The Simpsons returned on a sad note this week, as the death of Marcia Wallace (Edna Krabappel) was marked with a Edna-centric episode and a tribute card at the end of the new installment.

The Simpsons Season 25 Episode 3, however, did not do much to lift the spirits of its grieving fans. Instead, viewers got a choppy, bland installment that had its best moments at the beginning and the end.

Tonight's couch gag delightfully re-imagined The Hobbit as the family's journey to their sofa.

From there, the episode moved to the funeral of Chip Davis, an apparently important Springfielder who's never been seen. Is this the show's way of joking around about the announced character death that was to happen this season? Or have they decided to forget about that idea after unexpectedly losing one of its cast members?

The funeral was merely a set-up for tonight's theme: regrets. Marge, Homer, Mr. Burns and Kent Brockman (oddly enough) all thought about what their greatest regrets would be if they died.

At first, I was confused about which of these characters would take the forefront, but then it became clear that the episode would follow all the characters as they explored and made peace with their regrets.

Sometimes this ensemble approach can work for The Simpsons, like in seventh season episode "22 Short Films about Springfield." But this time it felt rather disjointed and lacked any real humor.

In fact, the whole episode had an air of melancholy to it...which makes total sense given the loss of Marcia Wallace.

At least there were still some memorable moments as you can see on The Simpsons quotes page.

What did everyone else think?