Estranger Things

General

References/Trivia

Appearances

Credits

Quotes

	Season 37 Episode
← 789 "Full Heart, Empty Pool"	790 "Estranger Things"	"Thrifty Ways to Thieve Your Mother" 791 →

This episode is considered non-canon and the events featured do not relate to the series and therefore may not have actually happened/existed. The reason behind this decision is: Part of this episode takes place in the future. If you dispute this, please bring it up on the episode's talk page.

"Estranger Things"

Episode Information Episode number: 790 Season number: S36 E18 Production code: 36ABF11 Original airdate: May 18, 2025 Guest star(s): Zooey Deschanel as Natalya Max Greenfield as Schultz Sarah McLachlan as herself Showrunner: Matt Selman Co-showrunner: Tim Long Written by: Tim Long Directed by: Matthew Nastuk

"Estranger Things" is the eighteenth and final episode of broadcast season 36 of The Simpsons and the seven hundred ninetieth episode overall. It originally aired on May 18, 2025. The episode was written by Tim Long and directed by Matthew Nastuk. It guest stars Zooey Deschanel as Natalya, Max Greenfield as Schultz, and Sarah McLachlan as herself.

Summary

When Bart and Lisa stop watching Itchy & Scratchy together, Marge fears that they'll start to drift apart. Years in the future, Lisa is the commissioner for the NBA, and Bart is running an unlicensed retirement home in the Simpson house.

Plot

Four years ago, Marge goes to the market and asks Homer to look after the kids, but tells him to not put them in front of the TV, while eating Twinkies and taking a nap. Homer does the complete opposite and Bart and Lisa start changing channels until they stop at The Krusty the Clown Show and an episode of The Itchy & Scratchy Show, "Open Sesame Street". They enjoy it so much they swear they'll watch it every day forever before sharing a Twinkie. They continue watching until the present when Marge shows them that they started doing clothing and merchandise for babies too, which leads to Bart and Lisa believing that Itchy & Scratchy is for babies.

At school, Bart and Lisa tell the other kids that Itchy & Scratchy is for babies, who start destroying everything Itchy & Scratchy related in the school. At home, Marge is surprised to not find them in front of the TV to watch the show. Lisa is watching Quirk Girl, while Bart is watching Screaming Friends, as they've moved on from Itchy and Scratchy in the process. When Marge throws away Bart's toys, Itchy and Scratchy come to life to see what happened and watch the family through the window. They remember the moments that Bart and Lisa shared together watching till this happened and they grew apart.

Marge tells her concerns about Bart and Lisa growing apart to Homer and the next day she shares her concerns and Bart and Lisa promise her they won't drift apart. However, years in the future, Marge dies before Homer and Bart and Lisa do drift apart. 35 years in the future, Lisa is important, having become the youngest commissioner in the history of the women's professional basketball league, while Bart is a junkie. Lisa has to do a speech at her old school in Springfield so she drives there. She sees how things have changed. Rod and Todd started a real estate agency and Nelson grew up to become the new Barney. She tries to meet her father but is told that everyone at the Retirement Castle are on a field trip.

Lisa decides to go home and finds Homer, Lenny, Carl and Comic Book Guy there partying. She then finds out Bart has been lying to her and running an unlicensed retirement home, and scamming the families for the money. Suddenly, they hear a car crash into the garage and run out to see Lenny has crashed her car. She leaves for the school on her old bicycle and places a call to Senior Protective Services before she arrives. At the school, she starts her speech before starting to complain about Bart and is interrupted by Principal Skinner. Chalmers takes her back home, where they're playing croquet and Lisa enjoys playing it with them.

Soon after, Carl tells them that Lenny is missing. Bart and Lisa start searching for him before finding him on a tree hallucinating that he's drinking a beer at Moe's. Bart convinces him to come down, impressing Lisa with his solution. Bart reminds Lisa how while she sits in an office doing nothing, he has to take care of Homer, and when they get home, the "Senior Protective Services" has taken Homer, leaving a note that they've taken him in custody after a complaint from Lisa.

She calls them back to withdraw her complaint but they don't accept it and they're told that he's being transferred to Florida. To think up a solution to the problem, Lisa shuts herself in the attic, where she finds an envelope from Marge to be opened after her passing, with a DVD inside, "Marge Simpson's emotional will." In the video, Marge says that she hopes that Bart and Lisa were close in the future. Getting emotional, Bart and Lisa decide to take action.

They drive the Camaro on a rescue mission to save Homer from the Disorient Express, but the old people get scared thinking they're escapees from prison, so Lisa suggests reenacting their favorite Itchy & Scratchy cartoon, where Itchy pours water next to Scratchy, starting off their urge to pee. The old people ask Wise Guy to stop before the border to Florida so they can use the toilets. Bart and Lisa manage to rescue Homer and take him home in time to watch The Itchy & Scratchy Show reboot. In Heaven, Marge is happy to see them close again, just before joining Ringo Starr for a buffet, being glad she can marry other people in Heaven.

Gallery

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Production

Starting with this episode, Kelly Macleod voices Milhouse Van Houten, following Pamela Hayden's retirement.

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Reception

After the episode aired, several news sites falsely reported that Marge was killed off in the episode, despite the episode being clearly non-canon. On June 26, 2025, Matt Selman responded to the allegations, pointing out that "after 790 episodes, there is no canon. 'The Simpsons' doesn't even have canon! Obviously since the 'The Simpsons' future episodes are all speculative fantasies, they're all different every time. Marge will probably never be dead ever again. The only place Marge is dead is in one future episode that aired six weeks ago."

Regarding the news sites reporting it, Matt said, "Here's my take: Websites need traffic, and headlines equal traffic. And then you can explain that the headline was misleading at the very end of the article. Every single media outlet that ran this story knew that in no way was Marge dead. They all knew it, but they ran the headline anyway."

Matt concluded with positivity on people's concerns: "I guess this speaks to the fact that people care about Marge. At the end of the day, it's probably good for business even when these ridiculous, misleading stories go viral!"

Promotional video

• Lisa Watches "Quirk Girl" at YouTube

Wikisimpsons has a collection of images related to "Estranger Things".

← Season 35 Season 36 Episodes Season 37 →

Bart's Birthday • The Yellow Lotus • Desperately Seeking Lisa • Shoddy Heat • Treehouse of Horror XXXV • Women in Shorts • Treehouse of Horror Presents: Simpsons Wicked This Way Comes • Convenience Airways • Homer and Her Sisters • The Man Who Flew Too Much • Bottle Episode • The Flandshees of Innersimpson • The Last Man Expanding • P.S. I Hate You • Abe League of Their Moe • Stew Lies • Full Heart, Empty Pool • Estranger Things

← Season 35ABF Production season 36ABF Episodes Season 37ABF →

Convenience Airways • The Man Who Flew Too Much • Homer and Her Sisters • Bottle Episode • The Flandshees of Innersimpson • The Last Man Expanding • P.S. I Hate You • Abe League of Their Moe • Stew Lies • Full Heart, Empty Pool • Estranger Things • Men Behaving Manly • Thrifty Ways to Thieve Your Mother • Keep Chalm and Gary On • Treehouse of Horror XXXVI • Bart 'N' Frink • Bad Boys... for Life? • Sashes to Sashes • TBA • Extreme Makeover: Homer Edition • Yellow Mirror