Smithers Goes to Cuba Again Simpsons -coyote

17th episode of the twenty-seventh season of The Simpsons

"The Burns Muzzle"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.	Flavor 27 Episode 17
Directed past	Rob Oliver
Written by	Rob LaZebnik
Production code	VABF10
Original air engagement	Apr 3, 2016 (2016-04-03)
Invitee appearance
George Takei as himself
Episode features
Chalkboard gag	"If Villanova doesn't win, nosotros lose everything"
Burrow gag	Homer texts emojis to the family, then someone says it needs a payoff. The developers' credits are then shown on the phone instead of the television.
Episode chronology
←Previous "The Marge-ian Chronicles" Next → "How Lisa Got Her Marge Back"
The Simpsons (season 27)
List of episodes

"The Burns Cage" is the seventeenth episode in the twenty-seventh season of the American blithe television receiver series The Simpsons, and the 591st episode of the series overall. It starting time aired on the Fox network in the The states on April 3, 2016.

In the episode, Waylon Smithers finally comes out equally gay to his boss Mr. Burns, who rejects his love. Other characters endeavor to observe a boyfriend for Smithers, and he falls for Julio. Meanwhile, Milhouse competes against a new male child for the lead role in a school product of Casablanca, so he tin can human activity aslope his own unrequited love, Lisa. Openly gay histrion 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 past Rob LaZebnik, inspired by when his teenage son Johnny came out. Critical reception was positive: the emotionally touching aspects of LaZebnik's script and Harry Shearer's portrayal of Smithers were praised. However, criticisms included the plot possibly ending the innuendo-driven humor involving Smithers' surreptitious love of Burns, and an assumption that the graphic symbol was being retconned due to irresolute attitudes on homosexuality since the serial' debut. The episode was covered by international media.

Plot [edit]

Smithers about declares his dearest for Mr. Burns afterwards he saves Burns' life in a skydiving blow, but Burns reaffirms his indifference and ingratitude for him. Angry and heartbroken, Smithers treats Homer, Lenny and Carl harshly, then they decide to find Smithers a beau and then he'll be better-tempered. They invite potential partners to meet Smithers at a gay men's singles' party, where a neck massage from Julio snaps Smithers out of his bad mood. The two fall for each other, Smithers gives Homer fourth dimension off with pay for this and Smithers resigns his chore at the power found.^[1]

Smithers becomes troubled on a trip to Julio'southward homeland of Republic of cuba when Julio'south carnival outfit resembles Burns; Julio notices and asks Smithers if he is committed to their relationship, and Smithers admits that he is not. Dorsum in Springfield, Burns' attempts to notice a new assistant prove disastrous, and his merely option is to rehire Smithers. He meets Smithers with coin and other enticements to lure him back, but Smithers states that he is not swayed. Burns and then says he has kept a clandestine 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 pb function of Ilsa. Milhouse wants the male person lead role of Rick because of his love for Lisa, but he is challenged past a new boy, Jack Deforest, who dresses, acts and speaks like Humphrey Bogart. Milhouse enlists the bullies to beat out upwardly 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 histrion. Marge tells Lisa that it is of import to encourage people who are non skilled by telling them that they are, using the case of Homer. Milhouse does give a great performance and the production is a success, but in the end, information technology is revealed that Jack was disguised as Milhouse; he and Lisa go out hand-in-hand.^[1]

In an epilogue, Milhouse goes to Moe's Tavern, where Smithers teaches him that romantic setbacks are part of the search for love, and make the pursuit of information technology worthwhile even if (clearly referring to himself) the odds are that truthful love will never be establish. Moe tells the pair that he only searches for gold, non girls, and embarks on a treasure hunt with Jack and Groundskeeper Willie.

Production [edit]

Author Rob LaZebnik was inspired by his son, who came out as gay while at high schoolhouse.

Smithers' unrequited dearest for Mr. Burns is a long-running gag on The Simpsons; the producers once joked that he was not gay, just "Burns-sexual".^[2] Rolling Stone described the character'south sexual orientation equally the show's "worst-kept undercover", noting how in i episode he had a vacation at an all-male resort, and in another he wore "rainbow-striped short shorts" in Springfield's gay district.^[ii] In September 2015, in an interview to promote the 27th season, executive producer Al Jean announced that "nosotros actually do a lot with Smithers this year", adding that ii episodes would bargain with the character'due south sexuality, including i in which he becomes tired of Burns not appreciating him.^[three]

Writer Rob LaZebnik told the New York Post that the episode was inspired by his son Johnny, who came out as gay while at high school: "I am a Midwestern guy, and then I don't tend to habiliment my emotions on my sleeve, but I thought, 'What better way to tell my son I love him than to write a cartoon about it?'".^[4] He added that he pitched the storyline three years earlier, and got approval for his script from his son.^[4] Smithers' coming out is low-cardinal, as was Johnny'southward; he told the Post that as he was "the gayest little kid", his parents were not surprised past his sexual orientation.^[4] The episode aired 5 days earlier Johnny's 22nd birthday, and he said he would accept a viewing party because the episode would be "particularly meaningful" to him.^[4] The elder LaZebnik stated his opinion that LGBT-related television can accept a "real touch on on people's thinking".^[4]

Cultural references [edit]

The character Jack Deforest is based on Humphrey Bogart, and the episode makes references to several of his films, about visibly Casablanca.

The episode's title comes from the 1996 LGBT-related comedy film The Birdcage, in which Simpsons vocalism actor Hank Azaria plays a Guatemalan housekeeper; his portrayal of Cuban bartender Julio in this episode is like.^[5]

In the chalkboard gag in the episode's opening sequence, Bart backs the Villanova Wildcats, who won the 2016 NCAA Men'south Partition I Basketball Championship Game the mean solar day after the episode aired. Fans wondered why the bear witness's staff were supporting Villanova over the North Carolina Tar Heels; one Internet writer hypothesized that it was a reference to the season nine episode "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson", in which after one of his typical alcoholic binges, Barney Gumble tin only recall "giving a guest lecture at Villanova, or perchance information technology was a street corner."^[6]

The episode includes a variety of cultural references. Amid 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 homo 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 exterior the school's production of Casablanca advertises that the kindergarten are putting on a production of zoophilia-themed play Equus the post-obit night.^[seven] The end sequence with the treasure hunt pays homage to Bogart'south The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The African Queen.^[7]

Reception [edit]

"The Burns Cage" scored a 1.0 rating in the 18–49 demographic, and was watched past ii.32 one thousand thousand viewers, making it Flim-flam's highest rated show of the dark.^{[viii] [9]}

Harry Shearer'south functioning every bit Smithers was described past i critic equally "touching".

Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+, commenting that casual viewers would accept already presumed that Smithers had come out. He described Harry Shearer'due south performance and LaZebnik's script every bit "touching".^[5]

Tony Sokol of Den of Geek felt that Smithers coming out was good for social acceptance, but would terminate the one-act 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 Want and Planet of the Apes, and gave his stance that the Bogart homages ruined the opportunity to exercise better parodies of his films. However, he noted that the season had a ameliorate quality of blitheness.^[7]

Writing in British progressive magazine the New Statesman, Anna Leszkiewicz felt that the episode was non near "coming out", as the innuendo concerning Smithers' sexuality had been running for decades. She felt it was retconning the serial, which had made arguably homophobic jokes around the grapheme, for modern sensitivities; this was likened to how Harry Potter writer J. K. Rowling revealed that Albus Dumbledore was gay afterward the series had finished. Leszkiewicz concluded that information technology was progress – for the show more than than for the LGBT community – that homosexuality was beingness treated in a more mature manner on The Simpsons, but that the modify should have been made at to the lowest degree a decade ago.^[10]

The episode was covered by international media outlets including the BBC,^[eleven] The Australian,^[12] Die Welt,^[13] La Stampa,^[14] Jornal de Notícias,^[15] El Mundo,^[16] and L'Avenir.^[17]

See also [edit]

• Lists of American tv episodes with LGBT themes

References [edit]

1. ^ ^{a b c} Valentine, Evan (April iii, 2016). "'The Simpsons' Epitomize: Smithers Comes Out — and Starts Dating a Longtime Character!". United states of america Weekly . Retrieved April 4, 2016.
2. ^ ^{a b} Kreps, Daniel (Apr 2, 2016). "'Simpsons' Character Smithers to Come Out as Gay in New Episode". Rolling Stone . Retrieved Apr 4, 2016.
3. ^ Holpuch, Amanda (September 28, 2015). "The Simpsons' Smithers to finally come out every bit gay, producer reveals". The Guardian . Retrieved Oct 24, 2015.
4. ^ ^{a b c d e} Hegedus, Eric (April 1, 2016). "'Simpsons' Smithers gay reveal was inspired by the author'due south son". The New York Post . Retrieved April 4, 2016.
5. ^ ^{a b c d} Perkins, Dennis (April 3, 2016). ""The Burns Muzzle" · The Simpsons · Idiot box Review The Simpsons handles Smithers' coming out with surprising subtlety". The A.V. Gild. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
6. ^ Allen, Scott (April 4, 2016). "Villanova scores a shout-out from 'The Simpsons' before national championship game". Washington Post . Retrieved April 6, 2016.
7. ^ ^{a b c d} Sokol, Tony (Apr 3, 2016). "The Simpsons: The Burns Cage Review". Den of Geek. Retrieved Apr 4, 2016.
8. ^ Porter, Rick (April 5, 2016). "Sunday final ratings: ACM Awards and all scripted shows concur". Television set by the Numbers. Archived from the original on Apr 6, 2016. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
9. ^ Bibel, Sara (February xviii, 2015). "Sun Final Ratings: No Adjustments for 'Saturday Night Live – 40th Ceremony', 'The Bachelor' or 'CSI' Finale". Goggle box by the Numbers. Archived from the original on Feb 20, 2015. Retrieved Apr half-dozen, 2016.
10. ^ Leszkiewicz, Anna (April 5, 2016). "The Smithers question: why do we keep retrofitting progressive narratives in popular civilization?". New Statesman . Retrieved April 6, 2016.
11. ^ "Smithers comes out as gay on The Simpsons". BBC. April 4, 2016. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
12. ^ Cooper, Lorna (April five, 2016). "The Simpsons' Smithers comes out equally gay". The Australian . Retrieved April half dozen, 2016.
13. ^ "Smithers gesteht Montgomery Burns seine Liebe" [Smithers confesses his dear to Montgomery Burns]. Die Welt (in German language). 5 April 2016. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
14. ^ "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 Apr vi, 2016.
15. ^ "Smithers sai exercise armário nos Simpsons" [Smithers comes out of the closet on The Simpsons]. Jornal de Notícias (in Portuguese). April 4, 2016. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
16. ^ "La razón por la que Smithers ha salido del armario en Los Simpson" [The reason why Smithers has come up out of the closet on The Simpsons]. El Mundo (in Spanish). April 6, 2016. Retrieved Apr half dozen, 2016.
17. ^ ""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). Apr v, 2016. Retrieved April 6, 2016.

External links [edit]

• "The Burns Cage" at IMDb

brownforut1983.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Burns_Cage

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