For more than three decades, The Simpsons has been one of the most iconic TV shows on the air. After so long, it might be too late to end the series in a satisfying way with a definitive finale episode that brings the stories of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie to a natural conclusion with a real sense of finality. Simpsons fans have enjoyed more than 700 episodes across 33 seasons, and itâs still going strong with a 34th season on the way.
Itâs by far the longest-running primetime scripted series in the history of U.S. television. The Simpsons was one of the many valuable assets that Disney picked up in its very expensive acquisition of 21st Century Fox. Since the Mouse House wants some bang for its buck, it probably wonât let the producers end the series any time soon. But The Simpsons has already aired a few episodes that wouldâve made a fitting series finale.
Lisaâs First Word (Season 4, Episode 10)
Simpsons fans wouldâve missed out on a lot of great Golden Age episodes if this was the last one, but season 4âs âLisaâs First Wordâ wouldâve marked a heartfelt conclusion to the Simpsonsâ story. The episode fleshes out the story timeline as flashbacks fill in the early days of Bart and Lisaâs childhood. Bart and Lisa are always fighting, but the underlying sweetness of their dynamic is that, deep down, they love each other. âLisaâs First Wordâ encapsulates that perfectly. When Lisa is born, Bart is initially resentful of the attention his new baby sister receives, but warms to her when she says her first word â âBartâ â and he realizes she looks up to him.
Maggieâs own first word, uttered in the final scene of this episode, wouldâve been the perfect ending for the series. The running joke of Bart and Lisa calling their dad âHomerâ is paid off with one of the most poignant, tearjerking moments in the showâs history. After Homer puts Maggie to bed, she takes out her pacifier and says, âDaddy.â This ending resolves the other dramatic underpinning of the series: Homer is pretty hopeless as a husband and father, but he genuinely loves Marge and the kids and would do anything for them.
You Only Move Twice (Season 8, Episode 2)
Not only is season 8âs âYou Only Move Twiceâ praised as one of the greatest Simpsons episodes ever made; it also wouldâve made a great series finale. Homer takes a job working for a James Bondian supervillain and relocates the family to a new town. It would be appropriate for the finale to feature the voice of regular guest star Albert Brooks (or, as heâs always credited on the show, A. Brooks). Here, he plays Hank Scorpio, the charming megalomaniac who hires Homer as the chief motivator in his corporationâs nuclear division. Scorpio is one of the showâs most memorable one-off characters.
Homer settles into his new career nicely, but every other Simpson struggles to fit in at their new home in Cypress Creek. This storyline hammers home that Springfield is exactly where the family belongs, which wouldâve been a lovely sentiment to end the series on.
Summer Of 4 Ft. 2 (Season 7, Episode 25)
The season 7 finale, âSummer of 4 Ft. 2,â couldâve been the finale of the whole series. It kicks off with a natural narrative conclusion â the end of Bart and Lisaâs school year â and the ensuing storyline refreshingly breaks away from the formula by sending the family away from Springfield. The Simpsons spend the summer at Flandersâ beach house, where Lisa is determined to change her life. âSummer of 4 Ft. 2â wouldnât necessarily be a perfect ending for the entire Simpson clan, but it would certainly make a perfect ending for Lisaâs character arc. She adopts a new personality to make friends on vacation, but ultimately realizes she was fine just the way she was.
Behind The Laughter (Season 11, Episode 22)
Season 11âs âBehind the Laughterâ is the most self-aware episode of The Simpsons. It reimagines the entire show as a show-within-a-show. In a sharp spoof of the VH1 series Behind the Music, âBehind the Laughterâ is a mockumentary about the ârealâ Simpson family, who are supposedly celebrities who star in their own eponymous sitcom. This meta riff wouldâve been an outside-the-box way to conclude the series.
Holidays Of Future Passed (Season 23, Episode 9)
According to Today, Al Jean said in an interview with former Simpsons writer Conan OâBrien that the season 23 episode âHolidays of Future Passedâ was written as a potential series finale. The voice actors were renegotiating their salaries and the writers had to come up with a feasible ending in case those negotiations fell through and the show couldnât continue. When the episode aired, critics agreed that, if that had been the case, it wouldâve been a satisfying ending for the series.
âHolidays of Future Passedâ is a flash-forward to the future in which Bart and Lisa struggle to connect with their own kids. One emotionally captivating scene in particular â a heart-to-heart between Bart and Lisa in their old treehouse â wouldâve made this a perfect series finale. The Simpsonsstarted with a Christmas episode way back in 1989, so it would be fitting to end on one.