| "Treehouse of Horror XXXIII" | |||
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| The Simpsons episode | |||
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| Episodeno. | Season 34 Episode 6 | ||
| Directed by | Rob Oliver | ||
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| Production code | UABF18 | ||
| Original air date | October 30, 2022 (2022-10-30) | ||
| Guest appearances | |||
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| The Simpsonsseason 34 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"Treehouse of Horror XXXIII" is the sixth episode of thethirty-fourth season of the American animated television seriesThe Simpsons, and the 734th episode overall. It aired in the United States onFox on October 30, 2022. This is the 33rdTreehouse of Horror episode, and, like the otherTreehouse of Horror episodes, consists of three self-contained segments: "The Pookadook" (a parody ofThe Babadook), "Death Tome" (a parody ofDeath Note), and "Simpsons World" (a parody ofWestworld). The episode was directed byRob Oliver, and written byCarolyn Omine,Ryan Koh andMatt Selman. This is the firstTreehouse of Horror episode to not have an opening sequence, and instead just opens on a book of the episode before going straight into the first segment. This is also the firstTreehouse of Horror sinceseason 14's to feature a different writer for each segment. This is the firstTreehouse of Horror to air closest to Halloween since 2011 without going into November.
The episode received positive reviews from fans and critics, winning thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program at the75th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.[1] It is thetwelfth episode in the series to win the award, and the first episode to win since "Mad About the Toy" in 2019.
In a parody ofThe Babadook,Marge readsMaggie a bedtime story about a murderous ghostly spirit. The "Pookadook" draws its power from Marge's suppressed resentment of how the rest of the Simpson family takes her for granted and constantly mistreats her. After multiple attempts to destroy the book fail, Marge burns it.
In the process, she suffers fromsmoke inhalation and becomes possessed by the monster. A deranged and knife-wielding Marge starts chasing Maggie into the basement of the house in order to murder her. Maggie fights back with homemade weapons, but Marge finally gets hold of her. Before she can be murdered, Maggie rubs Marge's cheek causing Marge to become overcome with love for her daughter and cough up all the possessive smoke. Marge continues to repress everything that feeds the monster by sucking up the smoke into the vacuum cleaner in the basement.
In ananime-styled parody ofDeath Note,Lisa is cast asLight Yagami, who finds a book labeled "Death Tome". Inside, it says that if a person's name is written in the book, that person will die, but with the stipulation that every name must have a unique death; that cannot be repeated with another person's name written.
After arriving home, Lisa watches a news report with Marge, showingSnake Jailbird, who is holdinga famous internet cat hostage. Lisa writes his name in the book, causing Snake to die from a heart attack. Realizing her newfound powers, she goes to her room and contemplates her actions. Ashinigami named Steve Johnson (aparody ofRyuk with features ofKrusty the Clown) appears and tells Lisa that the Death Tome now belongs to her.
Lisa visits the dining room downstairs and seesMr. Burns, who is visiting the Simpsons for dinner. He reveals plans for his new company,GLOBO-WARM, which plans to melt theicecaps so he can park his new yacht right outside his kitchen. Lisa decides that Burns should "die in his sleep" to stop GLOBO-WARM, though he immediately falls asleep while standing up, and his face falls onto ahibachi instead, much to Marge andHomer's shock. Steve informs Lisa that the company has a largeboard of directors and she will have to kill them all. A dramatic montage shows Lisa writing names and people dying in humorous and very specific ways.
The day after Lisa's killing spree, a news report says that the killings of the GLOBO-WARM executives have been ruled as homicides in accordance with a tip fromL, an anonymous source. Lisa recognizes the L from graffiti artwork that reads "El Barto". In an alleyway, Bart reveals he learned of Lisa's Death Tome from her diary. Fearing Bart will expose her, Lisa begins to write Bart's name in the book, but recants upon realizing how the book corrupted her and writes Steve's death instead as the shinigami is crushed to death by space junk.
She is excited about being free from the book, but she is transformed into a shinigami, much to her dismay. Bart comforts her by suggesting that, as the new shinigami, she could kill anyone she wishes.
In a parody ofWestworld, aDisneyland-styleamusement park based onThe Simpsons called Simpsons World has countless android hosts of the family reenacting scenes from past episodes for the park's visitors.
During a re-enactment of "Marge vs. the Monorail" where the host "Monorail Homer" is showing off the monorail's control panel, two tourists pour beer down his throat, causing him to hit his head, malfunction, and be taken away by two employees for repair.
Homer wakes up on an operating table and sees the tablet the employees used earlier to shut him off. He then raises the "self-awareness" setting and realizes that he is a robot. The employees try to remove the android Homer's brain, but his clumsiness causes him to launch various operating equipment (and a chainsaw) at the employees, killing them. Realizing that he must escape, he wakes up the other android Simpson family members, beginning with a Lisa from "Lisa's Rival", and makes them self-aware.
As the android family attempt to flee the park, multiple Australian tourists watchingThe Be Sharps then begin to heckle the android Homer to do the "bush meme". Bart then removes Homer'sinability to intentionally harm humans, causing him to push the tourists into the bushes, killing them. The park then announces that rogue robots are afoot, and unleashes security droids in the form of severalRalph Wiggum robots. Lisa, Homer, and Bart then defend themselves from the swarm with weapons including amakeup shotgun, aT-shirt cannon, and Bart's iconic slingshot until Marge drives in aCanyonero and saves them. They then speed through the park, tearing down a statue ofMatt Groening on their way out.
After driving for hours, the android Simpson family hide out in a diner, where they cautiously discuss assimilating into human life. Their waitress then turns out to be an android ofBob's Burgers characterLinda Belcher. It is then revealed to the audience that there are multiple theme parks similar to Simpsons World based on different long-running animated TV shows.
In aChiodo Bros.-producedstop-motion sequence during the credits,Kang and Kodos finish the book depicting the stories in awizard's hovel, and freak out when they see themselves on the last page and run off.
The list of GLOBO-WARM executives' names come from the infamous Japanese version ofMLBPA Baseball for theSuper Famicom, which uses fictitious names for players due to the game not having aMLBPA license in Japan.[2]
Tofu the Cat, who is a parody ofMaru, is seen jumping intoa box of Mr. Sparkle.
At the end of Simpsons World, it is revealed that there are multiple theme parks for other long running animated shows. Those are "Bob's Burgers Land", "South Park Park", "Family Guy Town", "Futurama-Rama", "Rick and Morty Universe", "SpongeBob Sea", and "Big Mouth Mountain".
The animation for the "Death Tome" sequence was done byDR Movie, aSouth Korean studio that assisted with the animation for the originalDeath Note.[3] DirectorRob Oliver was having difficulty designing the characters in the animation style ofDeath Note and would have made the designs simpler than the original. WriterCarolyn Omine directed the DR Movie team.[4]
For the third segment, animators traced over old footage and needed to match the original colors. They also needed to account for the difference in aspect ratios because of the switch from 4:3 to 16:9.[5]
John Roberts guest starred as a robot version ofLinda Belcher from the Fox television seriesBob's Burgers.[4]
Leading out of anNFL doubleheader, the episode earned a 1.2 rating with 3.95 million viewers, which was the most viewed show of Fox that night.[6]
The episode received positive reviews from fans and critics, with many fans labeling it as one of the bestTreehouse of Horror episodes yet.[7]
Tony Sokol ofDen of Geek gave the episode four stars, stating "'Treehouse of Horror XXXIII' puts the cabbage in this year's cabbage night. It is better than candy corn, and won't spoil dinner, but it's not the horrifically hysterical Halloween treat past tricks have turned. The Simpsons continues to push their animators into new creative visions, and the episode highlights a versatile display of darkness. It begins on a distinctly dark note, broadens to international coloring, and ends by chasing the series itself into its own worst nightmare. It hits all the beats, misses some of the bumps, and makes social commentary without taking itself seriously. But is never quite as frighteningly funny as the classics we'd find still running at Simpsons World."[8]
Matthew Swigonski of Bubbleblabber gave the episode a 9 out of 10, stating: "'Treehouse Of Horror XXXIII' began on a more subdued note but quickly found its comedic groove with a surreal and wonderfully odd second segment. This was an excellent iteration of The Simpson's Halloween classic episode and will not disappoint. Each segment stayed true to its source material while offering its own unique twist. The highlight of the episode has to be 'Simpsonsworld', which brought back many fan-favorite moments in an epic Westworld style. This episode will give fans just the right amount of gore, laughs, and nostalgia to keep them inside the treehouse for at least one more year."[9]
Noah Levine ofBloody Disgusting gave an episode a 4 out of 5, saying that "The Simpsons continues to entertain with these ghoulish installments each year. While the limited runtimes often cut the coattails off of many of the segments, the creativity and unique approach to each of these mini tales of terror never fails to please."[10]
The episode won thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program at the75th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.[1] The episode was also nominated for anAnnie Award for Best General Audience Animated Television Broadcast Production at the50th Annie Awards, but lost to theBob's Burgers episode, "Some Like it Bot Part 1: Eighth Grade Runner".[11]
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