TV Recap/Review: Apu Speaks Again for the First Time in Years in The Simpsons “Treehouse of Horror Presents: The Revengening”

The Simpsons are back for another “Treehouse of Horror Presents” episode, a half-hour offshoot of the Halloween shorts episodes. Inspired by slasher films about a vengeful killer like I Know What You Did Last Summer, this episode morphs into something extremely meta. Diehard fans, this one’s for you!

Season 38, Episode 3: “Treehouse of Horror Presents: The Revengening” - Written by Nick Dahan

Halloween has been canceled in Springfield, with all the usual frivolity banned, including shutting down bars, except for the “Safe-O-Ween” event at Town Hall, where we find the Simpson family. The kids complain about the lack of fun, while Marge (Julie Kavner) and Homer (Dan Castellaneta) discuss where they’re going next. Marge is on board for the Van Houtens’ non-alcoholic “Boo’s Cruise,” but Homer gets a text message from an unknown number summoning him to Fudd Brewery and warning him not to tell anyone. That’s where this episode splits into changing perspectives.

Homer’s Halloween Night

Fudd Brewery is abandoned and disheveled as Homer gets there, meeting up with Dewey Largo (Harry Shearer), Professor Frink (Hank Azaria), and Gary Chalmers (also Azaria). They follow the sound of loud music to the basement where an illegal rave party is in full swing. 

Three and a half hours later, they all stumble out, completely wasted. Thankfully, Professor Frink summons his self-driving GlavMo car to take them all home. When Chalmers suggests they drink more on the ride, Homer pops open a bottle of champagne, and the cork hits the car’s computer screen, forcing it into manual mode as they careen over a bridge. They grab the wheel and try to stop it, but they hit something… or someone…

It’s a man in a costume: A robotic head in a monk’s robe. He’s not moving and seemingly dead. Homer wants to call the cops, but Chalmers stops him, saying they need to get rid of the body and never speak of this again. Together, they lift it over the bridge, but before tossing it over, Homer remembers an important phrase he misattributes to Kenny Loggins: “Karma sharpens its blades on the bones of our sins.”

A full year goes by, and Homer has never lost his guilt. It’s now the next Lame-O-Ween, and Homer decides to stay home as Marge takes the kids to get costumes. While watching a scary movie, Homer hears a frightful knock at the door and answers nervously. There’s nobody there, but a note with a single word in blood-red ink: Karma.

Homer reunites with Largo, Frink, and Chalmers at Fudd's. They all received the same note. “Karma sharpens its blades on the bones of our sins,” Homer repeats. They learn that they’ve all had a rough year, except for Chalmers, who insists, “There is no such thing as Karma.”

That night, Dewey Largo is home alone, playing Gustavo Dudamel’s Baton Hero (the maestro himself voices the symphonic Guitar Hero knock-off host). As he plays, a hooded figure saws through the lock on his door, enters, and murders the music teacher.

Lisa (Yeardley Smith) gives the eulogy at Largo’s funeral, where Homer, Frink, and Chalmers huddle by a tree. Homer and Frink think the body they threw over the bridge survived and is out for revenge. Chalmers insists they’re wrong, threatening them with a gun if they snitch. When he walks away, Homer and Frink get a hunch that Chalmers could actually be the killer.

Waiting outside Chalmers’ house, Homer and Frink sneak in when he leaves for work and find a decrepit hovel with “Skinner” written on the walls in blood-red ink. Homer grabs a carton of moldy Chinese noodles and starts eating them when they hear Chalmers return unexpectedly. They hide in the closet, and Chalmers instantly notices the missing food carton, drawing his gun to shoot the intruders. But as he approaches the closet door, the robotic monk murders him with his blade. Homer and Frink try to make a run for it. Frink bites it, but Homer makes it out alive.

Homer races home and finds Marge in the kitchen, holding a Karma note. Homer starts to explain what happened, but Marge cuts him off. “I killed someone,” she declares.

Marge’s Halloween Night

The previous year, Marge was on the “Boo’s Cruise,” where alcohol was snuck on board. When the Sea Captain (Azaria) passes out, Marge takes the wheel, steering the boat over a body, assuming she killed the man in a robot costume wearing monk's robes. She wants to call the cops, but the boat is full of contraband. Just like Chalmers, the revived Captain says they should get rid of the body and never speak of it again.

After Marge finishes her story in the present, Homer tells her he and his friends killed the same guy, realizing he survived both of their accidental murders and is now out for revenge. 

Marge and Homer take the kids to Town Hall, where it seems all of Springfield’s survivors have gathered, everyone with the same Karma note. Chief Wiggum (Azaria) asks for a show of hands if anyone else supposedly killed the robot man last Halloween, and everyone, except Lisa, raises their hands, including him. As Wiggum tries to assure everyone that they’re in the safest place possible, the killer’s blade slices through his body from behind. The robot mask’s eyes light up as it scans the room, and Moe (Azaria) asks what he’s dressed as. “I’m Daft Monk!” the killer announces, upset that nobody appreciated his clever costume. As Marge asks who he is, he begins to monologue before revealing his face: “I am the man you left for dead. I am the shame you tried to bury. I am the one you pretended never existed. I am Apu!” Everyone is shocked. “You thought you could just get rid of me?”

Apu’s Halloween Night

Apu (Sunil Malhotra) was in the crowd at the Fudd Brewery party. Stumbling out into the Springfield streets drunk, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time when Bart (Nancy Cartwright) and some schoolmates sent a shopping cart full of flaming items down a hill, crashing into the Daft Monk. Bart wanted to call the cops, but Jimbo Jones (Mo Collins) threatened to take this to their graves.

Apu survives, stands up, and is almost instantly run over by a party bus driven by Otto Mann (Shearer). Everyone on board decides to toss the body in the dumpster and take the secret to their graves. Apu stumbles out and wanders into an alley where Chief Wiggum is arresting Snake Jailbird (Azaria). Believing the limping robot monk to be a zombie, Wiggum shoots Apu. This time, Snake repeats the line about taking this to the grave.

From there, we see what we know from Marge and Homer’s Halloween, only from Apu’s point of view. After being run over by the boat, Apu’s mangled body drifted out to sea, arriving at the “Island of Forgotten Garbage,” where Dr. Nick (Azaria) is a castaway and patches him up. “All the junk Springfield gets rid of winds up here,” he tells Apu, who asks how long Nick’s been stranded there. “I’ve been on the island for 8 seasons,” Nick says, clarifying that it’s really two rounds of spring, summer, winter, fall. Apu insists on getting home, but Nick says everyone is there for a reason, waving to Leon Kompowsky (Azaria). 

Using Dr. Nick’s medical saw, Apu builds a raft from discarded junk and sets out to sea, only to learn it takes 30 minutes to sail between Springfield and the trash island. Racing home to find his family gone, rushing to the Kwik-E-Mart to find the store abandoned, and wandering around town with nobody noticing him, Apu feels invisible and vows revenge.

Back in the present, Apu douses the Town Hall stage in kerosene, covering piles of contraband alcohol and toilet paper. He puts padlocks on all the exits and is about to light it up when Homer says, “Karma sharpens its blades on the bones of our sins,” and realizes where he heard it. Apu said the line to him when his tongue got stuck on hot dog rollers. Homer rushes to Apu, asking him to spare everyone else and just kill him. Apu is surprised as Homer admits to taking him for granted, and when Homer holds out his hand, Apu gives him the hot lighter. It’s so hot that Homer fumbles, drops it, and lights up the hall. 

Apu jolts awake in the Kwik-E-Mart as Manjula (Janina Gavankar) gathers up their octuplets to go trick-or-treating. Homer approaches the counter to buy cases of beer, and Apu tells Homer about the nightmare. Homer tells his old friend that Springfield could never forget about him, just as he realizes he forgot to invite Apu to his Halloween party, which is happening now. He convinces Apu to close up for the night and join, but not before insisting that it’s BYOB, so the cases of beer are on Apu. “I feel like I haven’t seen anyone in ages,” Apu tells Homer as he locks up the Kwik-E-Mart and they head off to celebrate Halloween.

The episode closes in the darkened Kwik-E-Mart. Under the cash register, the robot mask's glowing light turns on as “Robot Rock” by Daft Punk segues into the credits.

“Treehouse of Horror Presents: The Revengening” Review

Apu is back! That was a nice surprise for longtime Simpsons fans. After the 2017 documentary The Problem with Apu, Hank Azaria stepped away from the role in 2020, and Apu became a silent background character. This episode marks the debut of Sunil Malhotra as Apu’s voice, as well as Janina Gavankar as his wife Manjula.

The episode’s tour de force is the “Island of Forgotten Garbage.” It’s a cornucopia of Easter eggs, including the family’s original tube TV, Springfield’s infamous monorail, a sign for Tomacco, a decaying robot Scratchy, a Mr. Plow jacket, “The Homer,” and the Olmec Head. As for Leon Kompowsky, Michael Jackson first voiced the character in Season 3 (“Stark Raving Dad”), and it’s the lone episode of The Simpsons not available on Disney+.

As an episode, however, “The Revengening” was a bit stale. I’m not a horror expert, but the episode's main inspiration feels like I Know What You Did Last Summer with a twist. That source material already inspired the “Treehouse of Horror X” segment “I Know What You Diddily-Diddily-Did” to much better effect, but since The Simpsons has carried on past a legacy sequel to that hit 90s slasher film, this can be forgiven. Still, the jokes mostly felt forced, and there weren’t many laughs. It will be most remembered for the nostalgia and Easter eggs.

Disney fans likely spotted plenty of funny costumes in the pop culture smorgasbord. Professor Frink is presumed to be going as Beaker from The Muppets because of his orange hair, but that was just a coincidence. However, Luigi Risotto is absolutely dressed as the Swedish Chef when he emerges from Otto’s party bus. And at the Fudd Brewery party, the DJ is dressed like Mrs. Potts from Beauty and the Beast, Mrs. Hoover is Marvel’s Scarlet Witch, town drunk Barney is Winnie the Pooh, and Helen Lovejoy is Jane from Disney’s Tarzan. And staying in-universe, one of Apu and Manjula’s octuplets is dressed as Poochie!

Season 38 continues next Sunday, October 25th, at 8/7c on FOX, with “Treehouse of Horror XXXVII.”

Marge gets a horrifying new perspective on marriage; Bart and Santa's Little Helper embark on a bone-chilling adventure; Homer takes a driving lesson.