XXVIII (Season 29, Episode 4, Aired October 22nd, 2017)
Well, the opening has a title, “The Sweets Hereafter”, so that’s neat. And it’s in CGI! Wiki says it was a parody of the 2016 animated adult comedy “Sausage Party”, but it read to me more just a general Pixar parody. It’s okay. The CGI looks good, especially in depicting the Simpsons characters as candy. The final joke is appropriately dark, with them basically killing a chocolate Easter Bunny in complete pain. Good enough opening, though the jokes are muted.
“The Exorsis”, a parody of William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel The Exorcist and its adaptation by William Friedkin (the latter of whom actually guest stars, though not in this segment, interestingly enough. That might’ve been the joke). Well, this is the beginning of Julie Kavner’s voice beginning to break, which always bothers me in recent episodes. It’s not as severe as recently, though. I liked the opening where a possessed Homer sings a haunting lullaby to Maggie, while disturbing things happen around her room to her toys.(A scene like that might actually work in a real horror movie.) The jokes in it are pretty funny. I thought they were going to subvert the formula of the original, and have Homer as the one possessed, but it’s just Maggie who’s possessed. After that opening, the episode is just… okay. The jokes land, but they aren’t exceptionally funny. The funniest part was when Ben Daniels shows up as an Irish priest, satirizing the Jason Miller role in the original priest. Later, when Pazuzu possess Bart, he…
