Treehouse of Horror XXVIII (S29, E04-622)

Recap:
The Exor-Sis - Maggie gets possessed by a lesser demon in an obvious Exorcist spoof. (+0.6)

Coralisa - Lisa finds a stitched-up CGI version of her world through her room, where life is great except everyone has their eyes or mouths stitched up with buttons. (+0.7)

Mmm... Homer - Homer realizes he tastes delicious, and eventually becomes the world's tastiest ingredient. (+0.9)

Review: I enjoyed the episode overall.  Each segment was better than the last.  Exor-Sis was kinda dull and ended on a whimper.  Coralisa, an apparent Coraline reference, was relatively faithful to the setup of that movie even if, once again, it had no idea how to end itself.  The last segment had some good moments though the 'Hallelujah' bits dragged it down somewhat.  This Treehouse of Horror ends up better than last years' if only because none of the segments were downright bad, and overall this one is the best scoring one in five years, but these anthologies are still a far cry from what they were even just ten years ago.

Final Score: 7.2

Treehouse of Horror XXVII (S28, E04-600)

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...

Plot Summary
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

Treehouse of Horror XXVI (S27, E05-579)

He's supposed to be laughing in this scene, I guess?

Plot Summary
The opening is another John K. affair, where the zombified remains of Frank Grimes chase the Simpson kids back to their house, where the monster eats Homer's soul, or something.

Wanted: Dead Then Alive
Bart is easily lured to the school's music room, as part of a trap set up by Sideshow Bob.  Bart taunts Bob, knowing how often the man has failed to kill the young boy.  However, thanks to the lack of canon these Halloween episodes carry, Bob finally, successfully, and rather easily, pulls off the deed.  Having finally killed Bart, Bob takes the boy's body back home with him as a trophy of sorts, easily avoiding the small attempt by Homer to figure out where Bart went.

His main goal in life completed, Bob decides to become a professor at a University.  However, today's "educated" college kids do not mesh well with Bob at all, and he yearns for a time when Bart was alive so he could kill him all over again.  Luckily, Bob is able to 'borrow' enough materials from his college that he's able to build a reanimation machine to bring Bart back to life, good as new.  Thus begins a cycle where Bob kills Bart quickly, then his machine brings Bart back as good as new regardless of how badly Bob hacks or chops Bart up.  Eventually, though, Lisa finds Bart by peeking in from the basement window, and the family goes in to rescue and reanimate Bart.  Bob tries to stop them, but Homer knocks him out with a lamp, then chops his head off with the same, reanimated lamp.  Bart then takes Bob's head and various other parts to reanimate Bob as a chimera sort of thing, which makes his job as a professor slightly more difficult.
Individual Score: +1.1

Homerzilla
In a rural, 1940's Japanese town, Abraham Simpson is mocked for sending a donut out to sea daily, as he does so to prevent the rise of a massive monster.  One day, however, crazy ol' Abe dies, and nobody in his family believed his story so nobody carries on the tradition.  Soon enough, a beast rises from the sea: Homerzilla.  Causing havoc all around, Homerzilla destroys all.

It's revealed, though, that Homerzilla is just a film (evident by the Homer in the suit falling off the city set), and a group of modern movie executives plan on creating a modern Homerzilla.  Two years later, the remake, 'Zilla, comes to fruition but with an uninteresting plot and product placements everywhere, the movie bombs heavily.  The execs decide to dump all copies of the movie into the sea, which bumps into, and awakens, a Homerzilla sleeping within.
Individual Score: +0.5

Telepaths of Glory
Milhouse falls into a hole, with Bart and Lisa giving chase.  The three land in cavern littered with nuclear waste which eventually explodes.  When they awake, Milhouse and Lisa realize that they've been given telepathic powers which react to their intellect (which means Bart gets squat).  As Lisa slyly abuses her powers, Milhouse goes full on madman with his, but is struck down mightily.  As Lisa denies having anything to do with it, it's revealed Maggie, too, has powers thanks to sucking on a radioactive element of some sort.  She uses her powers to do incredible things, like making French people nice.  Then, the aliens lament being relegated to a simple cameo again and when the picture ratio drops to 4:3 as punishment, Kodos warns their overlords that this isn't Season 4 (don't worry, we know it isn't).
Individual Score: +0.4

Quick Review
Well, I really enjoyed the Sideshow Bob bit, a nice return for the Kelsey Grammar-voiced character after his last, very odd appearance.  The Homerzilla bit started off very nicely, and the twist involved I had no problems with, but the comedy following the twist fell flat and held that segment back.  The last segment was short, not that funny and got a little reference-happy at the end.  In the end, its an improvement from last season, but its still one of the weaker Treehouse of Horror entries.

Final Score: 7.0

Halloween of Horror (S27, E04-578)

Being afraid gives anyone the ability to shoulder the weight 240+ lb men.

Plot Summary
The day before Halloween, Homer finishes up decorating his house for the holiday ("Everscream Terrors"), a top notch effort of spooky sights.  Upon learning his skeletons have melted, though, he and the family take a quick trip to the temp Halloween store managed by Apu.  Three temp workers attempt to give Homer a backdoor deal under the condition he doesn't tell "Señor Squishee", but Homer, unaware of who that really is, immediately tells Apu about his great deal.  Apu quickly fires his three "helpers", who immediately note to a leaving Homer that he's going to be sorry for getting them fired.

That night, Homer takes Bart and Lisa to a Krusty-sponsored Halloween event.  Lisa in particular is hyped for it, however the sights, sounds and terrors of the event are too real for Lisa to deal with and despite everyone including Lisa knowing the scares aren't real, Lisa breaks down in terror.

On Halloween day, Bart's buccaneer costume is forcibly limited at school.  Also limited is Lisa, who can't even look at Halloween decorations without freaking out now.  As such, Marge forces Homer to take down Everscream Terrors to save Lisa's sensibilities, but as Homer refuses the two notice that Lisa has recovered "Tailee", a soft toy from Lisa's past that she uses as an emotional crutch that her parents had hoped she moved on from.  Knowing Lisa's back on Tailee, Homer relents and takes down his showcase, further disappointing Bart.

To try and make up for things, Marge tries to take Bart trick-or-treating at a fancy neighborhood but are denied entrance.  Marge tries to take Bart on last-second trick-or-treating around their neighborhood but everyone closes up shop.  Now that it's late enough, "Adult Halloween" begins, where adults in skimpy costumes walk around town and be drunk and vulgar, right in front of Bart who is aware - if nothing else - that his Halloween is ruined.

Meanwhile, Homer attempts to have a regular, quiet night with his emotionally fragile daughter.  However, he's visited by the three men whom he got fired the other day.  Realizing their intent, Homer attempts to lock down the house without alarming Lisa, but fails as the three find a way to enter the house.  Homer tries to make a break for the Flanders' place but Lisa heads back to retrieve Tailee.  Homer runs back to get her but the two are confronted by the men, and they're forced to flee into the attic.

As Lisa completely shuts down from the fright, Homer tries to reassure her that, yeah, he's scared too but being afraid doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to think at the same time.  Comforted by her father's words, Lisa recovers and helps Homer come up with a plan to draw attention to the house - using various fireworks and decorations from Homer's other holiday extravaganzas.  Homer quickly sets up a makeshift firework display, but its too windy to light up a match for any period of time.  Lisa nobly offers the flammable Tailee to provide a consistent fire, and with it Homer sets off the fireworks, drawing everyone from Adult Halloween - including the police, to his house.  The three men are quickly arrested, and with Lisa having overcome her fears, Everscream Terrors is back on, much to the delight of Bart.  In the credits, Maggie discovers a burnt-up Tailee, but its suddenly restores itself, carrying on its terrifying legacy with the second Simpson daughter.

Quick Review
This was a pretty decent episode.  The main storyline with Lisa and Homer was pretty good and had many good jokes and bits.  Bart's sidestory was significantly less funny, and the "Adult Halloween" bit was a major miss, bringing the episode down.  Still, the episode didn't suffer too much from many of the things that often plague modern Simpsons (even the referencing was limited to just Halloween costumes), making for an overall enjoyable experience.

Final Score: 7.4

Treehouse of Horror XXV (S26, E04-556)

Ghost Simpsons vs Zombie Simpsons; whoever wins, we all lose.

Plot Summary
School is Hell
Bart is in detention again for his various pranks, all by himself.  Trying to pass the time, he comes across a dust-covered desk with runes on it.  He gets Lisa to help decipher the runes, which state that those who read it get sent to hell.  Upon reading those words, well, the two are snatched and brought to hell, specifically a school in hell.  Bart comes to find out that the school is actually perfect for him as he learns how to torture and manipulate matters in the shadows.  Lisa eventually finds a way out, but afterwards Bart pleads with his parents to go to the school in hell instead.  The two agree after consulting the school's two-headed principal, and Bart quickly finds himself on the path to success.  He even aces his final exam: torturing Homer, who in his decapitated state is overjoyed when Bart graduates.
Individual Score: +0.5

A Clockwork Yellow
I'm assuming its a full-blown parody of A Clockwork Orange, not having seen the source material.  Anyway, a hooligan gang consisting of versions of Moe, Lenny, Carl and Homer are forced to break up when Homer fall in love with a version of Marge and settles down.  Years later, a now meek Moe finds himself under attack by a younger hooligan group, and he yearns for the past.  He visits Homer who agrees to go on one last run alongside Lenny and Carl - who happen to be policemen.  The four agree to do a home invasion and raids the Burns Manor, but rush into a very odd costume party.  Burns sics his guests on the four and a brawl ensues featuring several Stanley Kubrick references, which is Moe's happiest moment in years.  Its not Kubrick's, who dislikes how the bit turned out in an editing room.
Individual Score: -0.1 (yes, minus)

The Others
The Simpson house seems to be haunted, especially with blood writing and mysterious frosty chocolate milkshakes and endless Married with Children.  The family lures out the source, and out comes the ghosts of the Simpson family circa 1987, complete with animations and differently pitched voices!  Ghost Marge finds herself attracted to modern Homer, as he is nowhere near as strict as ghost Homer.  Modern Marge finds herself jealous over Homer's newfound ghost-lust, and kills herself to get Homer to notice her again.  With two ghost Marges over him, Homer is suddenly attacked and killed by his ghost self.  Hijinks cause Bart and Lisa to die, whose bodies along with a dead Maggie are dragged away by a hungry Willie.  As the two sides begin to bicker, and limbo-resident Dr. Marvin Monroe doing little to salvage the situation, the two Marges force modern Homer to choose between them.  While Homer likes that 1987 Marge is willing to put up with him, modern Marge has, and Homer picks modern Marge on that merit.  The next morning, as the two families eat breakfast, modern Lisa worries that if two different Simpsons could exists, what could stop marketing companies from making millions more.  Quickly, other versions of the Simpsons family arrive at the house.
Individual Score: +0.7

Quick Review
A new low in Treehouse of Horror.

The first segment was a slow starter but it picked up at the end.  The final segment, the nostalgia callback that it was, had its moments and it was pretty decent overall.  The Clockwork Yellow bit, which I guess which just an homage to everything Stanley Kubrick (?), I did not find funny at all.  I have come to realize that I abhor episodes that are just nothing more than references (see: Married to the Blob from last season), and this segment was nothing but.  It also hurt that, not being a Kubrick fan at all, I didn't even get most of the references, and the funniest joke in the bit was comic book guy noting he is no longer able to keep up with the references.  The middle segment alone ruined this episode.  The worst bit in Treehouse of Horror history makes this the worst Treehouse of Horror in history.

Final Score: 6.1

Treehouse of Horror XXIV (S25, E02-532)

Oh man, am I watching the parody or the real thing I can't even tell anymore!

Plot Summary
The episode opens up with a heavily modified, Guillermo del Toro directed opening sequence full of references that went on for way too long.

Oh, the Places You'll D'oh!
In a Cat in the Hat parody, the three Simpson kids are left to stay at home during Halloween as they nurse the mumps.  Just then, a large Homer-like creature barges in and cures the three of their ailments, calling himself the "Fat" in the Hat.  He promises to take the kids out to get some candy, but in the process gets into all sorts of rather twisted encounters throughout town, including burning a buzzard Burns, forcing Apu to spend time with his family, and skinning a Grinch-like Moe.  The kids start to fear for their safety and escape the Fat and the Hat to return home.  However, the Fat is waiting for them there, but they're saved when Maggie is able to kill the Fat with his own weaponized umbrella.  So in all, its a good night for the kids who got a lot of candy when Fat was ransacking Apu's store.
Individual Score: +0.7

Dead and Shoulders
Bart is flying a box kite near an airport in an attempt to screw with pilots.  The efforts continues to the night, when Bart decides to continue by tying the kite string around his own neck to keep it from flying away.  Of course, a short time later, the box kite gets caught up in a traffic copter, the result of which causes the kite string to cut Bart's head clean off.

Bart wakes up a short time later seemingly okay, but it turns out his head was grafted onto Lisa's shoulder, with Lisa still in full control of her body.  The two, of course, bicker with their new predicament, but a psychiatrist helps the two start getting along.  One night, though, Bart realizes that when Lisa is asleep, he gains control of her body.  Quickly ensuring Lisa stays asleep, Bart attempts to remove Lisa's head so that he can have her body all to himself (man that sounds weird out of context).

After one failed attempt, Bart ties Lisa's body up on a log heading towards a saw, but Lisa wakes up just in time and is able to shift her body in such a way where Bart's head is instead chopped off.  Lisa is proud of her victory, when her head is also cut off by a second saw.  A short time later, Bart wakes up again to learn in horror his head has now been grafted onto his Aunt Selma (I guess?), while Lisa's head is now on Krusty's body.
Individual Score: +0.6

Freaks No Geeks
In a 1920's era circus ran by Mr. "Burnsome", its attractions include an acrobat act by a Marguerite (Marge, obv.), a strongman act by a Homer-like fellow, and of course a large freak show, its highlight attraction being Moe - just Moe.  A short time later, as Burnsome yells at the freaks, Marguerite defends them as she, too, has the freakish feature of differing eye colors.  Moe befriends Marge at this point, and other freaks encourage Moe to ask Marge out.  Moe considers it, thanks in part to a supposedly valuable emerald ring he possesses.  Strongman, who is engaged to Marge sees this, and concocts a plan to let Marge marry Moe so he can kill Moe and take his ring and then marry Marge himself even though he is already engaged to her.

Still, Strongman begins his plan and quickly Marge marries Moe, quickly becoming part of the freaks.  In short time, Strongman attempts to poison Moe's drink but is caught by Marge, who kicks him out.  On a rainy night, Strongman sees the other freaks slowly advance on him, and sees Burnsome having been hung by the freaks.  Aiming to make Strongman one of them as well, the freaks advance on him with tar and feathers.  Reimagined by the freaks into a limbless 'duck', Strongman tells the kids the story about how he met their mother via the story that was just told.
Individual Score: +0.7

Quick Review
My opinions on this installment are pretty mixed.  I was really not a fan of the opening sequence, it was too long and there were just so many references that I just did not care about.  So, the episode really started on a drag for me.

The Cat in the Hat spoof I probably should've liked more, but there were some jokes that really missed in it which hampered my enjoyment of it.  The middle segment wasn't anything particularly great, but I really enjoyed the last story, it really hit its marks even with the oddly tossed in How I Met Your Mother reference at the end.

In the end though, its not a particularly noteworthy Treehouse of Horror, in fact the third-lowest rated of the 24 thus far.  Just too much did not work for the episode and it offset the decent amount of humor it did present.

Final Score: 7.0

Treehouse of Horror XXIII (S24, E02-510)

After the revelation at the end of Unnormal Activity, its no wonder Marge always picks Homer.

Plot Summary
Some time ago, during the Mayan dynasty, the Mayans attempt to prolong the apocalypse by providing a nice, fat sacrifice.  Mayan Homer realizes he's that sacrifice, but Mayan Marge helps him escape by tricking Mayan Moe into putting a bag over his head, then tricking the other Mayans by having Mayan Moe be the sacrifice instead.  The Mayans quickly learn of their mistake, but then they learn that the end of the world won't happen until 2012, so they're mostly relieved.  Fast forward to 2012, and the Mayan Gods awaken to wreck and eventually destroy the planet.

The Greatest Story Ever Holed
Lisa successfully lobbies to have a Particle Accelerator built instead of a baseball stadium, and when the Accelerator produces no results, everyone hates Lisa for wasting time and money.  A short time later, though, the Accelerator creates a miniature black hole when no one is around.  It finds a way out of the Accelerator, and into the open where Lisa finds it.  Seeing Ralph and Nelson gets sucked in, she realizes she needs to keep it from destroying everything, and is able to lead it to the basement of her house.  The rest of the family learns of it, but Lisa strongly urges the family not to throw anything into the black hole, or it will get bigger.

Still, Marge can't resist putting old grease in there, and Bart doesn't like his homework, so Mrs. Krabappel goes in.  Some time later, the black hole becomes much bigger, and Lisa looks at Marge and Bart, but the real reason is because Homer started up a business where he allows others to throw their crap within.  Suddenly, the black hole becomes large enough to swallow the house whole just after the family escapes.  People, who had arrived for Homer's business, throw their crap in too, but as Lisa tries to stop them, an errant fly ball sneaks it, causing the black hole to expand greatly, sucking in basically everything including most of the Simpson family.  Maggie is able to hold out, but her pacifier gets sucked in.  The black hole becomes satisfied by it, and quickly shrinks into nothing as it sucks away at the pacifier.  Maggie, at least, is saved.  On the other end, the family and most everything else lands on an alien planet whose residents have treated the garbage thrown in as treasure and gifts, and Marge keeps Homer from blurting out the truth.
Individual Score: +0.5

Unnormal Activity
Homer begins recording a video as he notices strange, other-worldly things happening in the house.  That night, loud noises are heard downstairs, and Homer arrives to see the living room in shreds.  Marge insists she doesn't know what's going on, looking rather suspicious, but Homer doesn't catch on.  Some time later, Homer sets up cameras all over the house, but on the sixth night, Marge particularly acts creepy which Homer, again, doesn't really notice or care.  Chief Wiggum confirms that an ongoing fire in the living room is, in fact, hellfire, which troubles Marge.  On the fifteenth night, Maggie is seemingly about to be taken away when Marge intervenes.  It turns out this is the work of a demon - who looks like and is similarly evil to Moe, but not as much.  The demon reveals that 30 years ago, Patty and Selma called him in a Satanic ritual out of boredom, and Marge made a deal back then to spare her sisters, but the demon agreed to return to claim her favorite child: Maggie.  Homer decides to step in, asking the demon to spare Maggie if he did something for it instead.  The demon agrees, and has Homer do a three-way with the two of them and a third demon, but the demon isn't aware that Homer is apparently a demon himself in the bed.
Individual Score: +0.8

Bart and Homer's Excellent Adventure
Bart is upset that issue #100 of Radioactive Man is $200.  Comic book guy taunts Bart by saying that if he wants to pay the original price of 25 cents, he should go back to 1974 when the comic was first published.  Bart leaves, then miraculously Professor Frink arrives in a time machine car, having successfully invented time travel.  Frink, for some reason, gives Bart the keys to the car in hopes that nobody will steal it, and of course Bart steals it, going back to 1974 to buy the comic for cheap.

After reading the underwhelming comic, Bart overhears a younger Homer trying to defend himself.  Bart has walked right by the high school just as Homer and Barney get detention for smoking.  Bart decides to just go up and reveal who he is to young Homer, who chokes him for revealing a dismal future.  At that moment, he sees Marge for the first time he's aware of, but Marge is unwilling to even be near Homer as she sees him choking that young boy.  As Homer and Marge get into an argument, Bart realizes that if they never hook up, he won't exist.  He pulls up a picture of him to confirm that, however the picture reveals that Bart will be rich in the altered future - or at least be able to take a picture in front of a rich guy's house.  Taking the odds, Bart tells the young Marge to stay away from Homer, then flees from an angry Homer back to the time machine so he can go back to the present, though young Homer is able to hide himself in the trunk just before it leaves.

Bart comes back and checks out his new life.  It turns out Marge married Artie Ziff, who remains successful in this universe, and "Bartie Ziff" and his younger sisters have picked up Artie's hair and mannerisms, as well as a butler in Nelson.  Young Homer, after being mostly marveled by the future, snoops on Bartie, but he's met by current Homer, who may or may not be aware of what's happened to the present.  The two decide to team up to take out Artie and Bartie, using the time machine Bartie has abandoned to gather up more Homers.  The army of Homers confront Artie and Bartie, but the two are able to easily defeat all of them.  Just then, Marge comes out to see what's going on, and looks upon the pile of defeated Homers with pity.  She comes to realize that she's always loved Homer - and every incarnation thereof - and leaves Artie for them, though she quickly learns its not easy being with over a dozen different Homers.
Individual Score: +1.0

Quick Review
This episode got better as it went along, and is much improved from the dismal 22nd installment of the Halloween series.  The Back to the Future parody was pretty good, especially with the twist that Bart was better off by breaking up his parents.  Jon Lovitz return to provide the voice of successful alternate future Artie Ziff and once again he provides an excellent guest spot.  The black hole story wasn't anything special, but the demon story in the middle was decent enough for a few good laughs.

Final Score: 7.4

Treehouse of Horror XXII (S23, E03-489)

Even in movie parodies Bart gets pushed around by his girlfriends.

Plot Summary
In the opening act, the kids are forced to relinquish their Halloween candy to Marge, who plans on giving it to the troops.  For some reason, she tasks Homer to do this and, of course, Homer decides to eat the candy himself.  He goes to a faraway rocky area to do so, but trips and falls, his right arm crushed under a rock and his left unable to reach the bag of candy.  With help 20 minutes away, Homer can't wait that long and chomps off his arm (eventually), but learns that that bag is filled only with vegetables - Bart had made the switch at an earlier point and now the kids are enjoying both their candy and their ruse against Homer.

The Diving Bell and the Butterball
Homer awakes one day to learn he's fully paralyzed - he can't even speak.  He recalls that the previous day he was setting up Halloween decorations when he was bit by a rather poisonous spider, quickly paralyzing him.  Thankfully for Homer, Marge is still as faithful to him as ever.  A short time later, Lisa is boring him with a story, and Homer tries desperately to get her to stop.  Eventually he does do something: pass gas.  Lisa realizes that Homer can do this at will, and thus his flatulence can be used as communication.  Using a system where Homer releases when Lisa reaches a certain point in her alphabet recitation, Lisa helps Homer write a letter to Marge thanking her for her love and dedication.  After also writing a popular book, Homer is content with his new life... until a radioactive spider comes down and bites him too.  Homer gains the powers of a spider, but remains paralyzed.  Even so, he becomes a skilled crimefighter who still has the greatest blessing: Marge's love.
Individual Score: +0.3

Dial D for Diddily
Flanders narrates a tale where he sees Springfield as not quite perfect and though he's as nice as ever, he starts receiving messages from God to kill Springfield's lesser men.  Although Flanders is happy to be helping God at first, he starts questioning orders once God tells him to kill Patty and Selma.  It turns out the orders are coming from Homer, who rigged the bible Ned always carries around with a radio which he talks into and is using Ned to kill Homer's enemies.  After Ned kills Patty and Selma, Homer tries to give him an even odder target to kill.  That, combined with Bart blowing Homer's cover, and Ned figures out the truth.  Having killed so many, Ned figures he has nothing left to lose and tries to kill Homer.  Homer retorts that there's no such thing as hell or God anyway, and burns Ned's bible to prove the point.  God - the real one - intervenes, and chokes Homer to death for his defiance.  Marge tries to get God to just put things back to normal, but God refuses, insisting the 'big man downstairs' wouldn't go for that.  Just then, the devil along with his mistress - Maude - appear to confirm as such, much to Ned's dismay.
Individual Score: +0.6

In the Na'vi
In an obviously late parody of Avatar, Chalmers gives orders to his military group tasked with acquiring a substance known as hilarium, needed by comedians because their material is otherwise not funny at all.  The military has found it on the planet Rigel VII, but to exact its location, several soldiers have their consciouses transplanted into Rigelian constructs - avatars - and sent to the planet to mingle with its inhabitants.  As the mission demands utter loyalty, Chalmers decides that the resentful guy in the wheelchair - Bart - is an excellent candidate for the task.

Bart tags along with Milhouse as the two have difficulty with the planet's lifeforms.  Just then, a female Rigelian swoops in to help, and she quickly becomes infatuated with Bart.  Bart is unwilling of course, but the female quickly shows Bart what Rigelian sex is like, and Bart likes what he feels.  As Bart stumbles over keeping his mission secret, it turns out he got the female pregnant.  Village leaders Kang and Kodos congratulate Bart on his fertilization and take him to the Rigelian village.  They reveal that the female will now require plenty of hilarium for her childbirth, and that the hilarium is the excretion of the Rigelian queen.  Milhouse sends in the location to the military though Bart tries to stop him, and the military storms in to grab it.  The planet's wildlife is basically animals who look like and fight like military weaponry, and quickly the wildlife defeats the military while Bart is able to get Chalmers to defeat himself.  In the aftermath, the Rigelians reveals they would've just given the hilarium if asked
Individual Score: +0.1

Quick Review
What a shame.  Looking at the scores for previous Halloween installments, this ends up as the lowest rated Treehouse of Horror thus far.  There wasn't anything really Halloween-related in the bits besides the opening sequence.  The first story was just Homer dealing with full paralysis that for some reason included a bit with him as paralyzed Spider-Man to conclude it, that was just weird.  The second story was the best of the three, though the bit at the end with the devil and Maude was unnecessary.  The third story, an Avatar parody that's years too late, wasn't very funny either.  Nothing really worked out this time around, and it makes for a terrible episode.

Final Score: 6.2

Treehouse of Horror XXI (S22, E04-468)

Should've read the nutrition facts, he's full of so much saturated fat... sodium too.

Plot Summary
As Homer and Bart get into a physical scuffle while carving pumpkins, Professor Frink interrupts the program, showing the weak of will that they can use TiVo to skip the more gruesome parts.  He demonstrates, but the fast forwards speeds up on him, showing spoilers for the three segments of the episode.  Frink, realizing his colossal error, uses his remote to fast forward himself to death as punishment.

War and Pieces
Marge doesn't like Bart and Milhouse playing violent video games, so she has them play board games instead.  After going through several legally okay knock offs of popular board games, The two uncover an odd board game called Satan's Path.  Bart takes a turn, but suddenly the game in a Jumanji-like fashion takes all the other board games and incorporates them into real life, creating somewhat humorous situations across town.  Lisa tells them they need to complete the game to turn everything back to normal, so the two head out onto a Battleshipboat to finish the game, but they get hit, which causes Milhouse to lose.  Bart comes across the final game to beat: a game similar to Mouse Trap, but is attacked by various game pieces.  Recalling his video game experiences, Bart basically kills everything, then starts up the Mouse trap or whatever to end the games.  Things return to normal and Bart and Milhouse decide to play something simple, like Hangman.  For some reason they play the hardcore version of it and lose.
Individual Score: +0.6

Master and Cadaver
Homer and Marge are on their second honeymoon, having taken a boat out into uncharted waters.  Before they can start doing it, though, a man in a rowboat hurries his way over to their boat in a panic.  As Marge tends to the man, Homer becomes rather jealous.  The man, Roger, reveals that he was the chef of a business boat, but his employer attempts to inject one of Roger's pies with poison.  Roger tries to stop him, but is knocked out by a soy sauce bottle.  When he comes to, he finds the other businessmen in the boat poisoned to death.  He gets off the boat but rows for days before coming across Homer and Marge.

Still a bit upset, Homer talks to Marge privately, suspicious that it was Roger who poisoned that pie.  Marge doesn't believe him, but Roger pops by to give them a random pie.  Homer throws it out and, sure enough, the shark that eats it dies.  Marge is now convinced as well and Homer goes by a "him or us" mentality to kill Roger.  Using Marge as a distraction, Homer knocks Rogers out with a sail and pushes him off the boat, believing him dead.  Marge isn't happy about it, but what's done is done.

Later, the two come across another boat, the same one Roger had described earlier.  It turns out, after inspecting the boat, that Roger's story was true.  Marge is now panicking as she's responsible for an innocent man's death.  Just then, Roger appears, having survived the murder attempt, but Homer grabs a harpoon gun and kills Roger for real.  The other business men come to, having apparently been made aware of the poison and took antidotes which still left them unconscious for days apparently.  Still, Homer wants no witnesses and kills all of them as well, and to complete his rampage, he kills a spying seagull as well.  Marge can't deal with all of this murder and the guilt of said murder, and decides to eat the poisoned pie, leaving Homer to grieve the loss.  Then it turns out the story was just something Maggie had imagined while playing in the bathtub.
Individual Score: +0.8

Tweenlight
At school. Lisa becomes smitten by a new student, Edmund (voiced by Daniel Radcliffe).  The kid saves Lisa's life by preventing several vehicles from running into her.  He then swoops Lisa away from the public eye, where Lisa learns Edmund is a vampire which she thinks is totally cool.  She invites Edmund over for dinner, and he's forced to bring along his nosy father, Dracula.  As Dracula entertains the Simpson family with his Dixieland Jazz, an annoyed Edmund takes Lisa away.  Marge forces both Homer and Dracula to grab their respective children before anything goes wrong.

The two chase their kids to a church tower, where Lisa is more than willing to let Edmund bite her.  Dracula comes in just in time to stop them, but when Lisa tells Dracula she'll embrace and promote the real vampire culture, Dracula is more than willing to let Lisa become one.  However, Lisa then learns that vampires stay the same age, and she isn't willing to stay eight forever.  Edmund, though, is overwhelmed with bloodlust, but Homer arrives to stop him, but Dracula also defends his son.  As the two fathers bond over their similarities, Edmund makes another run at Lisa.  Homer comes between them, willing to sacrifice himself.  Both Edmund and Dracula drink Homer's blood, but its so saturated with fat they both die from, I dunno, fat poisoning or something.  Homer turns into a vampire, but learns the hard way that he's too fat to fly as a bat, and falls to his death.  Lisa is particularly unmoved by all of this.
Individual Score: +1.0

Quick Review
Its back to average for the Treehouse of Horror.  The segments got better as they went along, but none of the segments were really all that great.  The first one was too jumpy, relying on sight gags and references that didn't pan out.  The next segment was pretty decent for what it was and that last segment was pretty good considering it was somewhat of a Twilight parody.  In all, its a decent episode, not the worst Treehouse of Horror, but not that good either.

Final Score: 7.3

Treehouse of Horror XX (S21, E04-445)

Entertainers, always starting trends.

Plot Summary
Dracula, Frankenstein, a mummy and the Wolf Man all awaken to prowl the streets on Halloween as they won't draw suspicion on that night, however they are a bit outdated so to avoid ridicule, they dress up in other costumes, then go to Homer's house where there's a party going on.  The four are about to make out with various ladies, but their wives find them.  Homer tries to defend the ghoulish men, but their wives won't hear of it and rip Homer to literal shreds.

Dial M for Murder (or Press # to Return to Main Menu)
Ms. Hoover casually choose someone other than Lisa to represent the class in an academic function.  Lisa loudly and angrily protests, and is given detention.  At detention, Lisa meets up with Bart and as Lisa continues to complain about Hoover, Bart suggests some revenge is in order.  He suggests a criss-cross, where Bart gets revenge on Hoover while Lisa gets revenge on Mrs. Krabappel.  Lisa agrees and, the following day, is able to pull the classic 'ding-dong ditch', leaving Krabappel mildly annoyed.  However, later, Lisa learns to her horror that Bart actually killed Ms. Hoover, having brought her head to prove it, and that Bart had assumed Lisa would kill Krabappel due to the context of their previous conversation.  Bart forces Lisa to kill Krabappel the next chance she gets, but when that chance comes Lisa can't do it.  Later, Bart threatens to have Groundskeeper Willie tell the cops Lisa killed Hoover if she doesn't kill Krabappel as part of a criss-cross with Willie to ensure Principal Skinner's death.  Lisa finally decides to kill... Bart!  She chases him across both school grounds and Hitchcock references, cornering him within a carousel, but she can't do it and throws away the knife she had been wielding.  However, giving the spinning nature of the carousel, the knife ends up landing in Bart's head anyway, killing him.  Krabappel appears to congratulate Lisa for her deed and while Lisa tries to shift blame away, the two end up walking away in shared pride.
Individual Score: +0.7

Don't Have a Cow, Mankind
The Simpsons are watching on TV the debut of Krusty Burger's "Burger Squared", where the beef is made from cows that have eaten other cows.  Kent Brockman is the first to try the burger, but seconds later becomes zombified and bites off Krusty's arm, who also zombifies and the two begin a rampage.  28 days later, Springfield is in ruins as nearly everyone has become zombies, or "munchers" in this case.  The Simpsons have successfully survived, having barred themselves within their house.  Bart, though, has tired of eating fruit and spies with his telescope a perfectly served Krusty Burger at a nearby restaurant, apparently not caring about its zombification properties.  Marge catches Bart just as he returns to eat the burger, but afterwards they're shocked to learn that Bart has remained normal.  They believe Bart has an immunity within him that can save humanity and they head out to a far off safe zone to spread Bart's cure.  However, the munchers become aware of the Simpsons' presence and swarm their house.  Thankfully, Apu has arrived to save the family and take them to the safe zone, his vegetarian lifestyle and well-armed convenience store lifestyle having saved him to this point.  However, the armored truck he's driving becomes stuck and as he goes outside to push it along, Marge presumes Apu has sacrificed himself and drives on without him.

The truck eventually runs out of gas, and the Simpsons continue on foot.  Homer spies a zombified Mr. Burns and Smithers having crashed their car nearby.  Homer goes to mock the seemingly dead Burns, but the zombie springs up and bites Homer, zombifing him.  The family quickly finds out, but with Bart being the cure they opt to simply cage the rather docile muncher Homer.  They family finally reaches the safe zone, where the plan is to have everyone eat Bart's flesh to survive.  Bart, however, comes up with a better way to ensure he lives.  Some time later, Springfield has recovered from its epidemic, thanks to a chicken soup that Bart has drenched himself in, Bart giving Lisa a particularly 'seasoned' bowl.
Individual Score: +1.3

There's No Business Like Moe Business
This segment is set in the style of a low budget Broadway musical attended by Kang and Kodos among others.  In it, Moe is once again depressed as Homer and Marge are making out nearby.  One of his beer taps is jammed, so he opens a nearby compartment leading to the basement to check on it.  As Marge goes to the bathroom for a bit, Homer spies the unattended beer tap but, having not seen the opened compartment in front of it, Homer falls and impales himself into the piping of the microbrew.  Moe is stunned by this, but presumes Homer will die.  He goes back up to tell Marge, but as he's mesmerized by Marge's beauty, he tells Marge that Homer ditched her, and gives her a beer.  A tiny touch of Homer's blood seeps into the piping and makes its way into the beer.  Upon drinking it, Marge feels rather euphoric, that everything seems right in the world, and that she has gotten over her grief.

A week later, Moe tries to seal the deal by telling her that Homer wrote a letter stating he's gay and that while he's going out banging dudes he wants Marge to wind up with Moe.  He tries to give Marge another blood beer, but its lacking in the key ingredient.  It turns out Homer is still, barely, alive, and as Marge gets really uncreeped out from Moe after drinking another blood beer, tearfully ready to move on, one such tears awakens Homer and he is finally able to see what Moe is trying to do.  Homer gathers the last of his strength and busts himself, still impaled to the now unfixed microbrew, out of the cellar and beats up Moe (or a dummy thereof) to reclaim his wife.  Given Homer's blood-alcohol mix is still about the same even with the brew now flowing through him, Marge is happy to have Homer back and the two share a blood beer.
Individual Score: +1.2

Quick Review
This is the best Treehouse of Horror in several years, and its really promising to see it back in form.  The first segment has its moments, but the other two were particularly great.  The zombie mash up had several great moments throughout, and the Moe musical at the end, which I was shaky about at the beginning, turns out to be nearly as good.  Its a good return to form for the show, one I continuously hope will result in long term improvement going forward.

Final Score: 8.4

Treehouse of Horror XIX (S20, E04-424)

If that bread had been made with yellow pumpkins, ol' Grandy would've been fine.

Plot Summary
The episode begins after Homer dies from your typical voting day hijinks.

Untitled Robot Parody
Bart is looking for something to give to Lisa for Christmas.  At a shop, a strange toy truck rolls up, but Bart dismisses it.  It then 'transforms' into a pink car, and Bart now decides to buy it.  On Christmas, Lisa is ecstatic that Bart bought her an actual present, but it displays some of its might only to Maggie.  That night, the robot activates several other appliances throughout the house in an attempt to bolster its ranks.  Soon, the "Posibots" rally against their enemies, which Lisa deduces is an ages old conflict spanning galaxies, yet they've chosen Earth for their final battle.  Still, Marge confronts the leaders of both sides, asking why they're even fighting in the first place.  Neither side can remember, and thus make amends by teaming up to enslave humanity.  Fun times.
Individual Score: +0.7

How to Get Ahead in Dead-vertising
Homer and Marge are having a tough time getting Maggie adjusted to day care, but Homer shows Maggie a familiar face on the wall: Krusty's.  However, Krusty arrives in time to have those faces removed, as they had been used without his permission and he wants his cut.  Angry that Krusty made Maggie cry, Homer confronts Krusty outside and pushes him into a swing set in a series of events that eventually lead to Krusty's death.  A short time later, a lawyer and a few advertisers he represents approach Homer.  They tell him that they love using dead celebrities to advertise products because 1) they don't get paid and 2) they can't say no.  They see that Homer has a knack for killing celebrities and so they task him with killing several more so their likenesses can be abused for profit.  Homer agrees, and kills George Clooney, a guy who may or may not of been named Prince at the time, and Neil Armstrong, among others likely.

In heaven, Krusty is bothered by all the shameless ads featuring dead celebrities.  Even George Washington can't believe there's a President's Day ad featuring him kissing Lincoln (though Lincoln seems okay with it).  John Wayne rallies the celebrity angels and, despite Jimmy Stewart's objections, the group storms Earth while Homer and his ad buddies are having a party.  Krusty is able to shoot Homer in the head, killing him.  Unfortunately for them, Homer arrives in heaven just in time to lock the returning celebrities out, and he and Lincoln have the whole place for themselves, which pleases Lincoln a little too greatly.
Individual Score: +0.7

It's the Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse
In an obvious Charlie Brown parody, Milhouse visits his friends Bart and Lisa and retells the tale about the Grand Pumpkin, who visits every pumpkin patch if a kid believes enough in him.  Bart keeps telling Milhouse that he made up that story, but Milhouse still believes.  That night, the other kids make fun of Milhouse as he hangs out at the patch, but Lisa stays with him for awhile.  Eventually, she too tires of the act and demands restitution before leaving.  Saddened, Milhouse sheds a tear, which enables the Grand Pumpkin to come to life.  Milhouse gives the creature pumpkin bread, but when it learns its made from pumpkins, the Grand Pumpkin throws up and promises revenge.  Going around town, the pumpkin eats Homer for carving pumpkins, and upon busting into the school where a party is being held, eats Willie for cooking pumpkin seeds, and Nelson just because, though its learned the Grand Pumpkin is racist against yellow pumpkins.

Milhouse tells Lisa the Grand Pumpkin came to life from Milhouse's childish belief, so Lisa has him fully believe in another tale: Tom Turkey.  Soon, a giant turkey busts in and blows off the Grand Pumpkin's head, saving the three people it ate.  However, Tom Turkey then learns people eat turkeys for Thanksgiving, and promises revenge himself.  Outside, Marge states the kids learned the true value of, well, something anyway.
Individual Score: +0.8

Quick Review
This ended up being a fairly good Treehouse of Horror.  I don't really have any complaints, I mean, its nothing spectacular but at this point its about as good as its ever going to get.  All three stories have their good moments (and their humorless periods), but its hard to find any real faults with them.

Final Score: 7.3

Treehouse of Horror XVIII (S19, E05-405)

If E.T. had done this, would the movie still be as popular?  ...maybe?

Plot Summary
Marge tries to open up the episode, but keeps getting interrupted by those mini fly-by ads for FOX programming.  Marge has enough and cooks all the people in the promos into her loaf.

E.T. Go Home
Bart goes to the shed in the backyard to find, in shock, that an alien is residing back there.  The alien, which turns out to be Kodos, claims that he and some others were there on a mission of "peace", but he was accidentally left behind.  Bart (and eventually Lisa) decide to help Kodos out by helping him build a device he claims will let him contact his people.  However, soon enough word of his existence gets out, and the U.S. Military tries to capture Kodos to dissect him for study.  Bart tries to make a getaway on his bike with Kodos, but as they approach a line of military personnel (similar to that found in E.T.), instead of trying to find a way over the line, Kodos simply eradicates a few of the forces so that they can pass.  Bart learns the truth about Kodos and his mission, as Kodos reveals his machine is actually a portal meant to bring others to Earth as part of an invasion.  Soon enough, various other aliens come in through the portal, but the military arrives and absolutely destroys them.  Bart is offered a chance to shoot Kodos, but hesitates when Kodos appeals to him, so Homer shoots him instead.  At a military base, as the family is stunned to learn Kodos really was bad, Kodos points out that because he's still alive, he's undergoing a vivisection, not a dissection, but Homer "corrects" that error.
Individual Score: +1.2

Mr. & Mrs. Simpson
Homer and Marge discuss how their marriage has come along.  Homer reveals in his story that he's a professional assassin hired by Mr. Burns.  Burns tasks Homer with killing Kent Brockman, so Homer tells Marge a flimsy excuse to not come home until late (and Marge does the same, oddly enough).  Homer finds Brockman in a rooftop party, but before he can snipe Brockman, a woman appears, gets close to Brockman, and stabs him before running off.  Upset he won't be paid now, Homer tries shooting at the woman, eventually removing her wig to reveal the female assassin as Marge.  Homer rushes home to find Marge, still in her assassin's gown, but tries to keep up his charade (poorly).  After some tension, the two finally reveal their secrets, engaging in an action-packed gun fight.  Eventually, Chief Wiggum arrives after 'someone' calls in a noise complaint, but Marge kills Wiggum with a crossbow.  Homer finds this hot, and the two end up having sex over Wiggum's corpse.  In the present time, the two admit that their relationship as married assassins has never been better, though its revealed they were talking to Principal Skinner regarding Bart.  Homer and Marge realize their mistake, and take out Skinner.
Individual Score: +0.8

Heck House
Bart, Milhouse, Nelson and Lisa are trick-or-treating together for Halloween.  However, Agnes Skinner refuses to give them candy, being the angry elder she is.  Bart rationalizes that its "Trick OR Treat", so if she didn't give them a treat, she should be tricked instead.  The boys go ahead and pummel Agnes with water balloons.  The boys realize just how fun that was, and spend the rest of their night pulling pranks on people instead, with Lisa's protests falling flat.  With the town in an uproar over what's happened, Ned Flanders steps up and proclaims he'll solve the problem.  He sets up a "heck house" at the church, which entices the four to investigate.  However, Ned's lame attempts at getting the kids to stop sinning doesn't work.  Ned asks God for help and, strangely, God obliges by turning Ned into a devilish character who takes the kids to a full recreation of "heck".  Here, devil Ned shows the kids what happens to them should they commit any one of the seven sins, and the despairs of "heck" itself.  The kids all get scared straight, and Ned, job done, sends them back, and thanks the audience for watching though he notes that by watching FOX, they're all done for anyway.
Individual Score: +0.6

Quick Review
As you can tell from the scores, this Treehouse of Horror starts off strong but fades near the end.  The Kodos segment had lots of good moments going for it, and the middle portion, an obvious parody of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, had its moments as well (including Homer's brain being unable to stop Homer's gluttony which was the best part of that story).  The heck house bit had a few quality moments as well, but when it become centered around Flanders, the comedy took a dive and prevented this installment from being as good as many of the others.

Final Score: 7.6

Treehouse of Horror XVII (S18, E04-382)

Its not convincing unless they engage in hot animal sex, but 1938 is too pure for that.

Plot Summary
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

Treehouse of Horror XVI (S17, E04-360)

Is his fleshy body within the machinery or has it become the machine?  We'll never know.

Plot Summary
Kang and Kodos speed up a painfully slow baseball game to ensure the episode starts in time (with disastrous results!, hyuck)

B.I.: Bartificial Intelligence
Bart falls into a coma after he fails to jump into a pool several stories up.  Dr. Hibbert notes Bart won't ever wake up from it (in which he can keep billing his parents), and suggest Homer and Marge replace Bart with a robot son.  They do, and it turns out the robot boy is a wonderful son and brother that really takes care of his family.  Soon, though, Bart does recover from his coma, only to find his replacement is better at everything than he is.  Discreetly, Homer dumps Bart off in a forest so that there won't be any more friction between him and the robot.  Bart then wanders into a tribe of discarded robots, who have to power down at night.  He takes advantage of this and steals their parts late at night.  The next day, Bart returns home as a hulking mass of machinery, threatening to split his robot brother in two.  The robot tries to stop Bart by putting Homer inbetween, but Bart slices through both of them anyway.  Homer survives by using the robot boy's tiny undersection to replace his, but it turns out it was all a dream by Homer, who is possessed by a demon.
Individual Score: +0.8

Survival of the Fattest
Mr. Burns invites several men across town for a 'hunting party', with a sinister motive.  Turns out, Burns plans to hunt all of them for sport, noting that any man that lives through noon tomorrow will be allowed their freedom, and its all perfectly legal and televised (with Terry Bradshaw commentating).  Homer continues to evade Burns through the night, inadvertently sending several other men to their deaths.  Soon, Homer is the last man left just as noon is approaching, but is cornered by Burns.  However, both Burns and Smithers are knocked out by Marge, who had been seeing this spectacle on TV.  The two reunite and have sex right there, in front of Bradshaw.
Individual Score: +0.7

I've Grown a Costume on Your Face
Its Halloween in Springfield and nearly the entire town is wearing a costume for a contest.  The award goes to someone in a convincing witch costume, and she wins a 'gift certificate' to the Kwik-E-Mart.  However, its learned that she is an actual witch, and so because she's technically not in costume her prize is rescinded.  Angered, the witch gets revenge by turning the entire town into whatever costume they were wearing.  Marge becomes a skeleton, Bart a werewolf, Sideshow Mel into Spider-Man and so on.  Lisa, who is now Einstein, tries to think of a way to reverse the spell when she realizes that Maggie, who has become a witch, can reverse the spell herself.  However, several Springfielders have come to like their newfound forms and refuse to change.  Maggie becomes confused and decides to turn everyone into pacifiers instead.  With this year's installment at an end, pacifier Moe along with pacifier Dennis Rodman helps the audience understand the plight of illiterate adults.
Individual Score: +0.8

Quick Review
Well, this wasn't a bad Treehouse of Horror like XV or XIII, but it wasn't a great one either like the rest.  All three segments were passable but none of them were shining moments of quality.  The final segment seemed like the one with the most potential but it ended rather quickly.

Final Score: 7.4

Treehouse of Horror XV (S16, E01-336)

Homer and Burns sharing a body seems awfully familiar...

Plot Summary
After a quick intro featuring Kang and Kodos cooking the Simpsons to impress their boss, the show begins in earnest.

The Ned Zone
In an attempt to get his Frisbee off the rooftop (even though it wasn't there), Homer accidentally throws a bowling bowl on Ned Flanders' head.  While the act fortunately annihilated a brain tumor in Ned, it has also given him a strange power: he's foresees Dr. Hibbert's death, which occurs just moments later.  It happens again a short time later when Ned attempts to help Hans Moleman.  Ned begins to fear his newfound curse, but Homer wants to give it a spin as well.  Ned obliges, but foresees himself shooting Homer in the back three times.  Horrified, Ned decides to move away, but not before Homer tries to taunt Ned into shooting him.  Ned is able to stop himself, and believes he's beaten fate.

Ned hugs Homer in celebration, but now foresees Homer pressing a core meltdown button, killing everyone.  Homer refuses to stay home for the day, as its Lenny's birthday and there'll be ice cream cake at the plant.  Ned rushes to the plant to stop Homer, but inadvertently eggs Homer into pressing the core meltdown button, which Homer is doing very slowly.  Desperate, Ned grabs the gun of a sleeping guard and shoots Homer in the back three times.  Homer collapses near the button, his tongue eventually resting on it, blowing the town sky high.  In heaven, Marge chides Homer for killing everyone under the premise that he did it to escape cleaning the garage, which is too bad for Homer because the garage is in heaven as well.
Individual Score: +0.7

Four Beheadings and a Funeral
1890's London is paralyzed by the "Mutton-Chop Murderer", who goes around stabbing ladies of the night.  Inspector Wiggum (Clancy) is baffled by this, when he's met by ace detective Eliza Simpson and her partner Dr. Bartley (Lisa and Bart, obviously).  As Wiggum eats some eel pie, a woman (Marge) appears to show the three a weapon the murderer dropped when he ran off after being spotted.  The weapon is part of a set of blades called the "Seven Swords of Osiris", and the detectives go to find who sold the weapon.  They go to the shop whose owner (comic book guy) notes he did sell the item, and goes to retrieve a book detailing who bought it, but is murdered in the process by the same sword.  Looking into the book, the two learn that a C. Ebenezer Burns bought the weapon, and go to see him at an opium house.

Burns reveals he did buy the entire set, but then sold them for opium.  The detectives learn that he sold them to a "fat man with sideburns", and the two see one such man nearby (Homer).  They chase after him, but the man is tackled by Wiggum, whose at the opium house for Ralph's sake.  The detectives believe they've closed the case, but learn to their horror that another wench has been murdered by the sword just now.  The detective detects a stench on the sword this time, and learns a vital clue.  The day of Homer's execution arrives, but Eliza is able to intervene and out the true Mutton-Chop Murderer: Inspector Wiggum, whose eel pie scent marked the sword and his mutton chops had been hiding within his hat.  Wiggum makes a break for it in a hot-air balloon, but its taken out by 19th century Kang and Kodos.  Its then revealed that the whole sequence was just Ralph in an opium-induced hallucination, but Clancy reveals that the two are still part of it as they fly off in some kind of fantasy land.
Individual Score: +0.0

In the Belly of the Boss
At a science expo, Professor Frink reveals he's created a massive pill containing enough ingredient to keep one healthy for a lifetime, and showcases a shrinking ray which can reduce the pill's size for consumption.  Maggie, believing the ingredients to be playing balls, makes a break for it and enters the pill just before it begins to shrink.  Mr. Burns jumps in to take the pill for his health when everyone learns that Maggie has been swallowed as well.  In short time, Frink reveals he can help save the baby, by shrinking the Simpsons and a ship down to size and have them enter Burns' ship to retrieve the baby.

After some wacky adventures within Burns' body, they are finally able to retrieve Maggie.  However, she now makes the ship too heavy to move, and another member of the family is forced to stay behind in Burns' body: Homer, the cause of said adventures.  The family leaves Burns' body and Frink attempts to prepare them to rescue Homer, but Homer's body enlarges on its own, and now he is stuck within Burns' wrinkly skin, though both men quickly get used to one another.
Individual Score: +0.5

Quick Review
After Treehouse of Horror XIV, I was relieved to see the Halloween series get back on track.  Unfortunately, the fifteenth installment flies right off the rails again.  The Mutton-Chop Murderer segment was the worst anthology segment I've seen yet; the plot left little room for actual jokes, and the way it ended was just stupid.  The other two stories had their moments but neither couldn't salvage the episode, making this, up to now, the worst Treehouse of Horror yet.

Final Score: 6.4

Treehouse of Horror XIV (S15, E01-314)

Mel: "Come!  Let us kill them before learning
of the magical secret which they possess!"

Plot Summary
As the Simpsons violently hurt one another, Kang and Kodos lament human stupidity, since this Halloween episode is airing in November.

Reaper Madness
The figure known as Death arrives to kill Bart.  After a Benny Hill-esque chase, Death has Bart cornered, but Homer is able to somehow kill Death by hitting him with a bowling ball.  For a time, nobody in the world can die.  Some time later, Homer goes to throw away Death on trash day, but decides to keep its robes.  Homer puts them on, but he and the family learn in horror that by doing so, Homer becomes the new Death, being forced to do so or else face rather sharp genital pain.

Homer does fine at first, but begins to abuse his power to do whatever he feels like.  Then, one morning, Homer is given his next target: Marge.  Homer refuses to do it, but if he doesn't, he'll die instead.  Homer relents and 'kills' Marge offscreen.  Later, Homer offers Marge's body to God, demanding he no longer be Death.  God obliges, but then learns that the body is actually Patty's with Marge's hair taped on.  Homer is able to escape God's wrath, and everything turns out okay.
Individual Score: +1.1

Frinkenstein
Lisa ends up hearing the news that Professor Frink is being awarded the Nobel Prize.  She goes to actually tell him the news, and Frink is happy, glad that his invention of a screwdriver/hammer hybrid won out in a slow science year.  However, Frink laments that his father can't be around to see this achievement.  Lisa inquires, and Frink explains that his father was an adventurous type of scientist, and hated how 'unmanly' the young Frink was.  The two last saw each other on shaky terms, and the elder Frink died from a shark bite.  Young Frink has his father's frozen corpse, though, and decides to go ahead and reanimate it thanks to the newfound convenience of his hammerdriver or whatever.

Using mechanical parts to cover the gaps, Frink is successful in reviving his father, however the elder Frink is upset over what his son did, and goes to acquire live organs, which concerns Lisa.  Sure enough, "Frinkenstein" just ups and grabs organs from whomever he comes across and soon becomes a patchwork of various body parts.  Lisa finds the monster and guilt-trips him with young Frink's Nobel Prize ceremony.  Frinkenstein overcomes his organ lust and heads to Stockholm.  The Frinks reunite just as Frink receives his prize, but Frinkenstein can't contain himself and starts harvesting the brains of the crowd.  Young Frink finally realizes what needs to be done, and kills Frinkenstein by kicking him in his crotch.  Frinkenstein is proud of how big of a man his son has become, but young Frink isn't done yet: he's able to salvage his father's soul in a less menacing box.
Individual Score: +1.0

Stop the World, I Want to Goof Off
Marge uncovers a box full of 70s comic books, and Bart and Milhouse take a peek.  Bart is interested in the old ads found within, particularly one for a 'magic' stopwatch that can stop time itself.  Milhouse pays the 49 cents, and in four weeks the two get their stopwatch.  After Bart confirms it to work, he and Milhouse go around town causing prank after prank.  Mayor Quimby has a meeting at town hall to do something about it, but when Bart and Milhouse strike there, Quimby traps them thanks to ultraviolet light and the town finds out it was them (or I think they do; they really don't identify the two).  Bart and Milhouse run away, but are chased by an angry mob.  The two use their stopwatch again, but in doing so the watch breaks and now they have no way to resume time.  At first, neither one is concerned and they enjoyed themselves.  Soon, though, the two miss interacting with other people besides themselves and decide to fix the watch.  Fifteen years later, the 25 year olds finally do it, and after finding a scapegoat for the mess in Martin, the two finally restore time's flow.  The Simpsons wonder how Bart got so big and shaggy, and to shut Lisa up, Bart gives her the watch, though she presses another button on it to create parallel universes or some such.
Individual Score: +1.0

Quick Review
This installment is a nice return to form after the previous season's Halloween effort.  All three segments are great with several good moments found in each, though even as a fan of Professor Frink all the Frink-speak in the second act was a bit much.  I found this first episode of the 15th season funnier than any episode from Season 14.  Hopefully its the start of a trend.

Final Score: 8.4

Treehouse of Horror XIII (S14, E01-292)

"Frosty chocolate milkshakes" Homer seems so long ago...

Plot Summary
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