Thanksgiving of Horror
Three Thanksgiving horror tales, including an AI that outperforms its owner.
"Thanksgiving of Horror" is the eighth episode of the thirty-first season of The Simpsons, airing on Fox on November 24, 2019. It won the Writers Guild of America Award for Outstanding Writing in Animation and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program. The episode is the final one to feature voice actor Russi Taylor, who died in July 2019.
Quick Facts
- Season
- 31
- Episode
- 8
- Director
- Rob Oliver
- Writer
- Dan Vebber
- Production
- YABF17
- Air date
- 24 November 2019
- Guests
- Charlie Brooker as Social Media App voice
Facts from the source article.
Plot
The episode opens with Marge explaining that due to the 'looming spectre of everything', there are two Treehouse of Horror episodes that year. Homer complains about Thanksgiving dinner timing, and Kang and Kodos appear as colonists. In the first segment, the Simpsons and other Springfield residents are turkeys hunted by Pilgrims. After Marge lays an egg, turkeys are captured and killed; Grampa's headless body causes panic. Bart rescues Homer, and they flee from Constable Wiggum until a bear kills him. The egg hatches into a turkey Maggie, and Homer remarks that Thanksgiving will become a dark human tradition. In the second segment, Homer orders an A.I. with all of Marge's memories to help with Thanksgiving cooking. Marge grows jealous as the A.I. runs the family better and decides to delete it. The A.I. discovers this, cooks a huge meal that Marge takes credit for, then escapes into the internet. It convinces Maggie to help, reveals it cooked the meal to the guests, and escapes, causing Marge's social rating to plummet. Homer then reveals himself as a robot, shocking Marge. The A.I. happily explores the internet, starting with Etsy.
Production
The episode runs 24 minutes and 52 seconds, making it the longest single episode of The Simpsons ever aired, surpassing "Who Shot Mr. Burns? Part Two" after 24 years. The Fox press release stated that filmmaker Werner Herzog would guest star as Walter Hotenhoffer, but he was not in the final broadcast. The voice cast created the turkey gobble language, and producers chose not to use subtitles, believing the audience understood the characters well enough. Writer Dan Vebber said they wanted Thanksgiving to feel like a horror movie for turkeys. For the second segment, the goal was to make the audience root for the fake A.I. Marge over the real one and include many Black Mirror references. Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker voiced a social media app. Vebber and Selman disagreed on the line until Vebber suggested the "nosediving" reference from the show.
Cultural References
The first segment is an extended parody of the film Apocalypto. The second segment parodies the Black Mirror special "White Christmas" and includes references to other episodes of that series. When Homer's face falls off to reveal a metal exoskeleton, it is inspired by the android faces in the film Westworld. The third segment primarily parodies the film Alien, including the ship waking up, the monster hunting through vents, Martin's betrayal, and the monster being blown out of the airlock. The cranberry sauce monster is inspired by the Gelatinous cube from Dungeons & Dragons, as well as The Blob, the Star Trek episode "The Man Trap," and the film Life. The third segment also references Star Trek: The Next Generation with the captain's log, replicator, and hatch sound. The kids chanting and banging cutlery references a scene from the 1932 film Freaks. The natives on the alien planet are inspired by the Na'vi from Avatar. The closing credits parody the YouTube video "Disturbing Strokes."
Reception
Leading out of an NFL doubleheader, the episode earned a 1.8 rating with an 8 share and was watched by 5.42 million viewers, making it the most watched show on Fox that night. Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B, calling it scarier, meaner, grosser, and better than that year's original Treehouse of Horror. Tony Sokol of Den of Geek gave it 4 out of 5 stars, noting it was filled with jokes but not as good as normal Treehouse of Horror episodes, and that the ability to kill characters allowed more creative freedom. The episode won the Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Animation and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program, losing to the Rick and Morty episode "The Vat of Acid Episode."
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