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‘The Simpsons’ pulls off a memorable series finale
Summary
By drawing on iconic TV finales, the final ‘Simpsons’ episode asks: what makes a finale satisfying? Is it tying up loose ends? Offering catharsis?The Simpsons aired its series finale last week. That’s right, the longest running scripted series in the history of American television decided, finally — and some may cruelly say, belatedly — to pull the plug. Once considered the greatest television show of the twentieth century, The Simpsons — at some point over the last 35 years — lost its edge. Animated imitators came along, more risqué and more gratuitous, and somewhere even the most devoted viewers lost track of this endless sitcom.
This is partly due to that endlessness: how does one keep up with the four-fingered inhabitants of Springfield year after year, season after season? I confess to rewatching vintage episodes from the first 12 seasons instead of completing new seasons — all of which are streaming on Disney+ Hotstar. It felt that, like death and celebrity cancellations, The Simpsons will go on forever. I could always dip into an episode, knowing that there’ll always be an unseen couch-gag waiting for me.
And yet this? A Series Finale? Last episode, ever?
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Titled ‘Bart’s Birthday,’ the episode is meant to signal the end of an era, one where the perennial ten-year-old who asked grown-ups to eat his shorts was finally growing up and turning 11. Written by Jessica Conrad and conceived by showrunner Matt Selman, the show offers a meta-commentary on the very idea of finality in television, exploring the tension between closure and continuation. Written by Matt Selman, this episode is a playful, self-referential experiment, rather than a true finale, and it critiques the notion of wrapping up a beloved show once and for all—something The Simpsons has resisted for decades.
In the centre stands Bart, refusing to blow out his birthday candles because he doesn’t want to grow up—a fitting metaphor for the show's refusal to end. This rebellion against time mirrors how fans often react to the finales of their favourite shows: reluctant to let go, clinging to a status quo, a fear of change. The episode leans into classic series finale tropes. Principal Skinner resigns from Springfield Elementary, Mr Burns dies, and characters repeatedly turn out the lights as they walk out of a room, saying how much they’ll “miss this place." This is a nod to the iconic finale of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, itself echoed in other now-classic finales like Cheers.
All while Conan O’Brien, a former Simpsons writer, plays an on-stage host, mocking the absurdity of closure itself. It is a fun, cameo-filled episode yet there is something oddly poignant about the idea of finishing off these characters we’ve lived with so long. “Don’t do it," I said in my head, “Don’t eat the yellow show."
Yet, in typical Simpsons fashion, nothing actually changes. The episode resets itself by the end, as though it never happened. This narrative twist offers a biting commentary on artificial intelligence and its limitations. Hack-GPT, a parody of AI writing tools, is tasked with scripting the finale, but it merely recycles predictable TV cliches, failing to bring real creativity to the table. Selman’s critique of AI underscores the idea that while AI can mimic form, it lacks the imagination to innovate. The episode suggests that true finales, like great art, demand more than just the mechanical repetition of formulaic elements.
By drawing on iconic TV finales—referencing The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, M*A*S*H*, Mad Men and others—the episode also asks: what makes a finale satisfying? Is it tying up loose ends? Offering catharsis? Or, as The Simpsons has long argued, is the true appeal of a long-running show its ability to resist the finality altogether? Shows like The Sopranos and Lost left fans divided precisely because they didn’t offer neat conclusions, while others like Breaking Bad were praised for delivering closure. In contrast, The Simpsons laughs at the idea of a final bow, suggesting that endless continuity might be its own kind of satisfaction.
Ultimately, “Bart’s Birthday" plays with the notion of moving on, much like Bart’s refusal to grow up. In doing so, it underscores that the heart of television is not about arriving at a destination but about enjoying the journey. A finale, in its purest form, might represent closure, but for The Simpsons, the goal is to remain forever in motion. There is something comforting about that couch being there whenever it is we might need it.
The memorable episode concludes by resetting itself, cheekily telling fans: don’t worry, this show is not going anywhere. It is, in essence, a commentary on how TV has the power to keep us hooked, to keep our development arrested, to let us break (but never fully break) bad. After all, if there’s one thing The Simpsons knows how to do, it’s to ensure that for Springfield, there will always be more to come.
Ultimately, ‘Bart’s Birthday’ doesn’t just dodge the idea of finality — it obliterates it. In one swift move, the episode refuses to give the audience the closure they don’t really want. Selman’s masterstroke here is reminding us that some shows are never meant to end, that in a world increasingly obsessed with finales, perhaps the greatest trick is to reject finality altogether. And in a show where everything resets, where nothing sticks — the cleverest thing about The Simpsons is this: it doesn’t need a finale because, for the truest fans, the series can never truly be over.
For The Simpsons, life is less a straight-line and more like a donut. Instead of having one end, it offers us a sweet, endless loop.
Streaming Tip Of The Week
The Simpsons Movie (2007) takes a huge challenge — that of compressing a show where routinely zany things happen — and making it larger-than-life for a feature-film sized episode. The film, streaming on Disney+ Hotstar, does this in style.
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