Simpson Episodes That Will Make You Cry

 

Mother Simpson

When Homer’s mother comes back into his life he is overjoyed. Sadly, she has to abandon him again. They say their goodbyes and Homer sits alone on the hood of his car contemplating the night sky. It’s one of the loneliest, saddest Simpson’s moments. I cried right through the credits.

And Maggie Makes Three

Bart and Lisa ask Homer why there are no photos of Maggie, prompting Homer to tell the story of her birth. Homer’s life is ruined when Marge becomes pregnant with Maggie. He’s realized his dream of working at the bowling alley but because of the financial strain of another child, he has to beg Mr. Burns for his job back. Mr. Burns puts up a sign that says “Don’t forget: you’re here forever” on Homer’s desk just to rub in how miserable the rest of his life will be. Then Maggie is born and he falls instantly in love with her. This is when we see what happened to Maggie’s baby pictures: Homer hung them up over Burns’ sign so that some of the letters are blocked out. The ones that remain read “Do it for her.”  It’s so beautifully touching that I just teared up writing this paragraph.

Lisa the Vegetarian

Lisa decides to become a vegetarian and nobody respects her newfound beliefs, especially Homer, who throws a barbeque complete with pig roast. They have a huge fight and she runs away only to meet Paul McCartney who explains to her that she needs to respect the beliefs of other people as well as herself. She meets Homer on the street and they apologize to each other. Then, in one of the sweetest father-daughter moments EVER, Homer offers Lisa a “veggie-back ride.” I cried and cried. For my innocence and my childhood and my relationship with my father. Truly touching.

Bart the Mother

Bart is pressured by Nelson to shoot a bird with a BB gun and ends up killing a mommy bird. Marge is so disappointed she can’t even look at him. So Bart takes the bird’s eggs home out of guilt and shame and desperately tries to keep them safe in his treehouse. Marge notices all the time he’s spending up there and thinks he’s up to something. When she realizes that Bart’s trying to save the babies, she tells him she’s so proud of him and they both take care of the eggs together. Despite the fact that lizards hatch from the eggs, not birds, it’s still one of the greatest mother-son moments in television history. Never mind the fact that Marge reminds me so much of my mom and Bart reminds me so much of my brother. Plus, the whole animal dying factor. I saw this when I was 11 and it really affected me. Even now, 12 years later I still get choked up thinking about it.

The Squirt and The Whale

This is the episode that prompted me to write this list. It’s a newer episode and I saw it for the first time last week. Lisa tries to save a beached whale. She asks Homer for help and he enthusiastically tells her it will all be ok only to have Marge caution him that, “these things don’t end well. You can’t get her hopes up.” But Lisa’s hopes are sky high as she stares into the huge eyes of this beautifully animated blue whale, who she names Bluella. They try to push her back into the ocean all day but nothing works. Lisa falls asleep on the beach beside her. When she wakes up, the coast guard is hauling Bluella out to sea. Lisa watches as the whale dives and jumps out of the water with joy. Suddenly, Bluella jumps out of the water and begins to swim in the stars, floating weightless in the night sky. That’s when Lisa wakes up. It was all a dream. She looks over a Bluella and realizes that the whale is dead. DEAD. I’m an animal lover and I have so much empathy for people who love animals. Plus, Lisa Simpson is very dear to my heart. She was my role model as a child and I’ve actually said to people, “Everything I know, I learned from Lisa Simpson.” Needless to say, I heaved huge, wracking sobs that I tried in vain to hide from my fiancé. I couldn’t stop crying. I was tearing up for the rest of the night. Then, the next day I was in the shower and I thought about it, only to start crying again. And yes, I am crying right now as I type this.

A big thank-you to everyone who works on The Simpsons for having so much heart.