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| Its not convincing unless they engage in hot animal sex, but 1938 is too pure for that. |
The episode opens with an homage to Tales from the Crypt.
Married to the Blob
A strange meteor crashes into the Simpson backyard. It cracks open to reveal a strange green glob. Homer promptly eats it, and is able to keep it in despite the glob's desperate attempts at escape. Later that night, Homer's appetite becomes insatiable, as he eats everything in the house. He then tries to eat Bart before Marge stops him. A short time later, a much fatter Homer makes his way to the beach, where several teenagers are having fun, shooting BBQ sauce at each other. Homer can't resist, and starts eating one such teenager who fell in a fire. In short time, Homer becomes large enough to devour people in a single gulp, and goes particularly after fat people as they're rich in taste. He's soon confronted by Dr. Phil, who forces Homer to admit what he's become, and how disappointed his family is in him. After Homer eats Dr. Phil, he decides to get his act together and use his gluttony to help the community. He does so by eating the homeless. Problem solved!
Individual Score: +0.8
You Gotta Know When to Golem
Bart goes backstage after a live taping of Krusty's show and find a strange golem in a storage room. Krusty finds Bart, but just tells him about the Golem of Prague, a being made out of humble clay by a powerful rabbi that would follow whatever instructions were written in scrolls that were inserted into its mouth. Bart secretly puts in a piece of paper telling the golem to meet him at his house. Now in possession of the golem, Bart uses it to kill some bullies. Lisa catches wind of this, and tells Bart that the golem must feel awful about it, putting in a scroll letting the golem speak. The golem, who sounds like Richard Lewis, confirms Lisa's idea and that it feels awful about what it did. Bart becomes annoyed with its constant talking, though, and has it go off to kill Principal Skinner just to get away from it for awhile. Still, afterwords it keeps talking, now remorse over what it did to Skinner. Realizing that the golem could use a significant other, the family quickly crafts one out of Play-Doh and gives it life by putting a scroll in its mouth. This female golem, who sounds like Fran Drescher, is just the thing the male golem is looking for, and the two quickly wed, Chief Wiggum being bribed away from arresting the golem for Skinner's death.
Individual Score: +0.9
The Day the Earth Looked Stupid
In a version of Springfield set in 1938, news comes over the radio of a supposed invasion from Mars. Though its only a hoax set up by Orson Welles, Springfield not only believes the invasion to be true, they go overboard in their reaction to it: killing people suspected as aliens and eventually stripping and acting like animals on the rumor that the aliens are only killing humans. Eventually, Lisa tells everyone that it was a hoax, and the town becomes wiser from it.
However, Kang and Kodos spy this tomfoolery, and realize that if they initiate a real invasion, people won't realize its not a hoax until its too late. Sure enough, once they attack nobody will believe either Lisa nor Welles himself that a real invasion is actually happening. Even so, three years later the invasion of Earth is going slower than once expected, and Kang and Kodos argue as to whether they should pull out or keep occupying Springfield like they have.
Individual Score: +0.4
Quick Review
Well, like Treehouse of Horror XVI, this edition isn't one of the better episodes nor is it particularly bad. The first two segments were fine, nothing classic but there were good laughs to be had. I enjoyed the golem segment more than I thought I would. Conversely, I enjoyed the last segment less than I anticipated; I didn't really find chunks of it funny and the comparison to the Iraq War to conclude the episode did not end the episode on a humorous note. Still, its a pretty decent watch, if not on par with most other Treehouse of Horror episodes.
Final Score: 7.1
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