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Of course, no discussion of dream sequences in “The Simpsons” can be complete without mentioning “The Mysterious Voyage of Our Homer.” The season 8 episode follows Homer’s own panicky fever dream after he eats a dangerous amount of extra spicy chilly. The episode’s filled with its own surreal imagery and unsettling dreamlike elements, including that haunting sequence where Homer’s trying to see Marge’s face, but no matter how much he runs around her he’s only ever seeing the back of her head. Not only does it perfectly capture a common dream experience, but it captures Homer’s fears of losing Marge forever, and his frustration of never quite being able to say the right thing. This episode came out in 1997, two years before “The Sopranos” premiered, but it was already handling its characters’ dream sequences with just as much creative brilliance. (It also begs the question: Did “The Sopranos” borrow from “The Simpsons” first?)
Which Simpsons episode did it better? It’s hard to say. The season 8 episode had that sharper Classic Simpsons wit to it, and it managed to build a stronger sense of otherworldly unease even outside of Homer’s dreams. It’s genuinely pretty creepy when we hear the dog in the real world talk to Homer in the dream coyote’s voice, leaving us unsure exactly how much of Homer’s dream/hallucination was just in his mind. But although “A Mid-Childhood Night’s Dream” might draw too fine a line between the dream world and the waking one, it makes up for it with a more focused, conclusive story about Marge’s fears of her kids growing up too fast. It makes for one of the best episodes of the recent seasons, and it’s got “The Sopranos” (and itself) to thank.
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