27x04 Halloween of Horror

9.7/10 (on a post-classic Simpsons scale)

This was a standout episode for post-classic Simpsons. Co-showrunner Matt Selman generally has a better track record than Al Jean these days, and this was no exception. A lot of later Simpsons episodes work best when they focus on relationships within the family and character stories. Lisa experiencing a bout of fear, and her parents making sacrifices to look out for her, including Halloween itself, was a great character story for Lisa, a great family relationship story for her and her parents (especially Homer), and the show used the major conflict of the episode (which was set up early in the episode for once!) to tie it all together in a meaningful way. Really great storytelling that I wasn't sure the show was capable of anymore.

It was also a decidedly funny episodes, with more of the humor coming from Bart (the safe pirate costume gave me a big kick, as did Lisa's misadventures trying to find non-scary help at Krustyland). His and Marge's adventures were definitely the lighter segments of the episode (NC-17 Halloween was a very amusing riff on "The Time Warp") but still quite enjoyable an ultimately worked as a great offshoot of the main story that eventually tied back into it. Great stuff all around.