It’s a cliché at this point to say that The Simpsons should’ve ended years ago. “Treehouse of Horror XXIV” happens to make both a compelling case for and against cancellation.

For almost as long as The Simpsons has been on the air, the annual “Treehouse of Horror” has been a highlight, in both great seasons and in lousy stretches. This year’s “Treehouse of Horror XXIV” is no different, offering one of the funniest half hours The Simpsons has put out in a long while.

Yet it can’t help but be emblematic of The Simpsons’ stagnation as it heads towards its 25th season. Everyone pretty much acknowledges that The Simpsons ran through almost every possible story permutation at some point, but they at least used to try coming up with something.

The new “Treehouse of Horror,” on the other hand, doesn’t even really contain a story. Instead, the writers are happy to barely stitch together three variously themed riffs on vaguely scary genres/cultural entities and call it a day.

Consider the opening sequence. Whereas the earliest “Treehouse of Horrors” either had some bit of connective wraparound story or opened with a skit, “Treehouse of Horror XXIV” starts with an extended credits sequence. There’s not even a specific theme to the segments, save for a few winking nods to a certain Mexican filmmaker. It’s just Halloween-y variations on a bit that I’ve already seen far too many times.

The first vignette, “Oh, The Places You’ll D’oh” is a step up in that it (mostly) sticks to the Dr. Seuss theme throughout. Why are they making a Seuss homage for Halloween? Beats me.

Anyway, the short largely focuses on Homer’s demented take on the Cat in the Hat, the…sigh, Fat in the Hat, a Tyler Durden-esqe fat ball of rolling id. The Fat in the Hat takes the Simpson children out on a merry wave of anarchy when Marge leaves the children home on Halloween without any candy.

This is the story with the strongest resemblance to a plot the whole episode. I suppose you could say that the Simpson children go through somewhat of a character arc, if you were being generous, but it’s not enough to connect the jokes in any satisfying way.

On the other hand, this segment is pretty funny, possibly the funniest out of the episode. Though South Park, ironically enough, imitated Seuss recently to better effect, “Oh, The Places You’ll D’oh” still does a good job matching Seuss’s rhyme and meter. Some clever gags, aside from a painfully dated jab at The Lorax movie, may even be funny enough to make up for, ugh, “The Fat in the Hat.” Maybe.

The next bit, “Dead and Shoulders,” has a plot that can be described with all of its nuance and complexity in a tweet. Bart’s head gets grafted onto Lisa’s shoulder. Head and shoulders joke, get it?

Leaving aside the fact that The Simpsons have, in fact, already done this, “Dead and Shoulders” lacks focus. Multiple times throughout, I completely lost track of context. This was in a five-minute bit, I remind you.

The sibling rivalry gags have all been done before, but the writers manage to find enough freshness to keep things zippy. And while alarmingly incoherent, “Dead and Shoulders” still manages to entertain, with a handful of inspired gags and fairly snappy editing.

There’s just not much to say about the sequence. It’s pleasant enough, but oh so very fleeting; it came and went without making an impression.

The same cannot be said for “Freaks No Geeks,” a painfully drawn out short that ends “Treehouse of Horror XXIV” on a bitter note. Homer, Marge and Moe are 1930s circus freaks and some combination of them is in a love triangle, blah blah blah.

“Freaks No Geeks” has exactly two funny jokes and about four minutes of superfluous crap. If anything, “Freaks No Geeks” is probably indicative of modern day Simpsons episodes: misguided attempts at cultural references mired in unfunny, repetitive and terribly disorganized character arcs.

The bit just has something terribly off-kilter about it. The plot moves in bits and bursts, before being jettisoned completely for cheap joke. Worst of all, it wasn’t even remotely scary. I literally couldn’t identify any element (save for one quick shot) that was meant to be scary.   

It’s a cliché at this point to say that The Simpsons should’ve ended years ago. “Treehouse of Horror XXIV” happens to make both a compelling case for and against cancellation. The first three quarters were funny enough to justify having The Simpsons stick around – it may be well past its prime, but it’s still The Simpsons.

In contrast, “Freaks No Geek” is the perfect summary of why The Simpsons needs to be put down. The show has gone so long without any original ideas that it so much of it can just feel rote. There’s no more joy to be had hanging out with Moe and Mr. Burns. It’s all the same now.

I guess that means “Treehouse of Horror XXIV” gets a mediocre grade.