Fans miffed at plot hole in The Simpsons character’s return after 33 years

Jacques the bowling Lothario is back on The Simpsons after 33 years but there’s a huge plot hole in his comeback. Photo / The Simpsons

How often have you thought about Jacques, the four-fingered Lothario who tried to steal Marge’s heart?

The French seducer was a memorable character in the season one episode “Life on the Fast Lane” and he’s just made his comeback – 33 years since he last had a line on the long-running show.

Jacques was one the many one-off characters who have tried to detour either Homer or Marge away from their marriage vows, but the couple always found their way back to one another, spurning the advances of an interloper.

In the 1990 episode, Jacques was a bowling instructor who became besotted with Marge, who had taken up the sport to spite Homer after his selfish choice to gift her a bowling bowl (with his name engraved on it) on her birthday.

Resentful at her loutish husband, Marge is tempted by the attentions of someone new – but ultimately chooses Homer.

Despite the advances of another man, Marge chose to stick with Homer. Photo / Supplied

In “Pin Gal”, which aired in the US over the weekend but has yet to premiere on Disney+ where new episodes are several weeks behind, Jacques returns to coach Marge for a bowling tournament. And actor Albert Brooks even comes back to voice the character.

But it’s not his one-time unethical pursuit of a married woman that has fans miffed, it’s that there was a glaring plot hole in the middle of Jacques’ return.

Fans on social media pointed out that in the new episode, Homer has no idea of Marge and Jacques’ past, which directly clashes with a scene from the sixth season episode, “Another Simpsons Clip Show”.

The most substantial part, if any, of "Another Simpsons Clip Show" was Marge and Homer sharing their moments of "almost-affairs" with each other. Homer already learned about Jacques. I know there's a flexibility with canon but...c'mon #thesimpsons team! (Still love the reprisal!)

— Kevin Eaton (@letswatchseries) March 20, 2023

I don't often catch the newer #TheSimpsons episodes, but I watched this one because I heard Jacques was returning. It was pretty good, but seemingly ignores the old "Another Simpsons Clip Show" ep (unless Homer is just stupid/forgetful, which is a far more likely explanation).

— Ryan Clark (@RyanClark85) March 20, 2023

I don't know if I like the idea of #TheSimpsons basically retconning Marge telling Homer how she almost cheated on him with Jacques in Another Simpsons Clip Show and having it be that Marge never told Homer about it.

— Aaron Falvo (@reviewngnetwork) March 20, 2023

In that scene, Homer and Marge are sharing with each other the details of their many almost-cheating encounters, and it references the incident with Jacques.

So Homer definitely knows.

Of course, if you really dived into the continuity of The Simpsons, you’d have to ask yourself a bunch of other unanswerable questions, such as why none of the characters have aged in 34 years or how can you fit that many Halloweens into one school year?