YMMV / The Simpsons S2 E12 "The Way We Was"

• Alternative Character Interpretation: After "Mother Simpson" reveals what happened to Homer's mother, Abe's advice to Homer — "Don't overreach" — may be genuine advice (albeit harshly worded) to spare Homer future heartbreak, as it could be based on Abe's own experience with having a wife who outshines him.
• Harsher in Hindsight: One Hilarious in Flashback moment has a teenage Homer scoff at the idea of working at the Power Plant, in spite of him working there in the present. However, the later flashback episode "And Maggie Makes Three" would reveal that Homer absolutely hates working there, only does it to make ends meet, and quits his job as soon as he's feasible able to, before having no choice but to return there after his financial plans go belly up.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight:
  • When Lisa asks about how Homer proposed to Marge, the two guiltily flash back to the moment they found out that Marge was pregnant with Bart, and Marge says she'd rather tell Lisa the story of how they first met. The following season's "I Married Marge" reveals the full story surrounding that moment, including Homer's actual proposal, which, despite what this episode implies, was extremely loving and heartfelt.
  • If you're a fan of the post-'90s seasons, Homer's Love at First Sight moment with Marge manages to take on even more sweetness after Season 15's "The Way We Weren't," which reveals that the two unwittingly met when they were much younger and shared their first kiss, not recognizing each other due to a series of Contrived Coincidence circumstances that meant they looked different at the time (Homer was wearing an eyepatch due to an injury and Marge was a brunette), together with Homer giving himself a cool-sounding alias in an effort to impress her. The two of them never forgot their encounter and each regarded the other as their First Love. Given this context, does Homer have the strong reaction he does because he's subconsciously recognizing the girl who's been in his heart all this time?
    Barney: Hey, who's that?
    Homer: I...I don't know!
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Young Homer decides to skip his English class, saying "English, who needs that? I'm never going to England!". In season 15's "The Regina Monologues", Homer does travel to England.
  • Also, there's the plot point where Homer pretends to need a tutor as a way to set up a relationship between him and Marge. Thirteen years later, Cady does the same thing in the movie Mean Girls.
  • One gag has Marge assume that the word "housewife" means "a woman who is married to a house". Enter 2012, when a woman got married to a building.
• Signature Scene: "Why do birds...suddenly appear..."
• Values Resonance: Artie's assault of Marge was well before the awareness built around date rape and the #MeToo movement encouraged women to talk about their experiences surrounding sexual assault, harassment, rape, and casual misogyny. The fact that both a 1970s teenage Marge fought back for her dignity and that Artie's behavior was depicted as Bitch in Sheep's Clothing was amazing for a TV show in the early 90s.

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