The Simpsons Season 35 Rewrote A Beloved Golden Age Episode In A Shockingly Dark Way (& It Worked)

Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for The Simpsons season 35, episode 5.

While The Simpsons took a big risk by rewriting one of the show’s most beloved outings in season 35’s Treehouse of Horror episode, the resulting segment proved that this was a good decision. The Simpsons has a tricky relationship with its own past. Decades ago, The Simpsons was one of the biggest shows on television and its global success paved the way for hits like Family Guy and South Park. However, in 2023, as the shows that imitated The Simpsons have imitators of their own, The Simpsons itself can often feel like it is collapsing under the weight of its own cultural baggage.

In its three and a half decades on the air, The Simpsons reshaped the television comedy landscape. However, this means that the show’s most iconic episodes are now over thirty years old and have been endlessly referenced, ripped off, and revised by later shows. Despite this, The Simpsons season 35’s frequent format shifts prove the show isn’t averse to trying new things, and the show’s most daring Treehouse of Horror segment in decades reaffirmed this. In season 35, episode 5, “Treehouse of Horror XXXIV,” The Simpsons showed just how far the show is willing to move out of its comfort zone with one very risky retelling.

The Simpsons Season 35 Rewrote Cape Feare’s Ending

Sideshow Bob killed Bart in the episode’s retelling

In the second segment of “Treehouse of Horror XXXIV,” Sideshow Bob actually kills Bart in “Cape Feare.” The Simpsons season 5, episode 2, “Cape Feare,” is frequently singled out as one of the show’s strongest outings. Not only is that thanks to its many classic gags, but The Simpsons‘ “Cape Feare” parodies Martin Scorsese’s Cape Fear, and does so in pitch-perfect style. However, in the “Treehouse of Horror XXXIV” segment “Ei8ht,” The Simpsons offered a much darker alternative ending for the episode’s plot. In a segment that aped the animation style of early Simpsons seasons, Bob realized Bart was stalling to buy time and viciously slashed him to death as Lisa watched in horror.

While this isn’t the only time that The Simpsons season 35 referenced Bart’s death, it was a bracing and brutal shock for even seasoned fans of the series. While the Treehouse of Horror Halloween specials have always been non-canon events where anything can happen, there was something notably nasty about cutting back to a classic episode of The Simpsons and rewriting its ending to include Bart’s gruesome death. This wasn’t just a case of Sideshow Bob finally killing Bart, a storyline that an earlier, less effective Treehouse of Horror already attempted. This was an instance of The Simpsons rewriting its own history and making a classic outing genuinely grim.

Lisa’s Treehouse of Horror Story Was Brutal (& Brilliant)

Lisa’s Halloween horror story showed her dark side

A parody of Se7en and Silence of the Lambs, the segment “Ei8ht” saw Lisa investigate a string of increasingly grisly murders, only to eventually reveal that she herself was the killer. Lisa committed the murders to gain access to Sideshow Bob and kill him, thus finally getting revenge for Bart’s murder years earlier. This nasty shock proved, shortly before The Simpsons season 35 episode 7 rewrote the family’s future, that the show could still surprise viewers in its thirty-fifth year. While changing this new ending for “Cape Feare” was already a disorienting surprise, the segment doubled down on this nastiness as Lisa killed her own love interest, Nelson.

The Simpsons Season 35’s Self-Parody Worked

The Simpsons changed a classic episode & pulled off this revision

“Treehouse of Horror XXXIV” rewrote a beloved classic episode, but the show got away with this because the segment was briskly paced, its story was genuinely inventive, and the gory nastiness made the humor stronger. The Simpsons is a PG-rated network TV comedy in an era when the likes of Big Mouth and Rick and Morty exist, so it is tough for the show to truly surprise viewers. However, one thing that The Simpsons has up its sleeve is longevity. The show’s lengthy history means viewers have fond memories of its classic episodes and “Treehouse of Horror XXXIV” exploited this by rewriting one such Golden Age outing.

Many of The Simpsons controversies in recent years have come from views complaining that the series changed its characters too much or betrayed their original incarnations from earlier episodes. When The Simpsons treats its classic episodes with reverence, the show only makes the discord between the old days and its new outings more obvious. However, when The Simpsons takes big risks, like rewriting a classic episode and turning the fan favorite into a bleak horror story, the series proves it can still shine even if it isn’t able to replicate its Golden Age. Although The Simpsons peaked years ago, the show is not quite out of surprises yet.