For the first time, THE SIMPSONS have decided to give horror fans an additional treat.
While every season (except for the first one) on The Simpsons has included a horror anthology episode titled TREEHOUSE OF HORROR, this year fans of the show get a whole horror episode parodying an epic horror novel written by famed horror author STEPHEN KING.
The novel chosen is IT which seems pretty appropriate for The Simpsons considering one of their beloved characters is a clown.
Krusty the clown is often seen as a depressed man, always in a bad mood, and smoking endlessly. He’s quite a contrast from the persona he must don for his Kids TV show. Along with his sidekick, Sideshow Bob, he runs a popular TV show that is known more for its ITCHY AND SCRATCHY shorts than his comedic routine.
Over the years, Krusty has gotten plenty of his own storylines, but now to play an evil clown? Could Krusty the clown actually accomplish that?
The answer lies in the episode’s title NOT IT.
Just like the book, the episode begins with a young Barney Gumble sailing paper boats in puddles. It is when the paper boat enters the sewer that Barney comes face to face with an evil clown lurking inside.
Barney is immediately devoured by the clown.
Welcome to Kingsfield!
Yes, it is no longer Springfield but a town called Kingsfield which is a good place to bury kids. As awful as it sounds, Stephen King’s novels are known to put kids through harsh situations that they don’t always come out of.
There are posters of missing kids on the wall, pretty much the all the side characters in THE SIMPSONS, including poor Waylen Smithers whose missing poster is covered by Barney’s.
A young Homer Simpson claims that when a kid goes missing in town, he is found. That doesn’t seem true considering there is a whole wall dedicated to missing kids’ posters.
Minutes later, Homer is accosted by bullies but he has nothing to worry about because the Losers Club is here to save the day.
The Losers Club consists of Carl, Moe, Comic Book Guy and, Marge. All of them are in their teens. Marge is great at softball and Homer is immediately smitten by her when she saves him throwing a ball and breaking the bully’s nose.
Homer is taken to their clubhouse where he confesses he saw an evil clown while being picked on by bullies. The other members claim to have seen them too and in a way, also confess their deepest fears.
Marge is afraid of being drowned in Seltzer water. Moe is afraid of ventriloquist dummies. Carl is afraid of outer space creatures. You do not want to see what Comic Book Guy’s fear is. It involves his grandmother in a bathtub with maggots.
The friends decide to group together and find out how to defeat the evil clown. To the library they go. Homer writes Marge a Haiku but doesn’t sign his name which turns out to be a big mistake because Comic Book Guy finds the letter and puts his name on it.
The Losers find out that the clown has been in this town for several decades now and returns every 27 years. His biggest flaw: he’s just not funny.
So, Krusto (not Krusty) the evil clown has been going after kids to build his audience who are forced to laugh at all his shenanigans.
The Losers lure Krusto out of television and then try to fight him off. It is when Krusto accidentally hits himself that the kids laugh and the clown realizes he has finally found comedy gold. He begins to hurt himself intentionally, going as far as to swallow a couple of cherry bombs.
But he doesn’t go kaboom! He realizes what the Losers are up to and escapes through the sewers.
The kids celebrate by going off swimming and Marge tells Comic Book Guy that she found his poem and loves him because of it. Homer watches the love of his life kiss another boy.
Twenty seven years pass and Nelson, Kearney, Dolph and Jimbo are roaming about at night when they are attacked by a pie maker. Turns out the evil clown has returned.
Kingsfield is still a town with a board that reads, “Why are people still moving here?”
Milhouse is the latest addition to the missing poster’s wall.
There is a pub called D’ohs in town but it is run by Homer. There’s a large jar of pickled donuts on the counter. Wonder what that tastes like that? Probably gross.
Anyway, Homer decides the Losers need to regroup.
Carl is an astronaut and right before a takeoff, he abandons his mission. Moe has become a successful metal rockstar who uses dummies in his concerts. Comic Book Guy is married to Marge who is the CEO of a Seltzer water company.
They all return to Kingsfield, including Marge’s kids Bart and Lisa who now have their personalities interchanged. Lisa is the mischievous one in this universe. The kids and Comic Book Guy are in Kingsfield to bring Marge back because she left without them to come save the town from the evil clown.
While Marge and Comic Book Guy argue, the kids wander about and complain about the misspelled pet cemetery, the Salem’s Parking Lot, and a store called Needful Crap Secondhand Store. Needful Things, remember that great novel?
Anyway, the kids are bewitched and taken by the clown. The Losers are not invested in taking down the clown until their phones explode because of Krusto.
The Losers head out to save Lisa and Bart when the clown arrives. The Losers claim to have overcome their fears but Krusty reminds them of their anxieties that include unpaid bills. Comic Book Guy has the worst of them all. He has hidden a secret from Marge.
When the truth comes out, Marge is devastated.
Meanwhile Bart and Lisa realize that the Laughter prompt is what is giving the clown its power. They convey their ideas to Homer who urges Marge to use her powerful softball arm to break the Laughter prompter.
The clown advances and Comic Book Guy gives up his life to defend Marge. Marge throws the ball and breaks the prompter. The clown is finally defeated.
Marge doesn’t forgive Comic Book Guy for his deception. He dies and Homer offers his support to Marge, all the while secretly ecstatic to get Marge.
What they all don’t realize is that they are being watched by aliens Kang and Kodos. They are upset their clown couldn’t complete his mission, but they are considering sending a rabid Saint Bernard to terrify humankind. Cujo, get it?
Or how about a Haunted hotel?
Nope. The aliens decide that their next attack will be based on the Tommyknockers.
Tommyknockers was one of Stephen’s King first foray into the science fiction genre. He has since described the book as awful although the book did receive positive reviews.
There is a movie in development but lets see if the Simpsons get to it first.
NOT IT was an entertaining episode but doesn’t exactly include any humorous sequences. The episode stays true to the novel and the episode picks up a little only after Bart and Lisa arrive.
Even after all these years, THE SIMPSONS is a little afraid to push the envelope and inject humor into story for fear of angering fans. The humor is “safe” so to speak and the horror scenes are kept to a minimum considering this is a parody after all.
The best this episode could do humor-wise was to interchange personalities.
Homer is the bartender while Moe is a rockstar. Lisa is the naughty kid with a skateboard while Bart is the ideal kid who is concerned only with grades.
There seemed to be a lost opportunity with making fun of some of the side characters to show that this is THE SIMPSONS episode after all.
However, the episode was interesting and it is always fun to see Stephen King’s iconic stories brought to the screen.
The highlight of the episode was Krusto the clown whose character did take the story forward just as it should.
NOT IT is the 5th episode in the 34th season.
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