REVIEW: THE SIMPSONS “TREEHOUSE OF HORROR XXIII”

In “Treehouse of Horror XXIII,” Marge and Homer go back to ancient Mayan times and learn that the world will come to an end in 2012; and a glitch in the Springfield Subatomic Supercollider wreaks havoc on the city; Marge as a youngster has a devil of a time after entering into a satanic pact; and Bart travels back to 1974 for a chance to buy a comic book at its cover price, and inadvertently puts a hitch in Homer’s courtship of Marge.

Spoilers Below

Marge and Homer go back to ancient Mayan times and learn that the world will come to an end in 2012. Turns out that the end of the world happens when three giant monsters start traveling the world casing a mess that leaks lava and blows Earth up!

The Greatest Story Ever Holed

A glitch in the Springfield Subatomic Supercollider wreaks havoc on the city after the particles go nuts and create a black hole. Slowly but surely Springfield is getting sucked into this hole but Lisa is able to somehow control it and bring it home. Lisa warns that if you keep feeding the hole it gets bigger and stronger causing Marge to construct a baby gate around it. It doesn’t even help though because everyone in the house is throwing shit in it after Homer starts a business where he charges other people to throw shit in there.  Not surprisingly the hole is out of control and it sucks everything into an alternate universe where the cat is king and garbage is valued including the MSFT Zune. The hole does get plugged however after it sucks up Maggie’s pacifier.

Unnormal Activity

Marge as a youngster has a devil of time after entering into a satanic pact. The terms?? Apparently, Marge made a pact with a devil-Moe in exchange for her sisters’ safety. Thankfully, Homer agrees to a deal where if he takes part in a demon three-way, the devils won’t take Maggie.

Bart and Homer’s Excellent Adventure

Comic Book Guy tells Bart to go back in time for an issue that costs 25 cents Thankfully, Frink is already downtown with his Prius retrofitted with a time machine which takes Bart back to 1974.  While there, Bart meets up with Homer and Marge who are both still in high school but instead of falling in love they argue over domestic violence. After telling his future Mom to stay away from Homer, Bart returns to present-day where Artie Ziff is his new dad. Fortunately, past Homer is in the present day and meets up with present Homer where they take the time machine and bring about a whole army of Homers that get their asses kicked by Artie. That said, Marge still leaves Artie and picks ALL of the Homers!

After 23 entries, the Treehouse of Horror is just as good now as it has ever been. The best skit by far was the “Greatest Story Ever Holed” although the opening Mayan gag was pretty great and I certainly wish there was more to that one. Unnormal activity came out OK in the end, but Homer pissing for long ass time was the only real high light, though it was interesting to see the writers get into some sex jokes which is something we really haven’t seen before. Bart and Homer’s Excellent Adventure reminded me more of another Back to the Future gag that I believe Family Guy has the crown for, but it was interesting to see a couple of decades worth of alternate Homers. That said, I don’t think the last one should have been a ‘scary’ bit and instead maybe use it in a clip show. That said it was great to see Artie Ziff return and yes I do think we should give Jon Lovitz another shot with Jay Sherman.