Treehouse of Horror II | Simpsonspective
Richard Petro / 02 October, 2017
- Directed by: Jim Reardon
- Written by: Al Jean, Mike Reiss, Jeff Martin, George Meyer, Sam Simon, John Swartzwelder
- Airdate: October 31st, 1991
The episode once again begins with Marge pleading for people not to let their children watch the program, before accepting the fact that no one will listen and walking off. Once again, there is a wraparound story. The kids return home from Trick or Treating and Bart, Lisa and Homer fill up on candy. Marge tells them not to eat too much, for they'll have nightmares. Of course, if people were to listen to Marge, we wouldn't have half the Simpsons episodes we do.
Lisa's Nightmare While taking a vacation in Marrakech, Morocco, Homer purchases a mystical monkey's paw. This paw can grant its owner wishes, but with negative side effects. At home, Maggie makes the first wish while the family argues. The wish turns out to be for a new pacifier. Bart wishes for the family to be famous and rich, but people soon dislike what they've become. Lisa then wishes for world peace and everyone is merry and happy, which means they can't fight off Kang and Kodos' alien invasion. The aliens enslave the humans as Homer uses the last wish for a turkey sandwich, which turns out to be a little dry. As Homer goes to throw out the paw, Ned intercepts and asks for it. His first wish is for the aliens to leave, after which he is celebrated by the people as Homer is left bitter, wishing he "had a monkey's paw."
After her nightmare, Lisa goes to sleep in Bart's bed. This leads us to our next nightmare tale.
Bart's Nightmare Bart is a mind reader in his tale, with everyone fearing him as he has the ability to change people at will if they do not maintain happy thoughts. Bart receives everything he wants, and the history of America is even re-written day to day to correspond with his answers on tests. At home, Homer refuses to let Bart change the channel from football, which prompts Bart to make Homer disappear and reappear as the ball kicked for the field goal in the game. Taking a cab home, Homer attempts to hit Bart in the head with a chair, but Bart reads his mind and turns him into a Jack-In-The-Box. Marge takes Bart and Homer to see Marvin Monroe, who says Bart and Homer need to spend more time together. The two go out to various events, like a rollercoaster ride and a baseball game. As Homer is getting Bart ready for bed, they say that they both had a great time the past few days and Bart gives Homer his body back. The two embrace, saying they love each other. Bart wakes up screaming.
Bart and Lisa then go and sleep with Marge and Homer in their bed.
Homer's Nightmare Homer is fired from the Plant for sleeping on the job. Burns and Smithers go the Plant's secret Laboratory, where Burns reveals his giant robot in the works. Homer gets a new job as a gravedigger, working for Willie. In a grave he's digging, Homer goes to sleep and is taken away by Burns and Smithers, who need a brain for the robot. In the lab, Burns transfers Homer's brain into the robot, but it acts like Homer instead of doing Burns' commands. Burns puts the brain back into Homer's head, but is then crushed accidentally by the robot once he kicks it. As he's dying, he tells Smithers to get some surgical tools and ether. Homer wakes up screaming.
Waking up once Bart bites him, Homer enters the bathroom where he finds Burns' head sewn onto his body. The episode at first ends with a creepy diabolical laugh from Burns but returns for a "next week on the Simpsons" bit where Homer claims he "hates having two heads" after realizing him and Burns have different plans for the same night.
The stories in this round of Halloween tales seem to focus more on a theme of paying homage to B-level stories of sorts. While the second instalment may not come to mind immediately in regards to discussing ToH, there are moments here that are worth remembering, especially since it cleverly pays homage to the classic Twilight Zone episode of the same plot. And though no single segment may entice you to re-watch it as a whole, it is definitely worth it, as I believe, getting lost in the shuffle of ToH episodes and segments that will come after and are more widely remembered, these three segments are each good for what they present. What I thought was well done specifically in this episode was that each story fit well with the character that was having it. It didn't feel like random tales plopped onto one of them for the sake of having a tale.
Lisa's dream, in my opinion, is the driest of the three (and no, I'm not making a "witty" reference to the turkey sandwich. Sorry folk'll). I think that the story could've benefitted with some extra time or more of an 'out-there' approach. It has some great moments in it, including the "board with the nail in it" bit, and, what I found hilarious for some reason, "Gordon." You'll understand in the quotes bit, though I'm not sure many would find it as funny as I did. It also has the great 'easy bait-and-switch misdirection' joke where Homer realizes he pointed to the wrong area to show where he bought the monkey paw.
Bart's dream is a surprising twist from Lisa's and is easily my favourite overall in the episode. What makes this story work is that it's very different than what we first expect. It's not scary or trying to be creepy in any sense. It goes along, giving us a Simpsons twist on a classic story, and we are then treated to one of my favourite "twists" in Simpsons history. The last five seconds of the dream turn into a nightmare; not for the audience, though, but for Bart, when he and his father proclaim their love for each other and hug. Watching this again made me realize that this is one of those gags that unfortunately gets forgotten when talking about the series as a whole, but is one of the funniest twists they've done. What works towards making it as hilarious and effective is the fact that it's a very obvious joke that you may not have thought of until the moment it happens. I need to point out one other great thing about this particular segment and that's the design of 'Jack-in-the-Box Homer.' It's simple but absolutely hilarious.
Though the middle segment is my favourite of the three, Homer's dream contains my favourite moment from the entire episode. It isn't anything special, but always makes me rewind it about five or six times. The moment comes when Burns and Smithers are dragging Homer in a bag through the graveyard. Homer makes noises of pain and Smithers tells Burns, who in turns takes his shovel and beats the bag, telling the "corpse" not to scare Smithers. The animation on Burns' swinging the shovel has me in stitches every single time. Homer's dream is a nice little take on the Thing With Two Heads/mad scientist tale that bounces seamlessly from main characters. It does a nice job transitioning from a Homer story to more of a Burns & Smithers one, and we were given some good back and forth between the two. The fact that it lead into the wraparound like it did caught me off guard the first time I saw it, and it was used well to add in one extra joke. This segment is also the first time Burns tells Smithers he 'owes him a coke.'
Overall, I think the second addition to the Treehouse of Horror series stands up very well. I find it overall stronger than the first one as it seems that the creators have more confidence this time around, as the first instalment was more a matter of testing the waters, and perfectly showcases what's to come in the following ToH episodes. If I were to pick one, even if it's my personal favourite, I'd say that Bart's segment would be the best altogether, but I could watch Burns' swing that shovel for at least half an hour straight.
Favourite Quotes And Bits
* Blink and you'll miss the Peanuts gang walking by.* ----------------------------------------------------
Lisa's Dream Marge (referring to the monkey's paw): Ew, Homer, where'd you get the ugly thing? Homer: Why, at that little shop right over-- (points, we see a dust tornado) -- there… Oh, wait, no, it was over there. (Points to man behind stand) Merchant: You'll be sorry! ---------------------------------------------------- Homer: Come to think of it, the guy who sold me this thing did say the wishes would bring grave misfortunes. I thought he was just being colourful. Lisa (hiding behind couch with the paw): I wish for world peace. Homer: Lisa! That was very selfish of you! ---------------------------------------------------- (to a random stander-by, after the aliens invade) Apu: Gordon, you've got to do something. Gordon: What do you want me to do? I'm a baker now.
Bart's Dream (Bart is driving the school bus, as Otto is forced to maneuver the gas and brake with his hands) Bart: Quite riding the brake, Otto. Give it some gas, man! Otto (laughing maniacally): Hey, this is fun isn't it? We're all gonna die, aren't we? ---------------------------------------------------- (Marge and Homer are at Monroe's. Homer, as a jack-in-the-box, is swaying back and forth) Marvin Monroe: Homer, I see you agree with me. Homer: I'm not nodding, it's the air conditioning.
Homer's Dream (Smithers hears Homer reacting to the pains of being dragged through the graveyard in a bag) Smithers: Did you hear that, sir? Burns: No, I didn't. Who is it? Frankenstein? The Boogerman? Smithers: It's the man in the bag. I think he's still alive. Burns: Oh. (takes his shovel, starts beating the bag) Bad corpse, bad corpse, stop scaring Smithers! Satisfied? Smithers: Thank you, sir. ---------------------------------------------------- * Homer is quite a deep sleeper, not waking to his head being power sawed open.* ---------------------------------------------------- Burns: Hand me that ice cream scooper. Smithers: Ice cream scooper? Burns: Damnit, Smithers! This isn't rocket science, its brain surgery! ---------------------------------------------------- Burns: It's moving, it's alive! That fellow at Radioshack said I was mad. Who's mad now!? ---------------------------------------------------- (Burns is stitching Homer back up) Homer: Ow, ow, ow. Burns: Oh, quit your complaining. Smithers: Do you know what that means, sir? He's alive! Burns: Oh. Well, Smithers, I guess I owe you a coke.
