The Burns Cage
"The Burns Cage" | |
---|---|
"The Burns Cage" is the seventeenth episode in the twenty-seventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 591st episode of the series overall. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 3, 2016.
In the episode, Waylon Smithers finally comes out as gay to his boss Mr. Burns, who rejects his love. Other characters attempt to find a boyfriend for Smithers, and he falls for Julio. Meanwhile, Milhouse competes against a new boy for the lead role in a school production of Casablanca, so he can act alongside his own unrequited love, Lisa. Openly gay actor George Takei makes a cameo as himself, and the episode features a variety of cultural references, including to Grindr, Vladimir Putin, Equus and the films of Humphrey Bogart.
The episode was written by
Plot
Smithers becomes troubled on a trip to Julio's homeland of Cuba when Julio's carnival outfit resembles Burns; Julio notices and asks Smithers if he is committed to their relationship, and Smithers admits that he is not. Back in Springfield, Burns' attempts to find a new assistant prove disastrous, and his only option is to rehire Smithers. He meets Smithers with money and other enticements to lure him back, but Smithers states that he is not swayed. Burns then says he has kept a secret bottled up: that Smithers' performance review is "excellent". They hug and reconcile.[1]
Meanwhile, Springfield Elementary put on a production of Casablanca, in which Lisa gets the lead role of Ilsa. Milhouse wants the male lead role of Rick because of his love for Lisa, but he is challenged by a new boy, Jack DeForest, who dresses, acts and speaks like Humphrey Bogart. Milhouse enlists the bullies to beat up Jack, but Jack wins the fight. Principal Skinner sees this violence and declares that Milhouse will play Rick instead of Jack; Lisa is angered as Milhouse is a terrible actor. Marge tells Lisa that it is important to encourage people who are not skilled by telling them that they are, using the example of Homer. Milhouse does give a great performance and the production is a success, but in the end, it is revealed that Jack was disguised as Milhouse; he and Lisa leave hand-in-hand.[1]
In an
Production
Smithers' unrequited love for Mr. Burns is a long-running gag on The Simpsons; the producers once joked that he was not gay, but "Burns-sexual".
Writer
Cultural references
The episode's title comes from the 1996 LGBT-related comedy film The Birdcage, in which Simpsons voice actor Hank Azaria plays a Guatemalan housekeeper; his portrayal of Cuban bartender Julio in this episode is similar.[5]
In the chalkboard gag in the episode's opening sequence, Bart backs the
The episode includes a variety of cultural references. Among Smithers' paintings of Burns is a parody of a photograph of Russian president Vladimir Putin riding a horse while bare-chested.[7] Smithers likens Homer, Lenny and Carl to The Three Stooges, and Homer chooses Smithers' potential partners via the gay dating app Grindr.[5] At the party, George Takei asks another man if he wants to hear "horror stories" about his Star Trek co-star William Shatner, and he is pleased that the man does not know who Shatner is.[5] A billboard outside the school's production of Casablanca advertises that the kindergarten are putting on a production of zoophilia-themed play Equus the following night.[7] The end sequence with the treasure hunt pays homage to Bogart's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The African Queen.[7]
Reception
"The Burns Cage" scored a 1.0 rating in the 18–49 demographic, and was watched by 2.32 million viewers, making it Fox's highest rated show of the night.[8][9]
Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+, commenting that casual viewers would have already presumed that Smithers had come out. He described Harry Shearer's performance and LaZebnik's script as "touching".[5]
Tony Sokol of Den of Geek felt that Smithers coming out was good for social acceptance, but would end the comedy around his sexuality, which is based on double entendre. He wrote that the love story had "a few subversive laugh lines" but more "missed opportunities". He added that the school's production of Casablanca was disappointing compared to the series' previous adaptations of A Streetcar Named Desire and Planet of the Apes, and gave his opinion that the Bogart homages ruined the opportunity to do better parodies of his films. However, he noted that the season had a better quality of animation.[7]
Writing in British progressive magazine the
The episode was covered by international media outlets including the BBC,[11] The Australian,[12] Die Welt,[13] La Stampa,[14] Jornal de Notícias,[15] El Mundo,[16] and L'Avenir.[17]
See also
References
- ^ a b c Valentine, Evan (April 3, 2016). "'The Simpsons' Recap: Smithers Comes Out — and Starts Dating a Longtime Character!". Us Weekly. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
- ^ a b Kreps, Daniel (April 2, 2016). "'Simpsons' Character Smithers to Come Out as Gay in New Episode". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
- ^ Holpuch, Amanda (September 28, 2015). "The Simpsons' Smithers to finally come out as gay, producer reveals". The Guardian. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
- ^ a b c d e Hegedus, Eric (April 1, 2016). "'Simpsons' Smithers gay reveal was inspired by the writer's son". The New York Post. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
- ^ a b c d Perkins, Dennis (April 3, 2016). ""The Burns Cage" · The Simpsons · TV Review The Simpsons handles Smithers' coming out with surprising subtlety". The A.V. Club. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
- ^ Allen, Scott (April 4, 2016). "Villanova scores a shout-out from 'The Simpsons' before national title game". Washington Post. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
- ^ a b c d Sokol, Tony (April 3, 2016). "The Simpsons: The Burns Cage Review". Den of Geek. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
- ^ Porter, Rick (April 5, 2016). "Sunday final ratings: ACM Awards and all scripted shows hold". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on April 6, 2016. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
- ^ Bibel, Sara (February 18, 2015). "Sunday Final Ratings: No Adjustments for 'Saturday Night Live – 40th Anniversary', 'The Bachelor' or 'CSI' Finale". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on February 20, 2015. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
- ^ Leszkiewicz, Anna (April 5, 2016). "The Smithers question: why do we keep retrofitting progressive narratives in pop culture?". New Statesman. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
- ^ "Smithers comes out as gay on The Simpsons". BBC. April 4, 2016. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
- ^ Cooper, Lorna (April 5, 2016). "The Simpsons' Smithers comes out as gay". The Australian. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
- ^ "Smithers gesteht Montgomery Burns seine Liebe" [Smithers confesses his love to Montgomery Burns]. Die Welt (in German). April 5, 2016. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
- ^ "Coming out nei Simpson, finalmente Smithers si è dichiarato gay" [Coming out on The Simpsons, Smithers finally declares that he is gay]. La Stampa (in Italian). April 5, 2016. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
- ^ "Smithers sai do armário nos Simpsons" [Smithers comes out of the closet on The Simpsons]. Jornal de Notícias (in Portuguese). April 4, 2016. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
- ^ "La razón por la que Smithers ha salido del armario en Los Simpson" [The reason why Smithers has come out of the closet on The Simpsons]. El Mundo (in Spanish). April 6, 2016. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
- ^ ""Les Simpson": l'épisode où Waylon Smithers fait officiellement son coming-out" [The Simpsons: the episode where Smithers officially comes out]. L'Avenir (in French). April 5, 2016. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
External links
- "The Burns Cage" at IMDb