‘The Simpsons’ Will Reveal An Iconic Character’s Dark Backstory Next Season
The Simpsons has delved into a number of characters’ backstories over the years, many of which were surprisingly upsetting. Like how the “Crazy Cat Lady” turned out to be a graduate of both Harvard Medical School and Yale Law and whose life was ruined by alcoholism and a severe feline dependency.
And while you might think that, after 36 seasons, the show has no more dark character secrets to expose, well, apparently that’s not the case. Simpsons showrunner Matt Selman recently sat for an interview with That Shelf and told the hosts that, even though parodies of The Godfather are “overdone,” the show is going back to that well yet again.
“The Godfather tropes are so cliché,” Selman explained. “Having said that, we have a giant Godfather II episode coming up that is a back and forth, present and past (story) about the Quimby family saga.”
That’s right, an upcoming episode will delve into the familial history of Springfield’s perpetual leader, Mayor Quimby. And it sounds as though his origin story may be pretty radical. Selman even suggested that people who were “upset about Skinner’s backstory” will be similarly shocked to “learn about Quimby’s father’s backstory.”
Does that mean that we’re going to get a reveal that’s on par with learning that Principal Seymour Skinner was really a Don Draper-esque imposter?
The episode is specifically going to be a parody of Francis Ford Coppola’s Oscar-winning mafia movie sequel. “There’s a scene in The Godfather II (in which) young Vito Corleone, played by Robert De Niro, he kills someone and then disassembles the gun and then throws the parts away. So like, the perfect crime, right?” Selman noted. “We do a similar thing where someone chokes someone with a sandwich and then throws the sandwich components (away) carefully.”
So does that mean that we’re going to find out that Mayor Quimby’s political stranglehold on the town of Springfield is the result of his father’s ties to organized crime? Perhaps not coincidentally, Quimby’s apparent real-life inspiration, Ted Kennedy, had a dad with alleged connections to the mafia.
Of course, Quimby was never exactly the most savory character. He has demeaned women, abandoned his citizens in times of need and insulted the legacy of Little Rascals Star Trek legend Leonard Nimoy.
And it’s already been well-established that Quimby regularly takes bribes from local mob boss Fat Tony.
Still, discovering that Quimby’s rise to power was predicated on sandwich-based gangland murders would be pretty shocking. What’s next, finding out that it was his fault that the stadium collapsed?
