It’s a sad time in Springfield, as today marks the 20th anniversary of the death of Maude Flanders. On the evening of Feb. 13, 2000, The Simpsons aired its Season 9 episode “Alone Again, Natura-Diddily,” which would turn out to be the swan song for the Flanders family matriarch. Two full decades past that fateful night, we’re taking a moment to remember Maude by revisiting what remains the most shocking moment from over 30 seasons of The Simpsons.
Prior to Maude’s death, no major characters had been killed off from The Simpsons. Leading up to the episode’s airing, Fox had used the impending death as a marketing tool by teasing the big death with television commercials. This left fans speculating over just who that unlucky Springfield resident was going to be, similar to when the show left people guessing who shot Mr. Burns with a season finale cliffhanger just a few years earlier. Who could it be – one of the Simpsons? A minor background character? Someone new to the series? No one really knew.
Even well into the episode itself, Simpsons fans such as myself were wondering when the big death was going to happen. It was clear there was danger on the horizon when the episode started with the Simpson family attending a nearby stock car race in Springfield. I can remember my heart stopping early on in the show when a loose tire flies into the stands, smashing into Lenny and leaving him motionless for a brief but scary moment. Fortunately, Lenny was okay, but the Grim Reaper would be doing his thing soon enough.
Seated directly in front of Ned and Maude, a drunk and shirtless Homer dances directly in front of them. This leaves Maude feeling like she wants a break from “Homer’s torso,” offering to go get some hot dogs for her and Ned to eat. “No footlongs!” Ned memorably exclaims before she goes – a phrase known all too well by Maude, who responds with her last words, “I know, they make you uncomfortable.”
Because anything terrible that happens in Springfield can always be traced back to Homer Simpson, he is of course directly involved with Maude’s untimely demise as well. When the cheerleaders pull out the T-shirt cannons soon after, Homer taunts them into firing all of the shirts straight at him. He even goes so far as to literally draw a bullseye on his belly using ketchup (or is it catsup?). Of course, the cheerleaders are all too happy to oblige, taking aim and sending multiple packed T-shirts barreling towards Homer all at once.
Just after the shirts are fired, Homer bends down to pick up a bobby pin from the ground, and the flying garments slam directly into Maude, who’d just returned to her seat with a tray of hot dogs (no footlongs). The impact sends poor Maude careening over the barrier and all the way down to the blacktop, killing her instantly. Ned, like many viewers watching, had hardly even noticed what had happened before Dr. Hibbert took a look at Mrs. Flanders and declared, “Oh my lord, she’s dead!” And from that moment forward, The Simpsons would never be the same again.
Maude’s death was incredibly shocking, definitely, but it was also, perhaps surprisingly, incredibly sad as well. Sure, this is a brightly-colored cartoon show, the circumstances surrounding Maude’s death are very comical, and Maude was never exactly meant to be one of the show’s more likable characters. Still, especially when considering just how fun and hilarious The Simpsons had always been up until that dark moment, it was really a bummer to see Ned left without a wife with the two Flanders children having their mother taken away from them, regardless of the outlandish nature of her death.
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Though Maude’s been dead for 20 years now, fans of The Simpsons have gotten t see glimpses of her on the show on occasion in the years since. As she appeared when she was alive, Maude has been seen in flashback scenes in various episodes. Ghost Maude has also made cameo appearances on multiple occasions, with one episode showing her hanging out in Heaven with Bob Hope and God. In Season 29, Maude returned for her biggest post-death role yet for the episode “Flanders’ Ladder,” which saw her getting her revenge against Homer in Bart’s coma-fueled nightmare.
Mrs. Flanders may be gone, but her legacy will forever live on as such a big part of The Simpsons during its Golden Age. Rest in peace, Maude. I’ll always think of you when I hear the phrase, “No footlongs.”
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