Line #1 YMMV/TheSimpsonsS9E4TreehouseOfHorrorVIII


1	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Is the fly with Bart's body actively malicious, with the genuine intelligence to try and "replace" Bart in the family and murder Lisa? Or is it [[NonMaliciousMonster still just a normal fly acting on base instinct]]?
2	* AlternativeJokeInterpretation: In "The Homega Man", while Homer is checking out a bomb shelter, he looks at a ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' calendar, flipping through the pages and saying "I don't get it" each time. [[TakeThat Were the writers saying that they don't think]] ''[[TakeThat The Far Side]]'' [[TakeThat is funny]], or are they saying that Homer's too stupid to get it?
3	* AluminumChristmasTrees: In "Easy-Bake Coven", Wiggum's statement that Marge will "fall to an honorable Christian death" if she isn't a witch is presented as a bit of InsaneTrollLogic, but this attitude actually ''is'' consistent with how real-life witch hunters reasoned on both sides of the Atlantic. As they saw it, it was safer to just kill anyone suspected of being a witch, since you'd be ridding the world of a demon if the accusation was true, and if they were innocent then they'd be sent to heaven as a martyr.
4	* AngstWhatAngst: PlayedForLaughs. It takes an absurdly short amount of time for the family to fully adjust to Bart seemingly turning into a hideous fly-headed mutant. Less than 15 minutes after finding out, they're all sitting at the table eating breakfast like everything is perfectly normal.
5	* GeniusBonus: 1600s Edna wears a red 'A' on her clothes, both as a reference to ''Literature/TheScarletLetter'' and (likely) because she's an [[StealthPun adulteress]] in-universe, like that book's main character. However, nothing of this is stated openly in the episode.
6	* HilariousInHindsight:
7	** When Bart first tests out the teleporter in "Fly vs Fly", Santa's Little Helper and Snowball II get fused together by accident. The end result is [[https://frinkiac.com/img/S09E04/645294.jpg this]] A few months later, ''WesternAnimation/CatDog'' would premiere.
8	** The scene of Kang’s superiors laughing off and ignoring his reports about Earth in "The Homega Man” essentially predicts the premise of ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' a few years later.
9	** The FOX censor at the start of the episode says that the episode is rated TV-G before getting stabbed by the ratings symbol. [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E10MiracleOnEvergreenTerrace Three]] [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E11AllSingingAllDancing future]] ''[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS10E3BartTheMother Simpsons]]'' episodes would actually get a TV-G rating.
10	** The "Easy-Bake Coven" segment takes place in the 17th century and involves a [[BurnTheWitch witch hunt]], during which the Springfieldians are very trigger-happy with making accusations of witchcraft (a common practice back then). [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS21E7RednecksAndBroomsticks A much later episode]] would have [[TheWeirdSisters three wiccans]] falsely accused of witchcraft and arrested, with Mayor Quimby allowing this to happen because, despite this taking place in modern times, Springfield is still bound by ''17th century'' law.
11	** When Marge shows off her witch powers, [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Eddie is turned into a snowman, while Lou winds up wearing a blue princess dress]]
12	* StrawmanHasAPoint: The Sprynge-Fielders in "Easy-Bake Coven" are all too eager to blame every little bad thing on witchcraft, and Lovejoy's proclamation that there's still a witch among them after they've already accused and executed 75 just seems like zealotry. However, it turns out there very much ''was'' a witch causing problems in their village all along, and their accusation of Marge was correct.
13	* TakeThatScrappy: Similar to the "Steamed Hams" skit, seeing Agnes get burned at the stake can be cathartic.
14	* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Homer watches a Creator/ChrisFarley and Creator/DavidSpade movie at a movie theater almost two months before Farley passed away (although his last films, ''Film/AlmostHeroes'' and ''Film/DirtyWork'', [[PosthumousCredit came out several months afterward]]).
15	* ValuesDissonance: Comic Book Guy saying that he’s wasted his life, given that his nerdy culture has become much more mainstream in recent years. Years later, ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'' has a BaitAndSwitch where he winds up being proud of his life instead, and even that was the year before the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse began. It helps that the "Treehouse Of Horror" specials aren't canon, so it's possible that Comic Book Guy wouldn't actually think this way in the show.

Context YMMV / TheSimpsonsS9E4TreehouseOfHorrorVIII