"The Way We Weren't"
The Simpsons episode
Homer Simpson and Marge Bouvier sharing their first kiss
Episode no.	333
Prod. code	FABF13
Orig. airdate	May 9, 2004
Show runner(s)	Al Jean
Written by	J. Stewart Burns
Directed by	Mike B. Anderson
Couch gag	The Simpsons sit on the couch as normal. From offscreen, someone hurls knives at the Simpsons’ heads, but only hit the sides. Homer tries to get a bowl of chips, but a knife stops him.
Season 15 November 2, 2003 – May 23, 2004 "Treehouse of Horror XIV" "My Mother the Carjacker" "The President Wore Pearls" "The Regina Monologues" "The Fat and the Furriest" "Today I Am a Clown" "'Tis the Fifteenth Season" "Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens, and Gays" "I, (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot" "Diatribe of a Mad Housewife" "Margical History Tour" "Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore" "Smart and Smarter" "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner" "Co-Dependent's Day" "The Wandering Juvie" "My Big Fat Geek Wedding" "Catch 'Em if You Can" "Simple Simpson" "The Way We Weren't" "Bart-Mangled Banner" "Fraudcast News" List of all The Simpsons episodes
Seasons 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 21

"The Way We Weren't" is the twentieth episode of The Simpsons' fifteenth season. The episode aired on May 9, 2004.

[edit] Plot

When Homer and Bart fight over the use of a beer bottle Milhouse wants to use, it lands them in the Simpson family court, which is held in the living room with Lisa presiding as judge. Bart dares Homer to tell if he ever kissed a girl as a ten-year-old, but when Marge says that Homer's first kiss was with her in high school, Homer confesses that it was not his first kiss. Homer recalls that when he was 10, he went to a camp for underprivileged boys, Camp See-A-Tree, where Homer met Lenny, Carl, and as a counselor, Moe. It turned out the summer camp was more like a prison as they had to work as servants in the kitchen at a rich girls' camp across the lake. Homer found a retainer and returned it to the girl who lost it, though he could not see her (they were separated by the kitchen wall). She asked Homer to see her later that night. He did so, even though due to an accident with a switchblade he was wearing an eye patch. Homer tells Bart and Lisa that she was the prettiest girl he had ever met until he later met their mother. However, Marge surprises everyone by admitting that she was that girl Homer met and that if she had known that Homer was the boy she would have never married him.

Marge gives her side of the story, saying that she was with Patty and Selma, Helen Lovejoy, Luann Van Houten and Cookie Kwan at their camp, "Camp Land-A-Man". She fell in love with the boy who returned her retainer, but the other girls joked at what his name could be, settling coincidentally with "Big Ugly Homer," prompting Homer to give her a false name "Elvis Jagger Abdul-Jabbar)." To prepare for the date, Marge ironed her hair to make it straight, but burned it brown by accident, which she explains was why Homer did not recognize her in high school. She met Homer, and after a long awkward moment of self-consciousness for both, they finally kissed, leading each to dream of being in an imaginary paradise. They agreed that the following night they would meet again, and but Homer did not come for Marge, who waited the entire night and left in the morning deeply saddened. Marge mentions that because of boy Homer she could not trust another boy for years. Homer then gives his side of the story explaining why he did not show up. He says that right after the date, during which he had given Marge a heart-shaped rock he had found, he was so dazed with bliss that he accidentally fell off a cliff into the lake and drifted to a fat camp, "Camp Flab-Away", which counted Mayor Quimby, Chief Wiggum and Comic Book Guy as its participants. He is Immediately caught by the Camp Instructor (Who dose not distinguish between boys who drift into the camp and actual participants). While Homer was trapped at the camp, a devastated Marge decided to leave the camp and threw the rock that he had given her away, breaking it in two. Homer managed to escape the fat camp and make his way to Marge's camp, but Marge had left only seconds before he arrived, leaving Homer to be sexually harassed by Patty and Selma. Despite knowing the truth, Marge finds it difficult for a while to forgive him after nurturing a grudge for thirty years. However, in bed at night, Homer proves that he really did care about her for years after the date by showing her a piece of the broken rock that he had found. Pleasantly surprised, Marge reveals that she had kept the other piece (albeit for the very different reason of reminding her of the cruel things men can do) and forgives him completely. The two then put the rock together to form a heart and kiss until the light fades.

[edit] Cultural references

The episode title refers to the 1973 film The Way We Were.^[1] Similarly, the twelfth episode of Season 2 was titled The Way We Was. When Homer needs to cross the river to meet Marge for their date, Homer looks between the water and a nearby rowboat, and states "Hmmm... It's row versus wade... and it's my right to choose."^[2] Near the end when Homer is rummaging through his memory box, he finds a letter from his "old pen pal". Then he says: "Someday, I'll write you back, Osama".^[2] When Homer shows Marge his half of the heart, he says he put it next to his IBM stock—ing. The Sea Captain sings a verse from the 1958 Kingston Trio song Tom Dooley. It also contains a hit song by The Turtles entitled "Happy Together" which later appears in the Simpsons movie.

[edit] References to previous episodes

After Milhouse kisses Homer, he refers it as his "first kiss", when he obviously kissed Samantha Stanky, his first girlfriend, frequently in "Bart's Friend Falls in Love" in Season 3.

[edit] Awards

This episode was nominated for an Emmy in the Outstanding Animated Program (for programming less than one hour) selection.

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[edit] References