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| It would've been easy for Lisa to poke a hole in that wrap where Milhouse's gaping mouth is, but she didn't do it. It really makes you think... |
The episode opens up with the Simpsons going Christmas-tree shopping, only to be ambushed by the enemies of Simpsons past: Sideshow Bob, the ghost of Frank Grimes, Kang or Kodos (its not specified which), and for some reason that leprechaun from that one Treehouse of Horror. Maggie quickly decapitates everyone except the ghost who instead comes to realize that the show is now 600 episodes old.
Dry Hard
Despite the reference in the title, this is basically a full Hunger Games reference. Burns has all of the remaining water in town, and has decided to make the kids fight each other to get the water as a reward. However, Lisa successfully bands the town together to take the reservoir. However, its not actually that much water, but thankfully it starts to rain right then and there, and then it rains too much. Sorry I'm not more descriptive, this segment bored me.
Individual Score: -0.3
BFF / R.I.P.
Lisa's friend Janie dies from a mysterious lawnmower accident. Sherri and Terri decide to be Lisa's friend out of pity but they are immediately crushed by a large tombstone for their act. After Lisa's therapist dies after offering her friendship, the police suspect that Lisa is actually behind four murders. When the police find evidence of nail polish at the scenes of the crime and in Lisa's room, Lisa claims she only used it with her imaginary friend, Rachel. Lisa dreamt up Rachel because she had no friends, and though the two supposedly had lots of fun, Lisa gave Rachel up as part of her "growing up". The police don't buy it.
Later, Milhouse is still willing to be Lisa's friend, but Lisa witnesses Rachel appear to suffocate Milhouse. Lisa tries to get Rachel to stop, but its too late, and the police arrest Lisa for the murder. Soon after, Lisa lets it slip that Marge encouraged her to abandon her imaginary friend in the first place, causing Rachel to seek revenge.
Bart finds Lisa in prison during one of his prison runs and frees her, Lisa's vivid imagination able to secure transportation for the two. Meanwhile, Rachel's initial attempt to kill Marge ends in a heroic sacrifice by the cat. A second attempt is stopped by Lisa and Bart who arrive home in time, but as Rachel proclaims she can't be stopped because only Lisa can see her, Homer claims he can as well, because he's wasted. As Rachel attacks Homer, he gets his old imaginary friend Sergeant Sausage to help. The Sergeant attempts to reason with Rachel but Rachel stuffs him in the microwave and cooks him.
Lisa has had enough and starts to imagine Rachel instead as an older mother who is married to a dentist. This reimagining is enough to drive Rachel away, saving Marge. Homer honors the loss of his friend by eating his imaginary remains.
Individual Score: +1.3
Moefinger
Bart is saved from Jimbo and pals by Moe, who reveals to Bart that he, and his bar regulars, are actually secret agents. Apparently, Homer died recently and so Moe asks Bart to essentially take his place. The group gets a new assignment to look into the shade dealing of a "Remoh" corporation at the baseball stadium its just bought. Upon doing so, they find that Homer has in fact survived and has turned into the supervillain they've been looking for. Homer sics legions of brainwashed people at them, but Bart - despite practically no training - kills them all, then kills Homer as well.
As this is basically a James Bond reference, Bart of course gets his girl (Sherri rather than Terri because the former makes an easier pun), and the Goldfinger theme is parodied to note the fact, once again, that the show has now aired 600 episodes.
Individual Score: +0.5
Quick Review
As you can see, my descriptions of the segments are quite proportional to how well I liked them. Given the quality of the other two, the imaginary friend storyline shouldn't really be here, its too good to be stuck in this otherwise bottom-dwelling Treehouse of Horror.
What really set BFF/R.I.P. ahead of the other two was simple: it stuck to the basics, limited the pointless referencing and threw out morbid joke after morbid joke, most of which worked very well. I might have overrated it a little given I had just suffered through the Hunger Games reference, but I really did enjoy this segment and how it had so little nonsense that brought it down. I think the weakest thing about it was the Drew Carey 'cameo' during it where he had literally one line. It was a decent line but either have him do more or not bring him on at all, I feel. Still, that's basically my only complaint for that segment.
The other two, however, were far worse. They were just full of references and the Hunger Games segment in particular was very bad on this. Despite never having watched/read any Hunger Games material, the references were very obvious but, even worse, the segment focused more on getting the reference right than making the jokes funny. That's why it has become my least favorite Halloween segment yet (edging out the Clockwork Yellow one from a couple of years ago by two tenths of a point).
The spy one was nearly as bad, but its jokes worked a bit better. That segment suffered from poor pacing and having that awful "tribute" to 600 episodes tacked on its end. Otherwise, it wasn't a bad segment.
So, overall, its another low-end Treehouse of Horror, not as bad as two years ago thanks to BFF/R.I.P., but not as good as last year's mediocre effort either. Oh, if only the writers and staff can just figure out that the show would be so much better with the dynamic of the BFF/R.I.P. segment and not the rest of this broken, broken mess. If only...
Final Score: 6.4
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