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| "Frosty chocolate milkshakes" Homer seems so long ago... |
The episode begins with the Simpsons and Ned Flanders conjuring the spirit of Maude Flanders, who angrily pops up and begins the episode.
Send in the Clones
Homer's hammock breaks and Marge tasks him with a list of chores. Luckily for him, the hammock peddler walks on by and Homer can quickly buy a new hammock, though the one he buys is cursed or something. Homer tries to jump in, but after a spin, he and another Homer are spit out. This clone looks like Homer, but has no belly button and is even dumber than usual. Homer has the clone do a chore for him, but the clone dies in the process. Homer kicks out another clone to help him dump the first clone's body into Flanders' yard, but soon realizes that he can make multiple clones to do his chores. Sure enough, that's what he does, and there's over a dozen clones running around and doing things, though the real Homer steps in when its time to make love to Marge.
Things turn sour, though, when a clone is tasked to give Flanders his chainsaw back, only to chop off Ned's head instead. Panicked, Homer dumps all of his clones at a corn field, as well as the hammock, seemingly unaware that his clones are capable of cloning themselves with the hammock. Immediately there are swarms of Homer clones going around and trashing Springfield. The military is asked to stop them, where Lisa gives them the idea to lure them with Homer's weakness: donuts. Creating giant donuts for the task, the military is able to lure all of the clones into a canyon, eventually killing them all. That night, Marge is relieved that only one Homer is left, but learns that this Homer is a clone; the original Homer was the first one to fall into the canyon seeking donuts. Marge is initially devastated by this, but quickly calms down because, hey, this Homer can't be much different, right?
Individual Score: +1.3
The Fright to Creep and Scare Harms
Bart and Lisa bury their dead goldfish at the cemetery. There, Lisa sees the grave of one William Bonney, who died centuries ago from gun violence. On the grave, there's a phrase of his: "I dream of a world without guns." Lisa is inspired by this and leads a campaign around town to ban all guns, which passes easily. After everyone turns in their guns, and said guns are converted into playground sets, Lisa believes she's fulfilled Bonney's dream.
However, Bonney appears on horseback as a zombie, as it turns out he also goes by the name of Billy the Kid. He reveals that he's been waiting for this moment, as he was hoping the town would be defenseless so that he and his zombie pals could run amok. He, Frank & Jesse James, the Sundance Kid and Kaiser Wilhelm (the most evil of Germans!) are armed with guns and pretty much take over the town. As they force the Simpsons into entertaining them, Professor Frink is able to slink Homer away. Frink shows Homer a time machine where they can go into the past and prevent the zombies from rising, though Homer ends up going alone. Going back to Lisa's campaign, Homer warns then convinces the town to go to the graveyard and shoot up those five zombies with their guns, and the zombies are shot out of town. Lisa is saddened that gun violence seems necessary now. Just then, another Homer from an even further future comes back to warn everyone, but nobody feels like dealing with this and Moe just shoots him.
Individual Score: +0.4
The Island of Dr. Hibbert
The Simpsons go on vacation to the skull-shaped Island of Lost Souls. The island is property of Dr. Hibbert, who was rumored to of gone mad, and with a rather ape-ish Willie about plus Hibbert's pro-animals agenda, that seems to be the case. That night, Marge decides to snoop, but is captured by Hibbert. A short time later, Marge returns as a panther, and Homer unwittingly gets her in the mood to mate. Homer realizes afterward that Marge had been altered, and the next day goes to investigate himself. Finding Flanders as a cow, Homer frees and milks him and the two go and find a colony of people who have been transformed into beasts by Hibbert, now including his own children. Homer tries to rally the monstrosities against Hibbert, but the doctor appears and convinces them that their lives are better now. Homer tries to retort, but upon realizing that all they do now is sleep, eat and mate, he willing gives in and lets Hibbert change him as well, and all the animal people relax comfortably at Hibbert's crazy island, which bothers Kang and Kodos from afar.
Individual Score: +0.5
Quick Review
So, this is the first Treehouse of Horror with Al Jean as showrunner (Scully was still around for the last one) and, sure enough, its the first bad Treehouse of Horror I come across. The opening act with Maude's ghost wasn't good in the least bit. The clones story was actually pretty good though it did have a couple of missteps (like that damn collar-pulling bit). The other two had potential, but just weren't all that funny. In all, its the worst Treehouse of Horror thus far and it really gives me worry for the rest of the season.
Final Score: 6.7
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