Review: The Simpsons “Treehouse of Horror Presents: Simpsons Wicked This Way Comes”

Overview

A tattooed man at a mysterious night circus transports Lisa into three strange stories from the innocent 1950s, the chilling retro-present and a brutalist future where prestige TV rules the world.

Our Take

Nearly a month later and The Simpsons are still celebrating Halloween, gotta love it. In this iteration of Treehouse of Horror we get the classic anthology series back in the spotlight that features Lisa helping us kick off three tales that get creepier with each entry. Whether it’s going back to an era where murdering your spouse wasn’t as big of a deal as it is now, followed by a tale of idiots making robot clones of themselves, and lastly, a terrifying Minority Report-like future where lowbrow TV is banned and the penalty is a bunch of guys show up and burn your collection.

The brilliant Andy Serkis guest stars as both the Illustrated Man/Siegfried Blaze, the guy who kicks off our three stories and as always Andy’s fantastic. I think my favorite of the shorts was the final one which seemed to be an interesting satire of whatever assholes are on social media that constantly take a shit on television that may not be deemed high brow enough for the general populace. Rick and Morty used to be a real focal point of this debate that made for elitist attitudes that eventually helped turn the show into a shell of its former self. A lot of critics like Alan Sepinwall have largely contributed to this problem and should be sunk to the bottom of the ocean.
Personally, I think this Jessica Conrad-written Treehouse was better than the one that previously aired as it felt almost like a throwback to when the producers of The Simpsons had a little more “don’t give a fuck” in their attitude and with Jessica getting nominated for an Emmy for “Night of the Living Wage” the longest-running animated sitcom in primetime is starting to course-correct back to a time when it mattered a bit more.