The Simpsons Season 29 Episode 4 Review - Treehouse of Horror

It's the Halloween season and you know what that means - another Simpsons Treehouse of Horror! One of my favorite Halloween traditions returns for another chapter, and I'm thrilled.

In the opening segment, Barterfinger is worried that he will be eaten, but his parents Marge Bar and Oh Homer assure him he'll stick around for while. The person picks out Senior Mints, and eats them. The next day, the entire Candy Simpson family (minus Senior Mints) is left in the bowl. The person takes them and sets them on a shelf, where they will be left forever. The entire family then eats a chocolate bunny from God-knows-when.

In segment one, The Exor-sis, the family receives a package that contains a Pazuzu statue from Iraq. Marge and Homer have no idea why it was ordered, and they decide to send it back the next day. Tonight, however, they're having a cocktail party. After Marge heads downstairs, Homer picks up Pazuzu and his eyes start to glow. Strange things start happening around Maggie's room, obviously caused by Pazuzu. Later, Maggie comes out from her room, possessed. Helen Lovejoy is the first to realize that she's a Demon, but Maggie kills her with her demonic powers. She also kills Dr. Hibbert, which prompts Ned to declare that Maggie needs an exorcism. Since Rev. Lovejoy (who is strangely non-effected by the death of his wife) has no clue how to do them, they need to call an exorcist. The exorcist (The Exorcist reboot's brilliant Father Marcus Ben Daniels) arrives, and declares that Maggie must be cut loose. He orders Pazuzu out, and soon, Maggie is back. However, Pazuzu enters Bart. The thing is, Pazuzu doesn't want to be in Bart (he has the darkest soul he's ever seen).

Segment two is a Coraline parody titled Coralisa. Lisa is upstairs in her room, wondering if she was born in the wrong family. Snowball points to a door, and then heads into it. Lisa chases after him, and  apparently he can talk (thanks to Coraline creator Neil Gaiman). He shows her to her other family. Lisa heads through the other door, and meets her "perfect" family. The Other Simpsons offer to do a little jazz number with her, and she's thrilled. She wishes she could stay forever, and Other Homer tells her that she can. They want to sew buttons on her eyes, and she runs back through the door to her room. Homer tells her that he killed a snake with her saxophone, and she heads back to the Other Simpsons and asks for buttons.  Weeks later, the OG Homer finally notices that Lisa is gone, and Marge is clearly annoyed with the police's response to the disappearance. When Homer tells Bart he'll get Lisa's homework, he too heads to the Other Simpsons to join them. Homer and Marge know that Bart went through the door, and she heads through too. Snowball tells Homer he's lost his family, and Homer joins the rest of the family in Buttonville, USA. Unfortunately, he's too ginormous to get through and needs Snowball's help to push his way through the tiny doorway. In the button world, Homer kills Button Bart. Then, Button Homer stumbles and halls onto a pair of scissors. Button Marge is super annoyed, but they apparently come to an understanding and bring all of them back to the world of the Original Simpsons.

In segment three, MMM... Homer, the kids and Marge leave and Homer is home alone. Homer eats all of the food in the house, except for the vegetables. He soon discovers a frozen hotdog, and her throws it on the grill. He takes it off and tries to cut it, but accidentally cuts his own finger off. As he screams about his finger, Santa's Little Helper grabs the hot dog. Homer's finger is sitting of the grill, and because he's disgusting, he eats it. Medium rare. He loves it, but pledges to never eat any of his body parts again. But soon, he decides to cut off his other finger and eat it, to even things out. Ned invites him over for some food, and he hates it. Ned starts to suspect that he's eating human, but Homer doesn't care how Ned feels. Back insine, Homer is creating some delicious Homeals. Soon, Marge arrives with the kids. They notice that he's lost weight, but also that he's walking strange. That night, Marge comes down to find Homer cooking his own leg. She takes him to an addiction counselor, but he won't listen, and Marge leaves him. Mario Batali arrives, and he states that he's been looking for new ingredients. And Homer is just that. After Batali cooks the remainder of Homer, a note is sent to the family. In it, Homer invites them all home. At home, Batali has turned their home into a restaurant where Homer's the main ingredient.


I've said numerous times that this is a great Simpsons season. So it makes sense that the show also delivers one of its best Treehouse of Horrors in many years this week. It's a fantastic episode with three hilarious segments and a great opening. The best segment for me would have to be the hysterical MMM.. Homer, which featured the best storyline and the best jokes. This year also saw notable guest appearances by Ben Daniels and Neil Gaiman, and both were great. This was just a great episode through and through. And it was stunning visually, as well. This episode of near perfection comes after three solid episodes, and I'm excited for what else the season will bring us.
My Score: 9.5/10
My Grade: A

The Simpsons Episode 600 Review

Welcome to a very special review of a very special episode of the Simpsons! I usually do not review the Simpsons, but the Simpsons reached a milestone last night. They have aired 600 episodes as of this episode. For that reason, I'm going to review the episode. Let's see how good this very important episode is.

The episode starts out with the Simpsons going Christmas Tree shopping on Halloween. They are confronted by some of their greatest nemeses: Sideshow Bob, Frank Grimes, Kang or Kodos, and a leprechaun. They are immediately killed by Maggie.

Next, the Simpsons does a Hunger Games parody. Burns is the leader of a dystopian Springfield, and he is keeping all of the water for himself. This is pretty funny, as we get to see him waste water as the parched Springfielders watch on. He orders the children to fight each other to the death. We see Lisa Simpson's character preparing for the games, along with Marge's character, who gets a new hairdo. We also meet Lisa's mentor, Homish. During the games, Lisa meets Peta and Pita, who are both killed by Homish. The kids get an idea to leave the Games and go after Burns' reservoir. They also do a Mad Max: Fury Road parody, which was enjoyable.

The second segment, called BFF/RIP, is the episode's strongest. It begins with Lisa playing hide-and-go seek, but her friend is killed by a lawnmower. There's some great lines in this segment, such as Lisa's "It makes a great college essay, but it's not worth it!' line. She briefly gets new BFFs in Sherri and Terri, who are killed by tombstones. She goes to a therapist who tells her that everything will be okay is killed by a framed poster. Wiggum begins to get suspicious of Lisa, and he has some amazing lines in here. Lisa realizes that her old imaginary fried, Rachel, is to blame. Unfortunately, Lisa is arrested. In prison, Rachel appears, and hints that she is going to kill Marge. Bart helps her escape, and they go to save Marge. Shoutout to Homer's awesome imaginary friend, Sergeant Sausage.

Moefinger is a parody of James Bond and Kingsman, and it features Moe and the rest of the bar regulars as secret agents. In it, Bart, their newest agent, is told about how his late father Homer was killed on a mission. They go to discover who killed him, but he never actually died. They end up at a Steely Dan concert, and Bart kills Homer and a bunch of bad guys.

The end of the episode shows just how many awful shows have had promos aired during the Simpsons, and that produced a few chuckles for me.

This was a great episode. The Treehouse of Horror episodes are always fantastic, and it's very fitting episode 600 was a Treehouse of Horror, arguably one of the most iconic parts of Simpsons history.
Score: 8.5
Grade: B+