Warning: Spoilers for The Simpsons season 34, episode 4.

Whereas Drew Barrymore’s function as herself was a enjoyable cameo in The Simpsons season 34, her look creates a serious plot gap due to the episode’s different star. The unclear canon of The Simpsons has all the time confused viewers because the sequence will typically rewrite the backstories of main characters or retcon occasions out of existence with out warning. As a cartoon comedy, The Simpsons has slightly extra leeway than most sitcoms in relation to the present’s lack of continuity, however even this may be taken too far at occasions.

For instance, The Simpsons season 34, episode 4 “The King of Good,” noticed Marge develop into a daytime tv presenter whereas Krusty additionally transitioned to the style. Each characters discovered nice success of their new roles, solely to quickly tire of the daytime tv trade. Close to the episode’s finish, Drew Barrymore performed herself as a daytime TV host who tried to woo Marge over to her present when Krusty gave up on his. Whereas this episode touched on the thriller of who Marge’s associates are and what her pursuits are exterior the household, “The King of Good” by no means addressed the truth that Drew Barrymore was additionally beforehand the voice of Sophie, Krusty’s daughter, in “Insane Clown Poppy” (season 12, episode 3).

Associated: The Simpsons Season 34 Solves An Previous Character Thriller

Why Drew Barrymore’s Simpsons Cameo Doesn’t Add Up

Whereas the identical actor can voice quite a few characters on The Simpsons (and a variety of the present’s solid achieve this each week), Drew Barrymore’s cameo runs right into a trippier Simpsons paradox. If Drew Barrymore exists on the planet of The Simpsons (and hosts her real-life tv present), is she the identical Drew Barrymore who voiced Krusty’s daughter in season 12? And, in that case, is Krusty’s daughter actual or fictional? The episode doesn’t reply these questions, though to be truthful, The Simpsons season 34 already parodied itself an episode earlier, so two episodes in a row that targeted on The Simpsons as a real-life tv present might have felt like overkill.

How This Cameo Performs Into The Simpsons Season 34’s Weirdest Development

Whereas The Simpsons season 34 didn’t essentially want to clarify how Drew Barrymore may be each an actual and fictional character on the present on the identical time, the present might have prevented this conundrum if it weren’t for one bizarre current development. There may be a variety of give attention to Krusty in season 34, with The Simpsons basing the plot of “The King of Good” across the character’s daytime tv profession and basing the subsequent episode, “Not IT” (season 34, episode 5) round Krusty taking part in Pennywise the clown in a Stephen King spoof. If it weren’t for this focus, Barrymore’s paradox would have been much less apparent.

Very similar to The Simpsons season 34 introduced again Invoice Plympton for a sofa gag, the present is clearly additionally decided to return its focus to Krusty extra typically going ahead. If anybody else starred within the episode, the inner inconsistencies of Drew Barrymore’s cameo would have been loads much less noticeable. In spite of everything, Barrymore by no means performed Kent Brockman’s daughter on The Simpsons and that information anchor might as simply have produced a short-lived daytime tv present alongside Marge. Nevertheless, The Simpsons season 34 as a substitute opted to focus two episodes in a row on Krusty’s adventures, ensuing on this unusual inner paradox.

New episodes of The Simpsons air on Fox on Sundays.

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