Patty and Selma - Relationship To The Simpson Family

Relationship To The Simpson Family

As children, Patty and Selma were apparently domineering towards Marge and ridiculed her ambition of becoming an astronaut. Their relationship seems to have improved over the years. As adults, the Bouvier twins have a friendly relationship with their sister and seem very protective of her and thus frequently visit the Simpsons. They seem relatively fond of their nieces and nephew, but seem to like them more when they are young as demonstrated by a quote from Lisa's First Word: "The older they get, the cuter they ain't." They have, on occasion, watched the kids when their parents were out of town. However, Bart and Lisa would rather not be around when their aunts visit. Their idea of bonding with Lisa includes tutoring her in the belief that men are pigs, using Homer as the prime example.

Their relationship with Homer remains one of mutual dislike, which involves a continuous exchange of insults from day one. They unfavorably compare their brother-in-law to a caveman, suggesting him capable of trading Maggie for a beer and a nudie magazine.

Patty and Selma have occasionally expressed their common hope that Marge will eventually divorce Homer. They are often quick in pointing out how close he has come to infidelity, and have unsuccessfully offered to help Marge find a replacement for Homer, although Selma eventually gave in and helped Marge find Homer after seeing how truly unhappy she was. In the episode "Three Gays of the Condo" the twins went so far as to have a billboard built trying to convince voters to have Homer kicked out of Springfield. When Homer once faked his death, the sisters produced a gravestone that they had apparently been saving up to buy for years, which proclaimed "HOMER J. SIMPSON: WE ARE RICHER FOR HAVING LOST HIM." They then used the tombstone as a coffee table, when Police Chief Wiggum questioned them on the whereabouts on Mona Simpson, a destroyer of Mr. Burns's instruments of germ warfare. However, of all the wickedness that they have readied against Homer, the most extreme happened in Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind where they tried to kill Homer by pushing him out of the bridge, but Homer survived due to a moon bouncer in a ship. Homer mistakenly believed that Patty and Selma were aware of the boat, and they reluctantly agree in order to avoid criminal charges against them.

Selma once took the Simpson children on a disastrous trip to the Duff Gardens theme park in the episode "Selma's Choice." She is unable to control the children, as Bart manhandles several animatronic characters and Lisa goes on a psychedelic trip after drinking "water" from an It's a Small World-like boat ride, later swimming in the Fermentarium and exclaiming "I am the lizard queen!" After that, however, Selma returned home with the children and asked Homer how he does it, referring to raising children, implying that Selma is slightly more capable of overcoming her dislike of Homer than Patty. She told Homer she just couldn't cut it today, and wearing a sympathetic expression, Homer took her hand to comfort her. As noted above, Homer has also helped Selma adopt a baby, further highlighting their comparative tolerance of each other.

In "Wedding for Disaster", the two put their dislike for Homer aside after realizing that even close to death, Homer truly loves Marge, and even still has kind words for her sisters. When the twins hear this, they save Homer's life (after endangering it) and are stricken with tears. However, Bart and Lisa with the help of Sideshow Bob and the spare key to their apartment, confronted Patty and Selma for the way they mistreated Homer. They threatened to tell Marge the truth about their kidnapping scheme unless they pay for their remarriage ceremony. Patty and Selma reluctantly agree to pay for it.

In many episodes, Selma has been seen as The lesser of two evils towards Homer, as shown in the episode I Married Marge, when Patty and Selma see Homer and while Patty attempts to keep Homer and Marge apart, Selma decides to tell Marge after seeing her upset.