The Simpsons Season 35 Could Revisit A Genius Treehouse of Horror Gag

After The Simpsons won over fans and critics alike by revisiting its Golden Age in season 34’s Treehouse of Horror, season 35’s Halloween special looks set to repeat this trick. The Simpsons sometimes struggle to address the legacy of the show’s long journey. While The Simpsons is one of the most important TV shows in the history of the medium, it is also a light-hearted cartoon sitcom. As such, it is hard for the show to juggle these two facts simultaneously. Sometimes, The Simpsons relies too heavily on the acclaim earned by its classic early episodes while, at other times, the show strays too far from them.

Luckily, The Simpsons season 35 seems to have found a solid balance between these extremes. In the show’s premiere, the series offered a gag-heavy story about Homer becoming a corrupt crossing guard. This outing stuck to the essence of what makes Homer a compelling character while also telling a zany, surreal tale that few other shows could pull off. The Simpsons season 35, episode 2, “A Mid-Childhood Night’s Dream,” took a similar approach as the entire episode consisted of Marge’s trippy nightmares about Bart growing up too fast. It was weird and ambitious but, crucially, true to the nature of her character.

Treehouse of Horror XXXIV May Revisit A Classic Simpsons Episode

Now, season 35’s Treehouse of Horror special looks set to continue this promising trend with a segment that flashes back to a classic episode of The Simpsons. The Simpsons season 35’s trailer implies that “Treehouse of Horror XXXIV” will revisit season 5, episode 2, “Cape Feare.” This could allow the show to repeat something like what season 34, episode 6, “Treehouse of Horror XXXIII” did last year, with The Simpsons re-contextualizing an outing that viewers loved and using this as a launching board for new storylines. The clip in the trailer sees Lisa edited into an altered version of a famous scene from “Cape Feare.”

However, in the trailer’s version of “Cape Feare,” Sideshow Bob succeeds in bloodily murdering an unseen member of the Simpson family. Much like the “Simpsonsworld” segment of “Treehouse of Horror XXXIV,” this segment could retell a classic episode’s story in a way that feels entirely fresh. The Treehouse of Horror series has always allowed The Simpsons to push its gore and horror elements to the limit, and nothing could be darker than the series rewriting one of its funniest episodes as a dark, grim slasher story. Now that The Simpsons season 35 gave Marge her sweetest episode in years, the show has more than earned a nasty outing like this.

The Simpsons Tried This Story Once Before

There is an earlier segment where Sideshow Bob finally gets to kill Bart in season 27, episode 5, “Treehouse of Horror XXVI.” However, “Wanted: Dead, Then Alive” came from the show’s zaniest, most cartoony era, so this Halloween special managed to make the sight of Sideshow Bob repeatedly murdering a child seem anodyne and goofy. In contrast, season 35’s Treehouse of Horror changes things up by casting Lisa as its heroine, and “Treehouse of Horror XXXIV” already proved that the series can now pull off darker stories. As such, The Simpsons could create a memorable tribute to a classic episode and a scary Halloween special in one segment.