The Simpsons is now airing new episodes through the Spring, and the newest episode of Season 36 has brought back a member of the Simpsons family that we haven’t seen in nearly a decade. The Simpsons has been going through a wild second half of Season 36 ever since it made its debut earlier this Spring, and each of the episodes has gone great lengths to showcase new sides of each character. That continues with the newest episode that sparks a surprising friendship between Abe Simpson and Moe Szyslak over their shared love of the Springfield Isotopes. A love that goes deep into Abe’s past.
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Through Grampa Simpson, fans have been given small looks into the Simpsons’ family past through the near four decades of the animated series. It’s been revealed that Grampa was once part of a fairly large family before his siblings and cousins all went their separate ways (or have since passed by this point). There’s even less known about his own grandfather, who has only been seen in a brief flashback back in Season 28. But that’s been changed completely as Oswald John (or “Old Tut”) Simpson made a surprising return with a new flashback in the latest episode.
The Simpsons Brings Back Grampa’s Own Grampa
The Simpsons Season 36 Episode 15 is titled “Abe League of Their Moe” and opens with a flashback as a young Abe Simpson is attending a Springfield Isotopes game with his own grandfather. The two of them celebrate the fact that Springfield’s players were able to dodge going to war so that they could keep playing, and it’s a memory that Abe holds dear. He had so much fun with his own grandfather that one day he dreamed of seeing a game with his own grandson someday in those same seats they sat in all those years ago.
This is a rather notable appearance of Abe’s own Grampa, named Oswald John Simpson (who has also been referred to as “Old Tut”). While he had been mentioned a few times in the animated series’ past, he didn’t make his full appearance with his current design until Season 28’s “A Father’s Watch.” This also wasn’t a speaking cameo either as Oswald was depicted as strangling Abe’s father Orville as he was disappointed in the way Orville was choking Abe (as Orville was working as a professional child abuser). So this flashback is a pretty huge event in The Simpsons‘ animated history.
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What’s Next for The Simpsons?
The Simpsons will have many more opportunities to bring in lost or absent characters like this in the future as it has been renewed for four more seasons. As part of a historic deal with Fox, The Simpsons, Bob’s Burgers, Family Guy, and American Dad! have each been picked up for four more seasons of episodes as they make a greater investment in their long running animated franchises. But as The Simpsons continues, there are still many more opportunities to flesh out its world.
The Simpsons has played with these ideas in the past as Season 36’s premiere episode even briefly brought back Homer’s half brother Herbert as part of a series finale joke, but moments like these showcase that there are still new stories to tell with these characters all these years. We haven’t really gotten to see any moments with Abe and his own Grampa Simpson, but after 36 seasons we’ve finally gotten a concrete scene with the two of them. Then it’s used to further expand Abe’s relationship with his own grandson, Bart, which is also one of the best duos in the series overall.
