For more than three decades, The Simpsons has opened the same way: a chaotic sprint through Springfield, a near-miss in the driveway — and the whole family gathering on the couch.

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But one part of that intro has always stood out. And now – after 36 years – the show has finally addressed it.

In Sunday’s episode (15 February), titled ‘Irrational Treasure’, the long-running couch gag involving Marge running over Homer was given something it never previously had — consequences.

If you’ve watched the series at any point since its debut, you’ll know the formula the opening titles have followed. Homer clocks off from the nuclear power plant (usually after accidentally dropping a rod of plutonium and resetting the ‘days without incident’ sign), Bart wraps up writing lines on the classroom board before skateboarding home, Lisa finishes saxophone practice and cycles back, and Marge heads home from grocery shopping with Maggie.

As they converge on Evergreen Terrace, chaos unfolds.

In the modern high-definition opening introduced in season 20, Marge is shown driving into the garage while on her phone. Homer tries to dodge out of the way — and fails. She hits him, sending him flying through a solid oak door in classic cartoon fashion.

And until now, that was that.

The family would simply gather on the couch in some comedic fashion – whether it be as superheroes, Robot Chicken characters, retro pie-eyed Disney characters, etc – switch on the TV, and the episode would begin, with no reference to the preceding opening titles we just watched.

But in ‘Irrational Treasure’, the writers flipped the script.

Instead of immediately settling onto the couch, the scene shows a bloodied and battered Homer crawling into the living room while the rest of the family sit awkwardly waiting.

He demands answers.

“How are you just sitting there? Your mom hit me with her car! She smashed me through a solid oak door,” he says, bloodied and battered from being smashed through a door. “How could you not see me in the garage, I was running away and screaming in terror!”

Homer also complains about “there’s wood everywhere in me” and questions “why the hell was Maggie in the front seat?”

The family avoid eye contact. Homer eventually collapses face-first onto the floor as the opening continues.

They are, perhaps unsurprisingly, questions that go unanswered.

The moment quickly sparked celebration among longtime fans who’ve spent years watching Homer get flattened without acknowledgment.

One viewer wrote: “Finally! After 30+ years of Marge running over Homer, we get the aftermath.”

Another added: “Classic Simpsons humor — finally acknowledging a long-running intro gag and turning it into a self-aware joke. Dark, but perfectly on-brand.”

A third tweeted: “It took 800 episodes but this was finally addressed.”

After nearly four decades of being run over and brushed off, Homer Simpson has finally said what viewers have been thinking all along.

And true to form, it only took 36 years to get there.

I guess it just goes to show that although The Simpsons is way beyond its prime, it still knows how to capture our attention and drive conversation on social media.

Featured image credit: Disney/TheSimpsons (screenshot)