23x03 Treehouse of Horror XXII

[2.4/10 on a post-classic Simpsons scale] This may be the very worst Treehouse of Horror installment there is. None of these segments are good. Most of them just trial off with nonsequiturs rather than building to anything worthwhile. And they are each almost entirely laughless.

That’s starts with the 127 Hours parody. There’s zero point or motivation for anything that happens here. Homer falls of a cliff for no reason. He mistakenly eats the wrong arm and leg off, which is idiotic, and then somehow manages to reattach them? It’s the wrong combination of cartoony and gross, and the whole thing is just a waste.

The “Diving Bell and Butterfly” segment actually had something going for it. Seeing POV shots and Homer having to communicate while paralyzed is an interesting notion, albeit an odd one for a THoH segment. But then it just turns into one long stupid fart joke. I’m not above enjoying a good flatulence gag, but this has nothing to it beyond “farting is funny.” The Spider-Man gag at the end is especially tacked on.

Also, as a big Dexter fan, the Ned-as-Dexter bit should be right up my alley. But there’s nothing clever about Ned’s kills. The Dexter parodying is shallow and surface-level. And the twist that Homer’s somehow put a speaker in Ned’s bible and Ned is dumb enough to think it’s God is just moronic. Then we get all manner of actual divine interference, and the whole segment just floats away into nothing.

Last but not least, the Avatar parody is the only one of these that’s even remotely passable, but even it’s still pretty bad. Again, the spoofing is all surface level, and the jokes feel stapled on rather than organic to the situation. The only funny bit was Bart saying that his Na’vi girlfriend sounds and looks like his art teacher. Everything else was just a tepid rehash of a bad movie. I guess it’s nice to see Kang & Kodos again and enjoy some Rigellian versions of Springfield’s residents. That’s about it.

Overall, this is one of, if not the worst, Treehouse of Horror installments there’s ever been. Do yourself a favor and skip it this Halloween.