The Simpsons family has many secrets, of which some have been shared in the series, including the existence of Homer’s half-brother, Herb. However, thanks to a revelation in a later season, his brother creates a Simpson family plot hole – here’s what it is. Created by Matt Groening, The Simpsons began as a series of animated shorts in The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987, but after three seasons it was developed into a half-hour prime time show, and officially debuted in 1989. The Simpsons has been unstoppable ever since, with over 30 seasons, one film, and various comic books and video games.
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The Simpsons follows the daily lives and the many ups and downs of the title family as well as those of other citizens of Springfield. The series has explored the many sides of the Simpsons as well as some family secrets, including what happened to Homer’s mother and the existence of his half-siblings, most notably Herbert “Herb” Powell, who made his debut in the series in season 2.
Herb is the product of a short-lived affair between Abraham Simpson and Gaby, a young worker at a local carnival in Shelbyville. A year after meeting, Abe discovered that Gaby had given birth to their son, and together took him to the Shelbyville Orphanage, which is why Homer didn’t know he exists. Though Herb is an interesting character mostly because he’s the complete opposite to Homer, he creates a Simpson family plot hole all thanks to a revelation in season 9 about a family gene.
The Simpsons: The Simpson Gene Doesn’t Apply To Herb
Herb made his debut in season 2’s episode “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?”, where Homer learns he has a half-brother and goes after him. Herb turns out to be a very successful and intelligent businessman, and while he looks a lot like Homer, he actually has hair and is slimmer. In this first appearance, he was left bankrupt when Homer designed a car that was a complete failure, but he came back in season 3‘s “Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?” and regained his fortune after inventing a baby translator. Herb truly is Homer’s opposite, but that doesn’t match with the Simpson gene revealed in season 9.
In the episode “Lisa the Simpson”, Lisa fears she’s genetically predisposed to lose her intelligence, but later learns there’s such thing as the “Simpson gene”, which only affects males, causing baldness, laziness, and loss of intelligence over the years. While this is the case with Homer and other male Simpson family members that show up in that episode, it doesn’t apply to Herb, who graduated from Harvard and started his own company (and, of course, had a lot of hair). Though it can be argued that it did affect him to a degree as he was reckless enough to let Homer design a car, this could be justified as him doing his brother a favor. Another detail that contributes to this Simpson family plot hole is that Homer’s lack of intelligence has been attributed to a crayon stuck in his brain, that when removed unleashed his true intelligence.
Perhaps the Simpson gene isn’t all that accurate and can skip a few family members, such as Herb, or the writers have simply forgotten that this is supposed to be genetic and not about a crayon. Whatever the case, Herb represents a plot hole in The Simpsons, and one that surely won’t be solved anytime soon as it’s an easy one to forget.
