‘The Simpsons’: Who died in season 26 premiere?

For the better part of a year now, there has been great debate in the world of “The Simpsons,” especially when it comes to the subject of which character was going to pass away.

In the end, we almost feel bad that all the hype existed in the first place, and the executive producers / the media probably messed up in promoting it so heavily. (To be fair, EP Al Jean never wanted it to be such a big story.) It was Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky, father of Krusty the Clown, who ended up meeting the grim reaper, and this was actually a somewhat-emotional tale of closure, and whether or not Krusty ever really found it. We know that some out there are already disappointed with both the hype and the episode, but we appreciated it.

Speaking per TVLine about this decision to kill off this character, Jean had the following to say:

“I just thought it would be a good story about someone who’s had a tough relationship with his father — having Krusty’s father die without him ever getting that warmth or connection he really wanted, then finally finding it in a surprising way … If we could get a sweet moment out of that, that’s all we wanted. We didn’t want a crazy death, or anything shocking, just true human emotion.”

This is the sort of episode that actually probably would have worked better had no one ever mentioned that a character was going to die; thanks to that, there was speculation about it even being Krusty. (To be fair, we had it figured it out the moment we heard the title for the half-hour.)

What did you think about the way “The Simpsons” handled this big “death”? Share your thoughts right now with a comment,