Summary

  • Season 35's "It's a Blunderful Life" returns to the future Springfield teased many times over the years.
  • The episode revealed Homer will indeed be the first of the main family to pass away sixty years after the show's primary time frame.
  • It's a bittersweet but pitch-perfect way for the character to go out, especially since it's far enough removed from the core canon of the show.

The following contains spoilers for The Simpsons Season 35, Episode 7, "It's a Blunderful Life" now streaming on Hulu.

The Simpsons are surprisingly durable, even when compared to other cartoon characters. Homer in particular has survived more punishment than most, always bouncing back from his brushes with death with relative ease. But as the show has become more willing to tease out the future fates of their characters in flashforward episodes, Homer has been shown slowing down and enjoying the quieter parts of life for what they are. The latest example of this might also be the last, as it quietly reveals how the family moves on without him.

Season 35's "It's a Blunderful Life (directed by Matthew Nastuk and written by Elisabeth Kiernan Averick) reveals the final fate of Homer Simpson, showcasing how the family comes together in the wake of his passing. Taking place decades after the present-day setting of the show, the Simpsons' first Thanksgiving without Homer quietly reveals that he ultimately got the life he always wanted, surrounded by loved ones and passing away peacefully. It's a bittersweet revelation, but one that feels perfectly attuned to Homer as a character and to the overarching themes of The Simpsons.

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The Simpsons family mourn Homer in Season 35's "It's a Blunderful Life."
Homer Simpson
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"It's a Blunderful Life" is largely focused on Homer's attempts to convince his family and the rest of Springfield that he isn't responsible for a massive power outage. He's even telling the truth, as he did his job correctly for once. In reality, it had been Mr. Burns who caused the catastrophe, inadvertently starting a fire after doing a musical number about replacing his employees with non-union workers.

Although Homer struggles to convince anyone -- especially Marge -- of his innocence, the truth eventually comes out and Marge invites the entire repentant town to share Thanksgiving dinner with them. While this portion of the episode is told in present-day Springfield, the episode's framing device is instead set sixty years into the future, focusing on a Thanksgiving gathering at the Simpsons' home.

Decades from the present day, the Simpsons family has grown even larger than before. Bart and Lisa have become grandparents themselves. Bart's sons Jiff and Skippy are grown, with one of them seemingly having a son of his own. Lisa's daughter Zia -- now sporting a professional suit -- seems to have a pair of daughters. Maggie's two teenage daughters are shown using pacifiers as their mother has always been shown with. Even Patty and Selma are present, celebrating the holiday with their sister Marge.

However, one seat at the table is empty. Marge reveals that this is the first Thanksgiving holiday they've celebrated since Homer passed away, a bittersweet note that is lessened somewhat by the revelation that they still have a very accurate hologram of Homer who can join them for dinner. Even though this holographic Homer keeps the revelation from being too somber, it does provide a surprisingly perfect ending to one of modern animation's most enduring characters.

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Homer's final fate has been teased many times throughout The Simpsons, which has always employed its loose sense of continuity to be comedic rather than etched in stone. God hinted to Homer that he only had six months to live in Season 4's "Homer the Heretic" (directed by Jim Reardon and written by George Meyer), while a distant future ruled by advanced apes seemed to use multiple clones of Homer as manual labor in Season 5's "Rosebud" (Directed by Wes Archer and Written by John Swartzwelder). The montage of the family's deaths in Season 29's "Flanders' Ladder" (directed by Matthew Nastuk and written by J. Stewart Burns) suggested Homer would be shot and killed by the Springfield Police at the age of 59.

But this newest death suggests Homer was upwards of 90 or beyond when he passed, given his fluctuating age range across the course of the series. The future glimpsed in "It's a Blunderful Life" takes place in the same setting that other recent "future" episodes of The Simpsons have taken place in, featuring the return of the next generation of the titular family, suggesting that it's more in line with the show's other looks into the future and can be considered a more firm ending for the family patriarch. But if that's the case, Homer's final fate might be perfect for the character.

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Much of The Simpsons has been dedicated to the often life-threatening exploits of Homer, with the character suffering and surviving plenty of punishment over the years. His shocking endurance has allowed him to weather almost all of that pain and get right back up, but he's had plenty of genuine brushes with death over the years. These experiences have pushed him to live life to the fullest many times over, leading to an ever-changing life where he's won Grammys, befriended Presidents, and been to space.

Homer's ambitions and self-centered search for thrills have always been tempered by his loyalty to his friends and family, especially Marge. Season 23's "Beware my Cheating Bart" revealed that Homer's ultimate fantasy is to live long and spend as much of it as he can with Marge, imagining a scenario where the two simply sit together on a park bench and lean on each other. It's a sweet sentiment and a core drive of the character -- as well as a big reason the occasionally "Jerkass" character remains endearing despite his faults.

"It's a Blunderful Life" suggests that this eventually came to pass and that Homer spent his golden years alongside Marge. Her soft remembrance of her husband in the episode hints that she never left Homer, speaking to the how's overarching themes of families staying together in the best, worst, and weirdest of times. Season 25's "Brick Like Me" (Directed by Matthew Nastuk and Written by Brian Kelley) saw Homer accept that his children will grow up, and he learned to embrace the idea that they won't be gone from his life. With the revelation that Homer became a Great-Grandfather whose descendants still gather for the holidays, Homer's desire to remain a part of his children's lives is affirmed.

Homer's hologram eats turkey in Season 35's "It's a Blunderful Life."
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It's impossible to say for sure how Homer will die -- and the episode wisely leaves that aspect of his death to the imagination. Marge's choice of words suggests that Homer passed away peacefully instead of in the middle of one of his wild adventures, following through on the other future episodes' hints that Homer eventually calmed down as he got older. If that's the case, then Homer ultimately got the happy ending he always wanted. Many episodes have suggested that Homer isn't necessarily afraid of death.

While he wants to enjoy life for as long as he can, many episodes like "Brick Like Me" and Season 16's "Sleeping with the Enemy" (Directed by Lauren MacMullan and Written by Jon Vitti) had Homer refer to the "peace of the grave" as the reward for a well-lived life. With that in mind, Homer's final fate in The Simpsons seems to be what he always wished for. He lived a long and happy life with Marge and saw his children grow. Homer's life seems to have ended peacefully, with a loving and growing family surrounding him. Even Patty and Selma, frequent foes of Homer over the years, quietly pay tribute to him along with the rest of the family -- hinting that their antagonism may have faded with time.

It's the absolute perfect ending for the character, a heartwarming and silly conclusion to the primary figure within The Simpsons. The show will continue with more episodes largely set in (an ever-fluid) present day, with Season 36 already confirmed to be in the pipeline. But The Simpsons just gave Homer a perfectly bittersweet, silly, and heartwarming send-off -- imbuing it with the emotional core that's helped make the series so endearing and beloved.