The Way We Was

"The Way We Was" is the 12th episode of the second season of The Simpsons. The episode tells the story of how Marge and Homer first met and fell in love.

Synopsis

When the TV breaks down, Marge tells the kids the story of how she and Homer first met. We flashback to 1974, when they were both in their senior year of high school. While Homer was quite the slacker, Marge was a responsible student. But when she was at a feminist rally burning a bra on school grounds, she's sent to detention. Already there is Homer together with Barney, having been busted for smoking in the school restrooms. Homer is awestruck by the beautiful Marge.

To get to be around her more, Homer joins the debate team that Marge is on. But there, Marge is more interested in the more... articulate Artie Ziff. As a plan B, Homer pretends to be a French student so that he can be tutored by Marge. It appears to be working, and when Homer asks Marge to the senior prom, she says yes. However, when Homer reveals he doesn't really take French, Marge is furious and instead decides to go with Artie Ziff.

Homer doesn't realise (or perhaps, refuses to believe) that Marge has rejected him, and so shows up for prom night to pick her up. He is thrown out by Marge, and so he has to go the prom by himself. Later, Marge and Artie have left the prom and are being intimate, when Artie clumsily steps over the line. Angrily, Marge leaves him, and then goes to pick up Homer: her true love.