22 The Ned-Liest Catch

Edna Krabappel is suspended from teaching by Superintendent Chalmers after Bart pulls a prank that leads Edna to slap him twice on the back of the head. Chalmers tells Edna she is suspended with full pay, but will have to report to a rubber room where teachers spend agonizing days waiting until their fates are decided. Bart feels guilty about his behavior and helps Edna escape detention. When she uses a ladder outside the window to leave the building, it collapses but Ned Flanders winds up catching and saving her.

Ned and Edna start dating, and Edna is on top of the world when she learns she can return to teaching as long as she also does some weekend work as a prison guard. Fed up with Homer and Bart's attitudes towards Edna and Ned's romance, Marge shames Homer into putting in some good words about Edna with Ned. Homer takes Ned to Moe's and when he sees that Ned truly does love Edna, he actually does what Marge asked him to and praises their relationship. Unfortunately, he then makes a reference to Edna's extensive dating history, and Ned is surprised that she has been with many of Springfield's men, including Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer. Ned is furious at Homer for doing this, wrongly thinking Homer was trying to ruin his relationship, and he runs away in horror from Edna and gives Homer the silent treatment until Homer makes some points that make Ned think. Ned then tells Edna he forgives her past, but Edna angrily tells him off by saying that she is not sorry about her past and does not want or need his approval - she only wants to date him again. She then tells him that, if they are going to stay together, her past must never get in their way. Ned gasps and says "I guess this is gonna have to be decided... by a higher power." As soon as he says this, the image of him and Edna freezes and zooms out and Homer and Marge walk on screen.

The episode and the season ends on a cliffhanger with Homer and Marge giving a link to TheSimpsons.com and encouraging viewers to vote on whether Ned and Edna should stay together. The results were revealed during the first episode of the 23rd season, making this the second cliffhanger episode of The Simpsons.[note 2] The cliffhanger was resolved the next year by revealing Ned and Edna were still a couple, as the real-world poll overwhelmingly voted to keep them together.