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The Simpsons season 36 episode 1 was released on Fox on September 29, 2024, and caught many fans off guard. While they expected to watch the first episode of the highly anticipated 36th season, they were greeted with an episode that seemed to hint at the show's conclusion.
However, by the end of the episode, the air was cleared, and it was revealed that the episode indeed marked the beginning of a new season (2 more seasons to be exact).
The approach to storytelling in The Simpsons season 36 episode 1 was unlike anything the audiences had experienced in the show before. The episode satirically took a jab at artificial intelligence creating a meta-narrative about the show's characters and their plots while highlighting how easy it was to deceive others in the modern world.
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Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for The Simpsons season 36 episode 1. Please read at your discretion.
The Simpsons season 36 episode 1 recap: The end or the beginning?
Many The Simpsons fans were surprised to see the opening episode of the show's 36th season. This is because while people tuned into their respective streaming platforms of choice to view the episode that would mark the beginning of a new journey, it appeared like the show was ending.
Conan O'Brien who had previously appeared as a guest on the show took on the host's role for The Simpsons season 36 episode 1 and announced the end of the show. He was accompanied by other stars at the Dolby-Mucinex Theater among whom the most prominent name was of Forrest Gump and Saving Private Ryan star, Tom Hanks.
During the episode, host Conan O'Brien at one point revealed that the episode that the audiences were about to see on the screens, dubbed as the finale of The Simpsons, had been entirely written by a modern mode of communication and information generation known as Hack-GPT and dubbed it as “the latest in plagiarism technology.”
Soon after, the audiences were reintroduced to The Simpsons characters since they last saw them in season 35. However, things seemed a bit off. After Homer forgets to send off invites for Bart's birthday, he goes about the town distributing the invites himself.
However, he notices that everything around him has changed and the world around him seems more and more like a simulation. He notices that all the characters he had been associated with in the past in the show's trajectory have got some form of closure which has put an end to their stories.
Despite the striking changes in characters around him, what triggered him the most was his age. Fans who have been watching The Simpsons since its inception are aware that Bart hasn't aged a year since it was revealed that he was ten years of age in the show's very first episode.
However, The Simpsons season 36 episode 1 revealed that Bart is now 11 years old, raising questions in his mind. This incident is succeeded by Homer choking Bart, followed by Bart having a breakdown, crashing into his cake, and finally emerging from the simulated environment (one likely created by Hack-GPT).
The Simpsons season 36 episode 1: Is Bart 11 years old?
As previously mentioned, The Simpsons season 36 episode 1 tried to establish a meta-narrative of some sort by indulging the audiences in plotlines that were often confusing. But all of it was clarified in the end when it was revealed that what the audiences were seeing on the screen was not an actual ending to The Simpsons but an Artificial Intelligence-generated version of it.
What was even more relieving was the revelation that the show wasn't ending but was starting afresh. This incident was marked by Bart realizing that he was no longer 10 years old, but 11, an odd occurrence in the show's narrative. Triggered by the occurrences around him following this realization, Bart and the others are brought back to their senses when The Simpsons world is reset.
After that, everything goes back to normal and Bart is no longer 11 years old. Additionally, Conan O'Brien who served as the guest host for the closing ceremony of the show announced that The Simpsons season 36 episode 1 was indeed not the end.
Those excited to catch up on the latest episode of the show can watch The Simpsons Season 36 Episode 1 on Hulu, Disney Plus, and Fox.
