And Maggie Makes Three

I've stated before there's nothing, in pop culture or elsewhere, that's had a bigger impact on my sense of humor than the Simpsons. I rarely watched it new, as I was young in its heyday, among other reasons, but through high school and college bought the first 10 seasons on DVD and repeatedly absorbed them. It's been a long time now since I've binged (only once in the past ten years?), so my opinions are more from memory than recent experience, but in the meantime the greatness of certain episodes have only solidified in my mind.

Last time I wrote about A Streetcar Named Marge, which is most notable for its exceptional movie references (Streetcar Named Desire, obvs, The Great Escape, The Birds), and is a strong candidate for the best episode they ever made. This time I want to write about what's instead my favorite, called And Maggie Makes Three.

I've long been a fan of the flashback episodes showing the family before the time of the show, where Bart is always 10, Lisa 8, etc. There weren't a ton of these early on (like one per season) but the ones they made were fantastic and heartwarming and made you look at the characters in a new light. It's like they were intended to be a continuation of the first two seasons, where it was more family and lesson oriented. They were just different and stand out to me as such. These are the ones I'm thinking of:

The Way We Was (s2 e12 - Jan 1991)

Homer meets Marge in high school, falls in love and lies to her about taking French so she'll be his tutor. On discovery she refuses to go to prom with him but later realizes her mistake. First appearance of Artie Ziff. 'All right, all right, I'll walk in the mud!'

I Married Marge (s3 e12 - Dec 1991)

Bart's conception, Homer's proposal to Marge, their marriage and Bart's birth. Includes Homer leaving to find a steady job, Patty and Selma getting them back together (!), and Homer impressing Mr. Burns in an interview at the nuclear plant.

Lisa's First Word (s4 e10 - Dec 1992)

While trying to get Maggie to speak, Marge tells the story of Lisa's birth and learning to talk. Bart has a difficult adjustment when she's brought home (the clown bed!), but she loved him from the start and her first word was his name. 'I hope you never say a word.'

Finally, we get to And Maggie Makes Three (s6 e13 - Jan 1995). This one builds on everything above and put together makes a nice little storyline, spread out over four years (five seasons). We'll go more in depth here. It starts with Knightboat, but pretty quickly gets to the family sitting together and looking at a photo album. There are a ton of pictures of Bart, a few pictures of Lisa and no pictures of Maggie. (You may think you know why.) When Lisa points this out, Homer tells a story.

While they still have two kids, Homer has been working with one goal in mind: getting out of debt and quitting his job at the power plant. This is how his story, the real one, starts. After receiving his paycheck he lives out the fantasy of many Americans (at least in those days) by telling off his boss and walking out, quite literally burning a bridge.

He then goes and gets his dream job at a bowling alley. It pays very little but at this point Homer doesn't need anything more. And he'll be happy. That night Homer and Marge go out to celebrate and after getting home, and immediately after expressing 'I hope things stay exactly like this forever,' Maggie is conceived.

Hilariously unaware Marge is now pregnant, Homer has the time of his life as a 'pin monkey.' There's a great bit about the pins being made brand-new every time they're knocked down. Marge, after confirming with Dr. Hibbert, has a tough time telling Homer the news, even though she's obviously showing. When he finally figures it out he freaks and pulls out one of his hairs. If you hadn't noticed in the flashback, he had three then. It's also revealed Homer is actually bald because he's ripped out hair each time he learns Marge is pregnant. A full head to male pattern baldness when hearing about Bart, male pattern to three hairs with Lisa, three hairs to two with Maggie. Now grappling with the change, and needing money, Homer attempts to bring in more business in order to get a raise. He is not successful.

Crawling back to Mr. Burns, he begs for his old job back. He does get it, but he's also given a disheartening plaque. 'Don't Forget, You're Here Forever.' Homer is down and as soon as he gets home he has to rush Marge to the hospital to deliver the baby.

Throughout you're led to believe Homer doesn't care for Maggie. Maybe he even resents her. There's the lack of pictures. There's the fact he almost sits on her. There's the fact he's outright complaining about another mouth to feed while she's being born. But as soon as she's out in the world his mood changes in an instant, aided by her grabbing his thumb. As for the pictures, we see they're where he needs them most.

There are lots of reasons to like this episode. It's the final chapter of how the Simpsons family came to be, building on a few other flashbacks in a way this show usually doesn't operate. Here the characters (mostly Homer) are about as complex as they get, and not just caricatures of themselves like they become later. Homer has a life plan and takes a shot at executing it. It's the very baby, who he thinks he dreads, that helps him overcome his sadness of failure. How can you not like these characters more after this?

There's a ton of funny moments along the way too, but the singular moment at the very end is the reason this is my favorite. It wrecked me long before I had kids of my own and now, oddly enough, I have three and the last is a baby girl. There's no way it'll be replaced from that spot.