12. The Way We Was

Episode Title: "The Way We Was"
Episode Number: 25
Original Air Date:  January 31, 1991

Plot Synopsis: After the Simpson family television breaks unexpectedly, Marge decides to fill the time by telling Bart and Lisa how she and Homer first met. We flash back to high school in 1974, which is when Homer and Marge were both seniors. Marge is depicted as a good student, but a bit of a crappy feminist. Homer and Barney (who are now suddenly lifelong best friends) are essentially the exact opposite of that. Homer and Barney get sent to detention for smoking. Marge gets sent to detention for causing a ruckus by burning her bra at a feminist rally. Homer and Marge meet, and Homer quickly falls in love.

Homer launches a campaign to try to impress Marge. He starts by joining the debate team, where he ends up mooning everyone. During a debate meeting we are also introduced to Artie Ziff, voiced by Jon Lovitz. Homer asks Marge to the prom, and she surprisingly accepts. Homer keeps trying to win her affection and pretends to be struggling in French so that she'll tutor him. To be completely fair, Homer IS struggling in French - it's just that he doesn't take a French class of any kind. A technicality, sure, but still. Regardless, Marge finds out that Homer essentially lied and tells him she hates him. She's also mad because she had a debate meeting the next morning and Homer kept her up until like 1:00am.

Right around this time, Artie Ziff asks Marge to the prom and she accepts. Homer shows up to take her out, as he didn't want to ruin anything so he skipped school and stayed away from her for three weeks, and is heartbroken when Artie Ziff shows up, too. Homer gets to the prom in just enough time to see Marge and Artie get crowned King and Queen. Bummed out, he heads home on foot. Marge and Artie go to make out in the back seat of his car, and Artie gets a little uncomfortably frisky. Marge, not one to get frisky in any way at this point, gets Artie to take her home. Once her and Ziff have parted ways, she gets in her car and looks for Homer. The episode ends with Young Homer saying that if things go on the way they're going, he's going to hug her and kiss her and never let her go. Present Day Homer concludes with "and I never did."

Overall Thoughts: This is a fun, touching little episode focusing on the early days of Homer and Marge's relationship. As a kid, I never really liked these flashback episodes as they weren't particularly filled with wall-to-wall laughs. While this remains true with the perspective of age, the story is still quite effective. A running theme that I'm running into as I go back and watch the series from the beginning is "episodes that I used to hate I now really enjoy." I'm glad to say that this episode continues that tradition. The tradition means that I was a stupid little kid, but whatever. Baby steps.

What Works: I love the idea of "the TV is broken, so I guess we'll tell a story." It's a great, "Simpsony" device to set up a flashback. It isn't the strongest excuse, but it's just enough to satisfy me. That, and the fact that Bart basically hates everything that's happening the entire time.

I enjoy the fact that the writers really decided to flesh out Barney. They've begun expanding his character to make him less of "that loud drunk at Moe's" and essentially Homer's best friend. It's a good role for him, offers good opportunities for some great jokes and really helps make him feel as real as possible.

I really like that Young Marge is the worst feminist ever. When asked if she thinks that women shouldn't be paid the same wages as men, she replies with an honest yet misguided "not if I have to do heavy lifting or math."

The way that Young(er) Grandpa Simpson is depicted is uncomfortably close to members of my own family. I know it's a generational thing, and a lot of men from the time were probably exactly like this, but it's still kind of crazy to watch.

This episode features a wonderful guest appearance by Jon Lovitz. The Artie Ziff character is just so hateable, and Lovitz plays him to perfection. He's very (and surprisingly) restrained. He's not "I must be the center of attention" Jon Lovitz the way he kind of typically comes across. It's just an all around solid performance.

What Doesn't Work: I'm really thinking of removing this section from these reviews, as there isn't anything that "doesn't work," necessarily. There are episodes that are funnier or more touching than others, and there are ones that I like more than others, but nothing is out and out not working here.

Closing Thoughts: Marge legitimately brings out the best in Homer, as evidenced by their French lessons. When Homer remarks that he's actually retaining all the things she's trying to teach him, he's legitimately surprised. It's a wonderful aspect of their relationship.

Of note, this episode also marks the first appearance of "McBain." I don't really have a story or a comment to go along with that. I just wanted to point it out. I've always thought the "McBain" parodies were really funny.

Oh, and also, this episode features the first appearance of Marge's father in the flashback. I can't remember him ever appearing again (though, to be fair, I haven't remembered a lot of stuff that ended up happening almost immediately), so I'm curious to see if we ever find out more about him. Now that I've said that, I guarantee we do. Probably in the next episode, because I'm an idiot.

Final Grade (out of 10): 9