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Original Air Date: Sunday, October 20, 2019  The Episode of The Beast In what could almost be its own segment, the episode opens up with an homage to 'The Omen' n which Homer and Marge swap out a newborn baby boy with Maggie (they play around a lot with her origin, don't they?). Maggie is pure evil, but according to Homer, "still better than a boy" (largely in reference to Bart's ongoing shenanigans). It doesn't take long for neighbor Ned to attempt ridding the world of Maggie's evil by trying to sacrifice her inside the First Church of Springfield. He also reveals a "mark of the beast", which at first seems to be a Mickey Mouse shaped birthmark. That's a fairly solid gag, considering Disney buying Fox earlier that year. Another birth mark reveals a "666" in reference to the surprisingly fitting episode number. Maggie then floats up with the sound of an intense accompanying choir, and drops spikes through the chests of Ned, Homer and Marge, forming the "XXX" in 'Treehouse of Horror XXX'. In a single visual gag further, the camera pans back up to the floating, demonic Maggie, and unveils her "episode 666" birthmark again, along with another that reads "or 667 if Fox changes the schedule". All in all, this is a pretty damn solid opener, and it takes full advantage of both the episode number as well as Disney's new ownership by making a joke about Disney being evil the same way shows like 'South Park' have in the past. It's a Disney joke right up there with the Princess scene in 'Ralph Breaks the Internet' - good on them.  'Danger Things' This one's a parody of 'Stranger Things', season 1 with a pretty delightful 'Simpsons' twist. Some regular kids take the place of several roles; Bart as Mike, Lisa as Eleven (weird to think about), Milhouse as Will and Nelson as Dustin. As far as poor Luke goes, Martin is there in the beginning, presumably taking his place, but just sort of goes away afterwards. After a night of playing Atari's infamously bad 'E.T.' in bart's treehouse, the four boys part ways, and Milhouse is nabbed by some sort of strange creature and taken to the "Over-Under". Lisa makes an attempt to find him by using a sensory depravation device. Meanwhile, Milhouse's Dad goes off his rocker, attemtping to communicate with Milhouse in a similar way as Joyce Byers from the show. What they do here is okay, but they try to cram in a lot and it does feel a bit messy at times. The similarities to the show, and several 'Stranger Things' related gags are decent enough, and to the segment's credit, they do manage to end it on a funny albeit sort of abrupt note. For as much as I love 'Stranger Things', this particular farce doesn't quite reach the caliber of segments like 'Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace' or even the recent 'The Exor-sis'. But it's still not without its charm, and decent enough for trying to cram a whole season into a less-than-ten-minute segment. 3/5  'Heaven Swipes Right' Opening up at the Springfield Atoms Stadium, Homer ends up choking on a hotdog and dropping dead because of it. When he gets to Heaven, he finds that he has died before his time and is therefore offered to be sent back to live the life of a man due to die that day. Homer chooses a football player, and returns to Marge, bringing a new spice to the relationship. The next morning, Homer has already ruined the body by eating too much, and the rest of the segment involves Homer finding new bodies to live in for various reasons. This includes Superintendent Chalmers at one point, for example, helping Bart to get better grades. But how long can Homer possibly keep this up until Marge puts her foot down? In case you can't tell already, the segment is definitely weak for a Halloween show, and it's generally unfunny overall. I don't really have any other way to put it than it was pretty lame. It's yet another non-Halloween themed Halloween segment that just feels like it doesn't belong. It's a parody of 'Heaven Can Wait'; a movie well-known to be a romantic comedy, making this perhaps the least Halloweenish segment I've seen yet. At best, there's a light giggle or two, but nothing about it really sticks out at all. It's incredibly forgettable, and even a bit confusing at points. 1/5  'When Hairy Met Slimy' In a weak parody of 'The Shape of Water', Selma gets a janitorial job at the nuclear power plant. When she goes into a mysterious room to sneak a smoke, she comes across Kang, and they fall in love with each other. But we find out that Mr. Burns wants to dissect him for whatever reason, so she implores Homer to help her and Kang escape by bribing him with the idea of her going to a far-off planet forever. The gist of the story here is close enough to the original film that you get what's going on. The problem here is that it's a little hard to care. It seems every time Kang and/or Kodos show up to be featured predominantly in a segment, the segment is weak. That said, they are the poster boys for 'Treehouse of Horror', so what's the deal? There are some passes, like 'Citizen Kang', but there are probably more flops. Between the two main characters here, it's kind of just hard to care. This one feels pretty rushed, unfunny, and I just don't have anything else to say about it. By this point a lot of critics are claiming these episodes to be the same old song and dance for 30 years. And for the fact that a Halloween episode ends up being episode #666 with a very promising opening, what follows is generally one of the weaker ones of the collection. By all means, this should have been something much more special than what it was. 1/5 The whole special ends with both Patty and Selma living seemingly dysfunctional love lives with Kang and Kodos, and it plays on the whole idea that after people fall in love, it's only a matter of time until the nagging starts. The title re-enters the screen, accompanied by a collage of various 'Treehouse' moments. It adds a nice touch to this oddity of a milestone, but for as good as the opening and closing are, they just aren't enough to really save the overall episode.
Overall Episode Rating: 33%
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