Finales are supposed to have big changes or closure on something. Dr Richard Kimble found the one-armed man and cleared his name. Lost was supposed to answer all the questions…wait, Twin Peaks was supposed to answer…wait…
Maybe Homer could become a world famous singer. Oh it’s been done? How about becoming an astronaut…oh. Saving Springfield from nuclear disaster? That, too? Voicing a popular TV char…Oh.
The Simpsons should end with an hour long treehouse of horrors so they can get crazy with the characters.
Ralph’s. He wakes up right after Lisa and Bart return from military school. Everything before that occurred as written, and everything in between has been the dream. The series ends with Lisa starting 3rd grade and Bart starting 5th, telling their classmates about how challenging military school was what a toxic place it was, but how they really grew closer. Lisa in particular, finding that the other kids in her class are captivated by her story, realizes she is much more secure in herself. As the third grade teacher walks in to start the year, and everyone turns to to the front of the class, she opens up her new notebook; pencil in hand, attentive, and ready as always to learn. The view pans to and zooms in on a close up of a note she has tucked securely to the inside flap of her notebook, “You are Lisa Simpson.”
I haven’t watched the show in over a decade . . . that ending just brought a tear to my eye. See if you can pitch that to Fox.
Fred Flinstone’s
Ah, but there’s no need to. As long as The Simpsons never actually institutes a canonical ending to the series, that can always be our head canon.