• Directed by: David Silverman
• Written by: Al Jean, Mike Reiss & Sam Simon
• Airdate: January 31st, 1991

     When the television breaks while watching a McBain movie review, Homer and Marge decide to tell the kids about how the two met. The story takes place in 1974, with Marge's hair down, and Homer with hair. We are introduced to Homer and Barney, as they go for their daily smoke in the boy's bathroom, and are soon sent to detention by the principal. That same day, Marge is giving a lecture about woman's rights, and is also sent to detention for lighting a bra on fire in public. When Marge enters the detention room, Homer is captivated by her.
     To get closer to her, Homer joins the debate team, but is upstaged by Artie Ziff, who also has a thing for Marge. Homer asks Marge out and she says no, but Homer asks her to help tutor him in French. As the night goes on, the two get along well, and Homer asks Marge to the prom. She says yes and Homer is excited beyond everything. Feeling the need to be honest with Marge, Homer tells her that he doesn't actually take French, which infuriates her because she has a forensics meet the next day and has been at Homer's until 1 in the morning. Artie Ziff eventually asks Marge out to the prom and she says yes.
     When prom night comes about, Homer shows up at Marge's house, to her surprise. When Artie arrives, Homer admits that he's nothing but a spare, and leaves to the prom by himself. There, Marge and Artie are named King and Queen, and Homer eventually goes to Inspiration Point by himself. He later decides to walk home by himself, instead of being driven home by his hired limo. Meanwhile, Marge argues with Artie, and once Artie tries to force himself on her, she hits him and demands to be taken home. While Artie is driving her, they pass Homer walking by himself on the side of the road. Once at home, Marge hears her family bad mouthing Homer and decides to go pick him up. Once she does, Homer admits that he is sad because he knows, once they stop, he will hug and kiss Marge after and never be able to let go. The episode ends with Homer and Marge hugging and kissing on the couch, with Lisa and Maggie being taken away by the happy story while Bart gags to himself.

     An episode that is sweet without getting sappy, The Way We Was is the first of now many flashback episodes. Flashback episodes are always fantastic, mainly because there is such a great feeling in seeing Simpsons take on past decades. The story follows the usual love at first sight approach, but does so in a very refreshing way. We see why Homer fell in love with Marge: She's intelligent, beautiful, and has a very likeable vibe to her. The entire set up is also very "opposites attract" way of looking at things, and gives some real reasons as to how Marge eventually realized that Homer may be the one for her.

     What's interesting to see is seeing how different Homer and Marge were as opposed to what they grew up to be. Marge seems to be more independent, and obviously has the talent to do many great things with her life. Homer is unorganized with a lack of looking after himself. In the end, you can easily see that, over the years, Homer has benefited more of his relationship with Marge than vice-versa. Though Marge stays at home and doesn't do much, she has the power to voice her opinion about many things, and she has. Homer, though, has grown because he had Marge on his side. He's realized that he can't drag his feet through life and, in some ways, Marge is there to keep him somewhat contained. The truth is, and we learn this from this episode, that Homer has respected and cared for Marge as much as he does because she is technically the only person who has ever loved and cared about him. His father tells him to aim lower, for the not so attractive girl and the dead end job, and no one in school has ever seen Homer as being anything more than a smoking hippie-disco child of sorts, who's always sent to detention. Marge sees past all that though, and sees Homer for who he actually is. Not only that, as time has gone on, we have seen that Homer brings an extra bit of excitement into her life, for better or worse.

     This episode also introduced us to one of the most prominent lesser-characters in the series, Artie Ziff. Voiced by Jon Lovitz, Ziff is one of those people that if you had to take a bus ride with him, you'd eventually have to be restrained from punching him in the face. He's very high on himself, and considers himself to be the greatest thing that there is. He's a great antagonist, as in we have all known someone like this. He's that kid who sits in the front row of the class and that the teachers use to say you should all be more like. There's nothing wrong with being confident and self-involved, it's even healthy, but there is a point where someone is simply doing it to look down at you from their high horse. It's interesting to see that him and Homer act very vice-versa. Homer looks like someone who might be all touchy-feely in the backseat of a car at Inspiration Point while Artie looks like someone who would keep to himself and respect the person he's with, but it doesn't end up working like that in the end, and we dislike Artie even more for this. He's the asshole who acts nice in public, even going so far as to ask Marge that she doesn't mention what happened since it would ruin his reputation.

     There is also a great bit intertwined into the relationship of Marge and Homer as a whole. When we first see Homer in his car, with the radio playing, the song that is on is "Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear." Homer calls it gross and turns the radio to Steve Miller's Band's The Joker. "Why Do Birds…" would become Homer and Marge's song.
     I personally love most of the flashback episodes that were done in the early days; it gives the stories such a great new vibe, while also giving the writers and animators a chance to play with different eras. It also builds some great explanations as to why the characters we love behave the way they do, and the obstacles they've climbed over to get to where they are, even if it are decisions that stand mostly for said one episode. The Way We Was really helps pave the way well and really gives us an insight into Marge and Homer's relationship, and why it is that they love each other. It's a story that, if not handled properly, could have very easily come off very on the nose and even overtly sappy, but to the writer's credit, it never does slide into that territory.

Favourite Quotes And Bits:
5) Abe: Grab yourself a beer, boy.
     Homer: But Dad, I don't drink.
     Abe: Cut the crap boy. 'I just collect the cans, Daddy!' Now grab a beer and get one for me too.
4) Marge: I think this is sick, they're staring at a dot.
3) Barney and Homer are apparently "Springfield's answer to Cheech and Chong."
2) Limo Driver: Where to now, Romeo?
     Homer: Inspiration Point.
     Limo Driver: Okay, but I'm only paid to drive.
1) Homer: English, who needs that? I'm never going to England.