Lisa Simpson and her imaginary friend Rachel in a screenshot from the episode.
"Treehouse of Horror XXVII" is a Halloween-themed episode of the long-running American animated comedy series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 16, 2016. It is the fourth episode of the twenty-eighth season of the series and the six hundredth episode of The Simpsons overall.
In common with the majority of the previous Halloween episodes of The Simpsons, "Treehouse of Horror XXVII" is made up of three self-contained stories. The first story, "Dry Hard", is a parody of the Hunger Games series of dystopian young adult novels and movies and the 2015 post-apocalyptic action movie Mad Max: Fury Road. In the second story, "BFF R.I.P.", the 8-year-old girl Lisa Simpson's friends are being murdered by her imaginary friend Rachel (voiced by Sarah Silverman). The third story, "MoeFinger', is a parody of the 2014 British-American spy action-comedy movie Kingsman: The Secret Service and the James Bond franchise.
The episode has received mixed reviews.
Plot[]
Opening[]
On Halloween night, the costumed Simpson family, made up of father Homer, mother Marge, son Bart and daughters Lisa and Maggie, go to a Christmas tree lot. They are trapped inside the lot and ambushed by four of their old enemies, Sideshow Bob, Kang the alien, the ghost of Frank Grimes[1] and the leprechaun from "Treehouse of Horror XII". The baby Maggie, dressed as one of the juvenile delinquents from 1971 film A Clockwork Orange,[2] attacks and kills all the Simpsons' living enemies.
Clips from all 599 previous episodes of The Simpsons briefly appear on screen. The ghost of Frank Grimes complains that he is forced to constantly watch all of the episodes in Hell.
A couch gag follows which parodies the 1968 science fiction film Planet of the Apes. The Simpsons are primitive humans on a planet ruled by intelligent couches. They are captured by some of the couches and kept in a cage. The Simpsons' brown couch helps them to escape. Homer Simpson then kills the couch so that he and his family can sit on it.
"Dry Hard"[]
The action takes place in a post-apocalyptic version of the Simpsons' town Springfield. Water is in very short supply because the town's dictatorial ruler Mr. Burns controls the reservoir and keeps all of the water for himself.
Mr. Burns announces that a child from each neighborhood must take part in a battle to the death. The last child left alive will win a day swimming in Mr. Burns' reservoir. Lisa Simpson is selected to represent her neighborhood. Lisa eventually convinces the other contestants that they do not have to kill each other. She also persuades the people of Springfield to rebel against Mr. Burns and attack the reservoir.
When the townspeople smash a wall of the reservoir, however, only a small amount of water trickles out. The people of Springfield think that they are saved when a rainstorm starts. Unfortunately, the storm leads to a devastating flood. An ice age follows soon afterwards.
"BFF R.I.P."[]
While playing hide and seek in Lisa Simpson's yard, Lisa's friend Janey Powell is suddenly killed by a lawnmower. At Janey's funeral, the twins Sherri and Terri Mackleberry tell Lisa that having had a friend die tragically suddenly makes her interesting and she can now be their friend. They are both immediately crushed to death by a falling tombstone.
Having lost three friends in less than a week, Lisa attends grief counselling. Lisa's therapist tells her that she can think of her as her best friend. The therapist is immediately killed when a picture falls from her wall and severs her neck.
Since four people close to her have died, Police Chief Clancy Wiggum suspects Lisa Simpson of having murdered them. While searching Lisa's bedroom, Chief Wiggum finds a bottle of sparkly nail polish. Traces of an identical nail polish were found at all three death scenes. Lisa says that she only wore the nail polish when she was playing with Rachel, an imaginary friend whom she has now outgrown.
On the school bus the following morning, the only person willing to let Lisa sit next to him is the boy Milhouse Van Houten. Rachel then appears. She asphyxiates Milhouse with the plastic wrapping from his own sandwiches.
Lisa is arrested. Rachel appears to her in her police cell. Lisa scornfully says that her mother was right when she said that she did not need Rachel anymore. The enraged Rachel decides to kill Lisa's mother Marge Simpson. Rachel's attempt to kill Marge by throwing a knife at her is foiled when the Simpsons' cat leaps into the air and takes the knife in Marge's place.
Lisa's older brother Bart helps her to escape from her cell. They return home on an imaginary motorcycle. Rachel explains to Lisa that she plans to be Lisa's only friend by killing everyone she loves. Lisa will be blamed for the murders because nobody can see Rachel. Lisa's father Homer Simpson tells Rachel that he can see her because he is incredibly drunk. Rachel attacks Homer. Homer calls on his imaginary childhood friend Sergeant Sausage for help. Sergeant Sausage, a giant hot dog, appears. He tries to reason with Rachel. She refuses to listen to him. She stuffs him into a microwave, without having cut slits into him first, causing him to explode.
Using the power of her imagination, Lisa changes Rachel into a dull middle-aged married woman. Rachel chooses to disappear rather than remain in that state. Homer decides to bury the remains of Sergeant Sausage by eating them. Sergeant Sausage points out that, as an imaginary friend, he cannot die. Homer tells him to be quiet and continues eating.
"MoeFinger"[]
A group of teenage bullies chase the 10-year-old boy Bart Simpson into a backroom of the local tavern. The bartender Moe Szyslak appears. He saves Bart by killing the three bullies. Moe reveals that his bar is a front for a spy organization. He is really a secret agent and so are all of the bar's regular customers. Bart is told that he needs to become a secret agent too in order to replace his father Homer, who is believed to have been killed in action.
The secret agents are informed that all of the world's beer has been bought by a company called Remoh Industries. The agents go to a free Steely Dan concert that is being held by Remoh Industries. They discover that the head of Remoh Industries is Homer Simpson, who faked his own death and now looks and acts like the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld from the 1967 James Bond movie You Only Live Twice. Homer explains that he acquired all of the world's beer so that he can celebrate when the lava machine that he built forces the world to surrender to him.
Using mind control, Homer gets all of the Steely Dan fans at the concert to attack the secret agents. Everybody is killed, apart from Homer and Bart. Bart tells his father that they can still be reconciled. He then surprises Homer by stabbing him in the back.
The episode ends with a song in imitation of the theme tune for the 1964 James Bond movie Goldfinger. The song, called "600" by the British singer-songwriter Judith Owen, celebrates the longevity of The Simpsons.
Footnotes[]
- ↑ The ghost of Frank Grimes, in a very different visual form, also appears in the opening of "Treehouse of Horror XXVI".
- ↑ The film A Clockwork Orange is also referenced in "Treehouse of Horror III", "Treehouse of Horror XXI" and "Treehouse of Horror XXV".