The episode deals with the relationship between Homer and Grampa Simpson hitting rock bottom once again, the result of a secret that the latter held from his son.
[1] This event was marked in the opening sequence by a gunfight between Maggie and Marshal Matt Dillon.
The family sends Grampa and Homer to solve an escape room at the mall to force them to bond, but it fails.
[3][4] Creator Matt Groening said that the cliff scene is a nod to Homer's fall into Springfield Gorge from the second season episode "Bart the Daredevil.
[4] The apple pie recipe in the episode was created by Evan Kleiman, who hosts "Good Food" on KCRW in Los Angeles.
[9] Grampa watches NCIS, another long-running scripted American primetime television series.
"[10] "Forgive and Regret" scored a 1.0 rating with a 4 share and was watched by 2.47 million people, making it Fox's highest-rated show of the night.
Club gave this episode a B−, stating, "To the show’s credit, the episode itself makes only passing mention of the at-least numerically impressive feat, with the cold open seeing a once-again pistol-packing Maggie gunning down Gunsmoke’s Marshall Matt Dillon.
[12] Jesse Schedeen of IGN felt the record-breaking episode was a missed opportunity to shake things up, possibly by killing Grampa.