Treehouse of Horror XXVII

"Treehouse of Horror XXVII" is the 4th episode of season 28 and the 27th installment in the Treehouse of Horror series. The episode aired on October 16, 2016. It's the 600th episode of The Simpsons. It was written by Joel H. Cohen and directed by Steven Dean Moore.

Synopsis
The first segment has a Hunger Games-theme. Sideshow Bob and Frank Grimes are both present.

Opening scene
The family is going to buy a Christmas tree on Halloween, but at the Christmas tree lot, they are ambushed by Sideshow Bob, Kang or Kodos, and the ghost of Frank Grimes seeking revenge. One of the four of the team is missing, however, the Leprechaun, but Bob pulls on a tree branch to show him, and he convinces the bad guys to dance. Maggie grabs a knife and cuts the four baddies heads off. Grimes, being a ghost, places his head back and asks the viewer, "Will nobody stop these people?", and after all 600 episodes are shown in a mosaic he says "In Hell, they make you watch them all in a row". The Planet of the Couches couch gag is then shown.

Dry Hard
Springfield is in a post-apocalyptic state. The city is completely dry, and the water is scarce and expensive. Mr. Burns is controlling the water's reservoir. Burns decides to make the kids of Springfield battle to the death, and the winner will win a day at the reservoir. Lisa is the child for Nevergreen Terrace and meets her coach, Homish. Ralph dies first, stepping on a mine before the event even started.

The battle begins, and two boys seduce Lisa but are killed by Homish, who falls in a trap and the other contestants still alive circle him, but Lisa convinces the people there's no need to kill each other and they have to turn against Burns. The kids are freed from the Battle Dome and the people destroy the reservoir, but the water is wasted and it causes a rain, which turned into a flood, then created an ice age.

BFF R.I.P.
Lisa is playing outside with Janey when the lawnmower is activated and kills her. At the funeral, Sherri and Terri become her new best friends, only to get immediately killed by a falling tombstone. To help with her mourn, she goes to a psychiatrist, and she says she can be her best friend, after which she's killed by a falling painting.

The police start investigating her room and find nail polish. The police said the nail polish was found at all of the crime scenes, and Lisa reveals she wore it when her imaginary friend, Rachel, was around, before she outgrew her.

The murders continue when Milhouse is suffocated by plastic wrap Rachel used on the bus and Chief Wiggum arrests Lisa. In jail, Lisa mentions Marge being right about her, and when Rachel disappears, Lisa realizes she's going to kill Marge next. To stop her, she's helped by Bart to escape.

At home, Lisa manages to save Marge from death, (the cat is sleeping and when Rachel throws a knife at Marge, she wakes up, jumps in front of it, the knife hits her, she lands in the trash can, and dies.) and Rachel reveals her plan to kill everyone she loves, and she'll be blamed because nobody else can see her except Lisa. Homer distracts Lisa with his imaginary friend, Sergeant Sausage, to save himself and Lisa realizes she only exists in her imagination. She makes Rachel miserable and disappear. Homer proceeds to eat Sergeant Sausage in the microwave where he was placed by Rachel.

Moefinger
Bart is chased by Dolph, Jimbo and Kearney, and ends up in Moe's Tavern through a backdoor. Moe appears, injuring the bullies and showing a secret area underneath the tavern, where all of the barflies are secret agents. He reveals wanting to hire Bart in place of Homer, who died on a mission.

They receive a target next by High Ball, their leader. He tells them to go to Remoh Industries, the new owner of Duff Stadium. They break into the chief office and find out it's none other than Homer (coincidentally, Remoh written backwards is Homer). The traitor created a lava machine to make the whole world surrender to him and he wanted to steal all of the Duff Beer to celebrate. A hoard of people was sent by Homer to try to stop them, but Bart manages to kill them all, including Homer. In the aftermath, Bart enjoys some time with Sherri. The episode concludes with a song to celebrate the 600th episode.

Opening and Closing sequences
The Treehouse episode opens with a short segment in which Simpson foes, including Sideshow Bob, try to kill the beloved Springfield family. A Bond-like anthem, performed by singer Judith Owen (wife of Simpsons stalwart Harry Shearer), closes the episode, celebrating the episodic feat.

Production
Scenes including Russ Cargill and Frank Grimes becoming a large ghost were cut due to the time of the episode being 45 seconds too long.

The title of the second episode, BFF R.I.P. was originally just BFF.

Couch gag
The couch gag for the episode is Planet of the Couches, an unused couch gag planned to be used if an episode came up too short. Google approached the producers about creating a virtual reality couch gag. The producers then decided to use the Planet of the Couches gag. The couch gag can be viewed with Google Cardboard.