Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for The Simpsons season 36, episode 4, “Shoddy Heat”
WhileThe Simpsonsseason 36 did finally provide a clear answer to one of the show’s oldest mysteries, it wasn’t one that viewers could have anticipated.The Simpsons' season 37 renewalhas not yet been announced and, so far, season 36’s episodes have done all they can to upend the usual status quo of the long-running show.The Simpsonsseason 36’s premiere “Bart’s Birthday”was a trippy meta episode that presented itself as an in-universe “Series finale,” poking fun at the show in the process. The episode addressed the mystery of the Simpson family never aging.
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Since then,The Simpsonsseason 36’s Lisa-centric episode 3, “Desperately Seeking Lisa,” sidelined the rest of the family for almost its entire runtime. The season’s second episode, a parody of HBO’s satirical murder mysteryThe White Lotus, killed off a forgotten guest star from decades earlier. Each of these episodes proved the show refuses to rest on its laurels, and season 36, episode 4, “Shoddy Heat,” was no different. A detective story set in the ‘80s, “Shoddy Heat” revealed that Grampa was a private investigator during the decade. Its twisty story revealed the solution to a hugeSimpsonsmystery.
The Simpsons Season 36 Episode 4 Explained Why Homer Hasn’t Been Fired
Burns Estimated That He Has Screwed Up No Less Than 742 Times
Thanks to “Shoddy Heat,”The Simpsonsfinally explained why Homer Simpson has never been fired from the power plant. It turned out that Grampa’s private investigator partner vanished in the ‘80s and Grampa came close to finding out the truth about his disappearance, but Mr. Burns offered him an irresistible bribe to forget about the entire incident. Burns told Grampa he would hire Homer and never fire him, regardless of his screw-ups, if Grampa agreed to ignore the disappearance of his former detective partner in exchange for this guarantee. Hilariously, Burns hadn’t even killed Grampa’s partner before making this deal.
While this twist was a fun subversion of the film noir tropes the episode parodied, it didn’t explain one discrepancy with the plot.
WhileThe Simpsonsseason 36 killed off one characteralready with Nick the Realtor’s death in episode 2, it turned out that Burns had simply bribed Grampa’s partner before bribing Grampa in turn. He paid for him to move to a faraway island paradise, where he has been enjoying the good life to this day. A bitter Grampa was annoyed to discover this but relived to find out that he hadn’t ignored a murder all those years ago. However, while this twist was a fun subversion of the film noir tropes the episode parodied, it didn’t explain one discrepancy with the plot.
The Simpsons Season 36’s Homer Twist Doesn’t Explain Everything
Homer Has Been Fired Numerous Times In The Simpsons
Despite what he claims in the episode, Mr. Burns has fired Homer numerous times throughout the first 35 seasons ofThe Simpsons. Burns himself famously fired Homer in season 9, episode 19, “Simpson Tide,” but Homer also lost his job in season 3, episode 11, “Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk,” season 15, episode 10, “Diatribe of a Mad Housewife,” and season 20, episode 21, “Coming to Homerica,” As proven by aNoHomersforum post, there are many other examples of this plot twist. As such, it is not clear how Mr. Burns stopped Grampa from reviving his investigations earlier inThe Simpsons.
