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Recap / The Simpsons S 21 E 4 Treehouse Of Horror XX

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The Simpsons return in their twentieth "Treehouse of Horror" special with three tales of diverse terror.

Dial M for Murder or Press # To Return to the Main Menu: In a send-up of Alfred Hitchcock's classic suspense films (with Strangers on a Train being the main reference), Bart gets Lisa involved in a "criss-cross" revenge scheme, but while Lisa thinks the plan is just harmless practical jokes, Bart sees it as an opportunity for murder.

Don't Have a Cow, Mankind: In this bizarre 28 Days Later meets Children of Men tale, Springfield is once again overrun by zombies (now called "munchers"), this time, thanks to Krusty's latest fast food sandwich made from cattle with mad-cow disease — and the only one not affected by the tainted meat is Bart.

There's No Business Like Moe Business: In this parody of Broadway musicals (particularly Sweeney Todd), Moe buys a microbrew machine to make a new beer — and Homer's blood from getting impaled on the machine turns the microbrew into Moe's most popular drink.

This was the first "Treehouse of Horror" episode since season 11's "Treehouse of Horror X" to air around Halloween due to Fox's World Series broadcasting rights.


This episode contains examples of: (YMMV Examples here)

  • Acronym Confusion: In the second segment, Bart asks Lisa to "TP" Miss Hoover. Lisa assumes she means just Toilet Papering her house, but Bart explains that he wants her to Torture and Pulverise her.
  • Accidental Murder: In the first segment, Lisa attempts to kill Bart rather than obey his order to kill Mrs. Krabappel, but ultimately declares that she's not like him and throws away her weapon...which hits him in the head anyway when the playground merry-go-round they're on spins him in its direction. Edna's not convinced this was really an accident.
  • Analogy Backfire: The zombie survivors' first idea for making use of Bart's immunity is to cannibalize him, causing Marge to exclaim, "What kind of civilized people eat the body and blood of their savior?" Cue Reverend Lovejoy tugging his collar.
  • Arc Words: The use of "Criss-cross" in Strangers On a Train is Parodied in the first segment with Bart hammering it into the ground throughout.
    Bart: What if you got revenge on Krabappel for me, and I got revenge on Hoover for you? Criss-cross!
    Lisa: Interesting. With no obvious motive, no one would suspect us.
    Bart: Exactly! Criss-cross! Do we have a deal?
    Lisa: Thanks, but I'll pass.
    Bart: If I say "criss-cross" one more time, will that change your mind?
    Lisa: Listen, you're a persistent fellow, but I...
    Bart: Criss-cross!
    Lisa: I'm in.
  • Badass Normal: Dr. Hibbert during "Don't Have a Cow, Mankind" when he manages to fend off several Munchers while telling the Simpsons to get Bart to the safe zone over the phone. Credit goes to Apu as well, for coming to the Simpsons' aid with an armored truck and assortment of guns (which he has to have, as he's a convenience store clerk and would need them in case of a robbery). Sadly, the Munchers get both of them.
  • Bait-and-Switch: In "Don't Have a Cow, Mankind," the zombie apocalypse survivors want to kill and eat Bart to gain his immunity, but Marge argues that there has to be another way. The ending cuts to a saddened Lisa looking around a rebuilt Springfield, now a peaceful place where happy children play, as her monologue in voice-over explains what they had to do to make this happen...let Bart bathe in the community cooking pot. (Which he's gleefully doing as she "speaks.")
  • Big Damn Heroes: Parodied as Rainer Wolfcastle comes in, gunning down Munchers and tells the family to come with him if they want to live. He promptly gets overwhelmed and eaten, leading Homer to quip "Another politician who can't keep his promises". Apu plays this more or less straight.
  • Black Comedy Cannibalism: Krusty gleefully revealing how the new burger is made from cannibalized cows, much to Lisa's shock.
    Krusty: Easy! We start off with grade A beef, feed that to other cows then kill them and process their meat onto a seven grain bun! It's Burger Squared!
    Lisa: Cows eating cows? That's an abomination!
  • Body Horror: Homer impaled on the pipes of Moe's beer distiller and managing to stay alive despite it.
  • Cain and Abel: Bart and Lisa in the first segment. Bart hates school so much, that he's willing to kill all the teachers. When the school-loving Lisa finds out, she kills Bart out of hatred.
  • Camp Gay: One of the song numbers in "Moe Business" portrays Homer as this during Moe's attempt at convincing Marge that Homer left her because he came out of the closet.
  • Comically Missing the Point: When Kent Brockman becomes the first Muncher, he takes a big bite out of Krusty's arm. The clown angrily shouts "Hey! That's my check-cashing arm, you stupid-!" before becoming a Muncher himself.
    • Later, when Homer becomes a Muncher, Bart then pulls a shotgun to kill him, asking if he'd want it in the mouth or eyes. Homer giddily requests the mouth.
  • Continuity Nod: The title of the second segment, "Don't Have a Cow, Mankind", plays off one of Bart's earlier catchphrases.
  • Crazy-Prepared: Apu is the most prepared for a zombie apocalypse because, as a Hindu and a vegan, he's one of the few people who isn't infected by the Krusty burger (since both vegans and Hindus aren't allowed to eat meat or meat byproducts), and, as a convenience store clerk, he has to have a wide assortment of guns and weapons in case of robberies.
  • Deadly Euphemism: Lisa agrees to prank Bart's teacher if Bart pranks hers. She's unwittingly agreed to a "Strangers on a Train"-Plot Murder, as Bart assumed it was an understood thing that "you don't say 'kill,' you say 'prank,'" and that when she agreed to "ding-dong-ditch" Mrs. Krabappel she meant she'd kill her and then "throw that ding-dong in a ditch."
    Bart: A deal's a deal, little sister. Tomorrow after school, go to her house and TP her.
    Lisa: That's it? Just TP her?
    Bart: Yeah, Torture and Pulverize her. Then ding-dong-ditch the body and we're even.
  • Deliberately Monochrome: The first segment is styled as such, befitting its parody of Hitchcock films.
  • Department of Redundancy Department: Moe's lyric "I'm unlucky in love./I'm unlucky in luck."
  • Enfant Terrible: The first segment's iteration of Bart is a 10-year-old psychopath who remorselessly beheads two members of the school's faculty and attempts to induce his sister to torture and kill Mrs. Krabappel. Other than that he remains completely in-character, Ping Pong Naïveté and all (while explaining to Lisa that his apparent references to pranks are Deadly Euphemisms, he says that it's like how "Mom and Dad say 'snuggle' when what they really mean is 'let's lock the door and hug'").
  • Fantastic Medicinal Bodily Product: Bart is immune to a zombie plague. The other still-human residents of Springfield want to kill, cut up and eat him in order to acquire his immunity. They eventually decide to have him bathe in a soup for them to eat in order to acquire the immunity without killing him.
  • For Halloween, I Am Going as Myself: The Universal Horror monsters attempt this, but when their "costumes" are dismissed as lame by the bully kids, they head to the costume shop to buy more current costumes.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Subverted. When the trunk gets stuck on the top of a mound of garbage, Apu volunteers to get out and push the car unstuck with the munchers close in pursuit. He succeeds, but the Simpsons drive off without him, believing he was sacrificing himself to save them when he actually wanted them to park at the bottom of the mound and wait for him. Though he could've been bit more clear.
  • Hulk Speak: Frankenstein's Monster and Nelson's mother share an exchange of "Good", "Beer Good", and "You Good" in the opening.
  • Hypocritical Humor: Moe's mother is portrayed as looking like a female version of him but he says in song that she described him as "too ugly to hug".
  • I'm a Humanitarian: The special ingredient to Moe's brew being Homer's blood. Lampshaded in the lyrics
    Lenny: Full-bodied!
    Carl: Full-blooded!
    Barney: It's such a lovely blend!
    All Three: It's jolly! It's loyal! Like drinking your best friend!
    • Also the cows being killed and fed to other cows to make the "burger squared" in "Don't Have A Cow, Mankind."
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: In his idiocy, Homer goes for the unattended tap in "Moe Business" and falls onto the exposed piping of the beer distiller.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: Miss Hoover may be an Apathetic Teacher, but she was onto something when she gently advises Lisa not to take Hubert Wong beating her out so personally. Of course, Lisa is too enraged by her loss to listen.
  • Kids Hate Vegetables: In the segment "Don't Have A Cow, Mankind", Bart is shown starving despite there being a bowl of fresh fruits and carrots beside him (which he refuses to eat).
    Bart: There's gotta be something yummy out there.
  • Love Potion: Downplayed with Moe's "milk of amnesia"... which is his usual beer from Homer's blood. It does seem to affect Marge's judgement and makes her "un-creeped out" by him, but it doesn't assert direct control; she makes her feelings to Homer clear, and if it weren't for Moe's story about her husband supposedly leaving her, it likely wouldn't have had any effect at all.
  • Monster Mash: The opening features classic Hollywood horrors Count Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, the Wolf-Man, and the Mummy. And their angry wives.
  • Musical Segment: "There's No Business Like Moe Business"
  • Never My Fault: A double example with Lisa in the first segment. She's angry with Hubert Wong for beating her out in the title of representing the National Reading Roundup (because he had a tutor, thereby "tainting" his victory), and with Miss Hoover for sending her to detention when she threw a hissy fit over it. It never occurs to her that some kids need extra help, and while Miss Hoover admitting she barely spent any time on her choice didn't exactly help matters, she was still being disruptive over something so petty.
  • No Fourth Wall: "There's No Business Like Moe Business" is presented as happening on a theater stage, complete with Homer and Moe as actors that have to go through costume changes and such, due to the segment's nature as a play.
  • "Not So Different" Remark: During their final confrontation on the merry-go-round at the playground, Bart argues that Lisa is no different than him. She argues otherwise, throwing the knife into the air. Due to the merry-go-round's rotation, it lands and kills Bart anyway. And while Lisa initially states it was an accident, her interaction with Mrs. Krapabbel at the end implies Bart was correct.
  • Not Using the "Z" Word: Parodied in "Don't Have a Cow, Mankind" where the zombies are referred to as "Munchers" due to their cannibalistic tendencies and that they became zombies due to munching Krusty's newest burger.
  • Off with His Head!: After Homer attempts to sway the anger of the Monsters' angry wives in the Cold Opening, he's promptly attacked and beheaded. His head lands in the bowl of punch with Wingding Eyes providing the "XX" of the episode title.
    • Bart seems fond of decapitation in the first segment, judging by how he shows Lisa Ms. Hoover and Principal Skinner's heads (the latter appearing in the promotional art). He also attempts to pressure Lisa in decapitating Mrs. Krabappel with the blade of a paper guillotine. She doesn't go through with it.
  • Painful Rhyme: In Homer's musical number about turning gay:
    While turning gay the other day, a thought occurred to me / I'd like to try 'most every guy from here to Timbuktee
  • This Is Reality: In "Moe Business", after the aforementioned musical number about Homer being gay, Moe heads to check on Homer in the distiller...only to be reminded that he had to get out of that costume and make-up in order to do that song. Moe is left awkwardly stalling to the audience while Homer gets back into costume offstage.
  • Remember the New Guy?: Hubert Wong is a student in Lisa's class that has never appeared on the show before, seemingly for the desire to give her an excuse to lose her temper, setting off the story's conflict...though, much like Uter, he would appear in the canon show later.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Lisa tries to kill Bart to stop his torment and murders. She succeeds.
    • Homer pulls this at the end of "Moe Business", managing to leap into the scene despite still being attached to the distiller, and "killing Moe" (more accurately, throwing a cheap ragdoll of Moe aside).
  • The Secret of Long Pork Pies: Moe's beer becomes more popular after it gets mixed with Homer's blood.
    • Also, the cannibalized cows used to make the burgers that infect the town in "Don't Have A Cow, Mankind".
  • Sheet of Glass: Played straight, apparently Munchers need windows too.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Show Within a Show: No Business Like Moe Business is a theatrical performance occurring within the episode, with the characters appearing in it having to change costumes between scenes and occasional audience reactions being shown.
  • Soundtrack Dissonance: The credits, similar to Treehouse of Horror VI, although justified due to it being an instrumental version of the theme of "Moe Business", the final segment.
  • Special Effects Failure: In-universe. Homer "killing" Moe in "Moe Business" is clearly just him beating up a dummy that looks like Moe. And he doesn't put a lot of effort into it either.
  • "Strangers on a Train"-Plot Murder: Bart's "criss-cross" setup in "Dial M for Murder".
  • Take That!: In the second segment, as Homer tries to bludgeon Bart in his bedroom with the last book on Earth for becoming a Muncher, Lisa bursts into the room and begs him not to do it...only to discover that said book is an autobiography of Arsenio Hall, which causes her to relent.
  • Theatre Phantom: Barney is shown on a boat emerging from the mist at Moe's bar. He is dressed up like the Phantom from Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical and sings about how Moe's beer is great.
  • Time Skip: The second segment has one of 28 days.
  • Too Dumb to Live: Homer as usual. During "Don't Have a Cow, Mankind", he tells Bart to remain quiet when they attempt to escape. Unfortunately, he then yells "Man, that breeze feels good!", drawing the attention of the Munchers in range. He later is zombified himself when he desecrates what he believes to be the lifeless corpse of his boss, not knowing Mr. Burns is also a Muncher.
    • Bart in the same segment, is starving (he refuses to eat the large amount of fresh fruit and vegetables they have) so he goes outside when he spots an uneaten Krusty Burger, one he knows full well is made of meat that turns people into zombies. The boy risked his life and his families lives because he would rather eat a month old toxic burger than fresh fruit. Fortunately he just so happens to be immune.
  • Whole-Plot Reference: Don't Have a Cow, Mankind is one to both 28 Days Later and Children of Men
  • Wingding Eyes: Homer's head is ripped and his pupils become the two 'X's from "Treehouse of Horror XX".
  • You Don't Look Like You: Frankenstein's monster's wife in this episode looks different than most portrayals. She doesn't even have her trademark hairstyle.
  • You Keep Using That Word: Parodied with Kang and Kodos' cameo in the audience of "Moe Business":
    Kang: This is the best musical in lightyears!
    Kodos: Lightyears measure distance, not time.
    Kang: You know what I meant!
  • You Monster!: Lisa declares Bart is a monster after seeing he's murdered Hoover.
  • Zombie Apocalypse: A "Muncher" Apocalypse, caused by Krusty's newest burger no less. Eventually reversed when the safe zone has Bart, who is resistant to the virus, bathe in their food supply, presumably after killing all Munchers save a still-infected Homer.

 
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