The Simpsons makes a major change in Maggie but, surprisingly, does not address it at all
Maggie starts to grow up and the family notices? In The Simpsons, a change was made regarding the youngest member of the family, which was presented in a subtle way.
The Simpsons has already clocked 35 years on the air, and the currently airing 36th season still has many surprises in store. The TV series' creators have been experimenting for some time, including with the characters themselves, making all sorts of changes to which they test the audience's reaction.
And it looks like it was the turn of baby Maggie, who has invariably been a small child for 35 years. But she has finally lived to see some development, shown in the 8th episode of the 36th season, Convenience Airways, when the little girl once again spoke.
In this episode, the Simpsons take a plane trip on the last line that still agrees to fly them. During the flight, due to overbooking, Homer and Marge are separated. Marge ends up in first class, and as a result, Homer has to take care of Maggie, who at one point starts crying and sets off to find Marge, for whom she calls out “Momma.” Homer catches her and explains to the girl that they should not disturb Momma now.
Seemingly nothing much happened in this scene. After all, this is not the first time Maggie has spoken in the TV series. But this is the first time it wasn't treated as a big deal. Homer understood his daughter and acted as if it was normal for Maggie to say certain words already, which is quite a change, because until now, every time the girl said some words, a big deal was made of it, as if they were her first words. Later, in turn, the matter was forgotten, so that the next time such a situation arose, the family would experience “Maggie's first words” again.
This may not be a major breakthrough, but it does show that the family has finally noticed Maggie's development and her uttering certain words has become part of their everyday life, rather than a novelty to be celebrated. This change was not marked in any way in the TV show, so it was the more vigilant viewers who could see that something had changed.