Of Horror Segments Broke Up Homer And Marge
Due in part to their non-canon nature, The Simpsons has always been able to experiment with the "Treehouse of Horror" episodes. The annual Halloween specials have only become more ambitious and engaging with time, including in their willingness to bend canon. In most segments, Homer and Marge are together as normal. However, some have revealed Marge's affair with an alien like season 10's short "Starship Poopers" or undid their entire marriage through the use of time-travel as in season 24's segment "Bart and Homer's Excellent Adventure."
The most extensive of these changes came with season 34's "Not It." An episode-length parody of Stephen King's It, the story diverged from the typical The Simpsons story when a young Comic Book Guy tricked Marge into believing Homer's profession of love was his own. This set up a world where Marge married him instead, giving birth to variants of Lisa and Bart while Homer remained in Springfield and opened a tavern. The "Treehouse of Horror" specials have found plenty of storytelling potential in exploring worlds where Homer and Marge were never together, with season 36's "Denim" segment following suit.
Why Treehouse Of Horror Can Split Up Homer And Marge So Easily
How Non-Canon Stories Can Reflect One Of The Simpsons' Most Fundamental Plotlines
"Treehouse of Horror" episodes are non-canon, making their decision to kill off characters liberally for the sake of scary stories effective without ruining the core series. However, the frequent decision to break up Homer and Marge or to set up realities where they never got together speaks to one of The Simpsons' core stories. Homer and Marge's romance and enduring love in the face of their bittersweet and bizarre lives are key elements of the show. By putting that relationship in jeopardy, The Simpsons is able to bring thematic stakes to a non-canon short with no impact on the series.
By exploring realities where Homer and Marge never got together, The Simpsons is able to showcase how the pair would work if they were alone, and highlights how incomplete their lives feel without one another in them. Almost all those shorts (save for "Denim") end with the pair reunited, finding one another even if the circumstances of their romance are radically changed. By imagining worlds where the show's primary romance never came to be, The Simpsons is able to bring an additional layer of emotional stakes to otherwise throaway scary shorts.
The Simpsons is a long-running animated TV series created by Matt Groening that satirically follows a working-class family in the misfit city of Springfield. Homer, a bit of a schmoe who works at a nuclear power plant, is the provider for his family, while his wife, Marge, tries to keep sanity and reason in the house to the best of her ability. Bart is a born troublemaker, and Lisa is his super-intelligent sister who finds herself surrounded by people who can't understand her. Finally, Maggie is the mysterious baby who acts as a deus ex machina when the series calls for it. The show puts the family in several wild situations while constantly tackling socio-political and pop-culture topics set within their world, providing an often sharp critique of the subjects covered in each episode. This series first premiered in 1989 and has been a staple of Fox's programming schedule ever since!
Release Date December 17, 1989
Seasons 35
Network FOX
Franchise(s) The Simpsons
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English (US) ·