‘The Simpsons’: Lizzo dances on Sasha flute as Homer gets slapped
Watch Lizzo animate and bring Sasha Flute to jam with Lisa’s saxophonist on the Season 34 finale of ‘The Simpsons.’
Brian Alexander, USA TODAY
Mrs. Glick, we hardly knew you.
In its latest episode, The Simpsons wasted no time in killing off an established character who appeared on the show before many of its modern viewers were even born.
The episode “Sashes to Sashes,” which aired on November 16, begins with organist Alice Glick suddenly collapsing in a church where Pastor Lovejoy is preaching. Everyone in the church gasps and we see Mrs. Glick lying dead on top of the organ.
In the next scene, Principal Skinner leads a meeting “for a dead woman I never met” and explains that Mrs. Glick left her estate to the school to fund a new music program.
“The Simpsons” executive producer Tim Long addressed the plot points in a statement to TVLine, confirming Mrs. Glick’s death. “In one sense, organist Alice will live on forever because of the beautiful music she made. But in another, more important sense, yes, she’s as dead as a doornail,” Long said.
“The Simpsons” is currently in its 37th season, and Mrs. Glick appeared way back in season 2.
The character first appears in the 1991 episode “Three Men and a Comic Book”, where Bart Simpson does chores for her because he needs money to buy a comic book. After a week’s work, Mrs. Glick pays him only 50 cents. The role was originally voiced by Cloris Leachman, but was later taken over by Tress MacNeil.
But “Sash to Sash” isn’t the first time Mrs. Glick has died on “The Simpsons.” In the 2011 season 23 episode “Replaceable You”, she was killed by a robot baby seal, and the episode ended with a shot of her dancing in heaven.
Despite existing in a world with a loose sense of canon and where characters rarely change or age, “The Simpsons” occasionally killed off established characters during its run. Ned Flanders’ wife Maud famously died in a 2000 episode, and a memorable 1995 episode saw Lisa Simpson’s mentor, saxophonist Bleeding Gums Murphy, emotionally dead.
The season 36 finale in May featured a future in which Marge Simpson dies, but executive producer Matt Selman disputed reports that the show had killed her off for good.
“Obviously, all future episodes of ‘The Simpsons’ are speculative fantasies, so everything will be different every time,” Selman told Variety. “Marge will probably never die again. The only place Marge will die is in a future episode that aired six weeks ago.”
Selman also emphasized at the time, “The Simpsons doesn’t even have canon!”
“The Simpsons” returned for Season 37 in September, but the long-running series has already been renewed for Season 40. The second Simpsons feature film is also in production and scheduled for release in July 2027.
