Treehouse of Horror XXX

Jay’s Month of Screams, Day 21- The Simpsons

I promised that I would be doing the 30th Treehouse of Horror for my Halloween entry today, and I’m standing by it. Even if I think that it was boring. At this point, Treehouse of Horror’s less about the horror and more about cutting loose from the restraints of canon. Nonetheless, I’m ready to deliver my verdict on the big XXX/666.

To start us off, I enjoyed the opening segment that led into the episode. I thought it was a neat little parody of Omen, even if American Dad did it years ago. What got me laughing was “the mark of the beast.”

I love Disney, but I’ve made my concern about the Mouse’s growing power clear. Even so, I liked that joke. Firstly, I thought the Mickey Mouse Mark was a cheeky jab by Fox at their new Disney overlords. Second, it was one of the funniest jokes of the special.

Danger Things

The first segement’s a parody of the hit Netflix series Stranger Things, which I admit I’ve never seen before. I had to look up what it’s about, and it seems like the kind of thing I’d love to watch. My lack of knowledge didn’t stop me from enjoying the special. I did, however, recognize the E.T. Game. It’s a cautionary tale about the dangers of trying to rush a video game for profit.

Loosely parodying the first few seasons of the show, Milhouse gets abducted and trapped in an alternate dimension. It ends falling on Lisa to use her psychic powers to save him, only to be saved by Homer. Mr. Burns opened a portal to the other dimension, and Homer got trapped doing clean-up. I thought this was the most interesting of all the segments, and it might be what gets me into Stranger Thing’s.

Heaven Swipes Right

In this next segment, Homer ends up dying in the third most likely way: choking on a hot dog at a game. As it turns out, though, he wasn’t meant to die until later, so Heaven gives him the chance to go back to Earth. Since his body’s useless, they let him pick another person’s body to use, leading him to abuse its power to make Marge happy.

This segment felt a bit like a one-note joke, with the joke being Homer going through every body imaginable. However, that gets old pretty fast. I got more giggles out of the sight of Heaven under new management: Google. Google bought Heaven from God, and while we know it could never happen, I thought it’s funny. It makes you wonder just how powerful Google can get.

When Hairy Met Slimy

Finally, we have a love story between the last people we’d expect: Selma and Kang. Held captive under the Springfield power plant, the two fall in love despite their differences. When Mr. Burns schedules Kang for dissection, Selma enlists Homer on an epic jailbreak to set him free, and be rid of Selma forever.

I cannot lie about this: I hated this segment and thought it was boring. Honestly, I skipped most of it, only stopping to see Kang put on the Infinity Gauntlet.

I am supportive of love conquering all, even species differences; but this was not even remotely fun to watch. I’d rather watch Eclipsa and Globgor, instead: those two are a great couple!

Final Verdict

This was not even remotely scary, outside of Danger Things. I would have had a better time watching one of the Treehouse of Horror episodes from the golden age of The Simpsons than this. Which is a shame, because the 30th special is a big milestone; and it’s the 666th episode, no less!

So, lesson learned, though I’m not entirely sure what the lesson was. At least I know what I’m watching tomorrow is good. Happy Halloween!

Click here to see the FANDOM Article I did for Halloween last year.

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