Simpsons Wicked This Way Comes

"Treehouse of Horror Presents: Simpsons Wicked This Way Comes" is the seventh episode of the thirty-sixth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'', and the 775th episode overall. It aired in the United States on Fox on November 24, 2024. The episode was written by Jessica Conrad and directed by Debbie Bruce Mahan.

The episode is a tribute to Ray Bradbury, offering retellings of three of his works: the radio drama turned short story "The Screaming Woman", the short story "Marionettes, Inc.", and the novel ''Fahrenheit 451''. Andy Serkis guest starred as The Illustrated Man and Siegfried Blaze, and it was the final episode featuring Pamela Hayden on Fox before she retired. Maggie Simpson does not appear in this episode, except for her image in a photograph in the final story. The episode received positive reviews.

Plot

The Simpson family visits a circus. Lisa goes to see the Illustrated Man who says if she stares at one of his tattoos, she will see an unusual story.

Story #1

In an alternate past, Bart hears a screaming woman buried in the woods. He asks Homer and Marge for help, but they do not believe him. He goes door-to-door to see if a woman is missing.

At the Van Houten house, Luann wants to learn more and invites Bart in. She force-feeds him milk, causing him to become sleepy, but he escapes. In the woods, Bart hears the woman singing a jingle. When Bart repeats it to Homer, he recognizes it as one sung by Kirk Van Houten. They rescue Kirk in the woods.

The police arrest Luann, who buried Kirk for letting Elizabeth Hoover see him buy hair dye for her. However, this is socially acceptable, so she is freed.

Story #2

In the not-too-distant future, Superintendent Chalmers, annoyed by Principal Skinner, goes to Moe's where Carl shows how he ordered a robot of himself to do boring activities with Lenny.

Chalmers orders a robot to work with Skinner. Enjoying himself, he runs into Skinner, who also ordered a robot. Carl arrives and says he destroyed his robot after it developed emotions and refused to allow Carl to go on a trip it planned with Lenny.

At a school assembly, they see the robots have developed a friendship. They fight the robots. Skinner shoots and destroys his, but cannot tell which is the real Chalmers. When one reasons with him and the other insults him, he shoots and kills the former who was the real Chalmers. The robot Chalmers comforts Skinner.

Story #3

In a dystopian future, Homer is part of a team led by Siegfried Blaze that sets fire to low-brow television shows. At home, the Simpsons watch high-brow shows, but Homer does not like them.

At one raid, Homer starts laughing at one of the shows and is given a videotape of it by Groundskeeper Willie. At home, he secretly watches and enjoys it, but Bart catches him. He reports Homer to the team who had bribed Bart with takeout. Homer deduces the population must pay attention to the high-quality shows so they do not notice they live in a dystopian world.

Homer escapes and finds a group of like-minded people led by Krusty the Clown. Though he is taken underground, Siegfried arrives with his group and starts burning everything. They retreat to the woods outside of Springfield to tell stories about low-brow television.

Credits

After seeing the stories, Lisa has become a tattoo on the Illustrated Man as the credits roll. He states that she'll make some friends out of his other tattoos. A Sun tattoo sings " Santeria" by Sublime as Lisa becomes annoyed.

Production

In July 2024, at San Diego Comic-Con, a second ''Treehouse of Horror'' episode for the season was announced in addition to the traditional annual ''Treehouse of Horror'' episode. The episode featured three segments parodying stories by author Ray Bradbury. According to series creator Matt Groening, Bradbury criticized the show in the press after the series premiered because it borrowed from an episode of ''The Twilight Zone'' that he wrote.

Executive producer Matt Selman bought a book of Bradbury short stories and "The Screaming Woman" inspired him for a story about Bart because no one would believe him that a woman was in danger. The writers then found two more Bradbury stories to use.

Regarding the air date not being near Halloween, Selman would have preferred "Treehouse of Horror XXXV" and this episode to have aired on consecutive Sundays with Halloween in between or to have them air on the same night. However, Fox did not want to have the episodes air consecutively, and Selman was pleased that each episode was given an NFL lead-in.

"Treehouse of Horror Presents: Simpsons Wicked This Way Comes" was the final episode to air on Fox featuring Pamela Hayden before she retired. Hayden would continue to act in the Disney+ episodes as part of this season.

Andy Serkis guest starred as the Illustrated Man and Siegfried Blaze. Serkis previously guest starred in the fourteenth season episode " Dude, Where's My Ranch?" as a different character.

Cultural references

The title of the episode refers to Ray Bradbury's novel '' Something Wicked This Way Comes'' (1962). The Illustrated Man refers to Bradbury's 1951 collection of short stories. The first segment is a parody of the radio play "The Screaming Woman" by Bradbury, which became the basis for a short story and the 1972 made-for-television film ''The Screaming Woman''. The second segment is a parody of Bradbury's short story "Marionettes, Inc.", which was included in ''The Illustrated Man''. The third segment is a parody of Bradbury's novel ''Fahrenheit 451'' (1953).

Reception

Viewing figures

Leading out of an NFL doubleheader, the episode earned a 0.67 rating and was watched by 2.69 million viewers, which was the most-watched show on Fox that night.

Critical response

Daniel Kurland of Bloody Disgusting said the episode "is such a delight and one of ''The Simpsons'' most consistent anthology episodes in a long time." He compared the setup with the Rod Serling's ''Night Gallery'' motif used in the fifth season episode "Treehouse of Horror IV". He thought the final segment parodying ''Fahrenheit 451'' was the best one.

John Schwarz of ''Bubbleblabber'' gave the episode an 8 out of 10. He highlighted the performance by Andy Serkis. He liked the final segment the most, saying that he liked the commentary on people who complain about television programming that is not "high brow enough for the general populace." He also thought the episode was better than "Treehouse of Horror XXXV" from earlier in the season.

Mike Celestino of ''Laughing Place'' said the aspect of the episode he was "most impressed with here is the tribute to literature" as opposed to the more common use of pop culture references in the main ''Treehouse of Horror'' series. He thought it was "very cool" that the writers were able to make an entire episode dedicated to Bradbury.

References

External links

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{{Ray Bradbury

The Simpsons season 36 episodes
2024 American television episodes
Black comedy television episodes
Horror comedy
Parodies of horror
Parodies of literature
Parody television episodes
Ray Bradbury
Treehouse of Horror