The Burns Cage

Plot

After saving Mr. Burns from a skydiving accident, Smithers nearly confesses his love, but Burns shows only indifference and ingratitude. Heartbroken and angry, Smithers takes it out on Homer, Lenny, and Carl, prompting them to find him a boyfriend. They host a gay men's singles party, where a neck massage from Julio lifts Smithers' mood. The two fall for each other, Smithers gives Homer paid time off, and then quits his job at the power plant. During a trip to Cuba, Julio wears a carnival outfit that reminds Smithers of Burns. Julio asks if Smithers is truly committed, and Smithers admits he is not. Back in Springfield, Burns fails to find a suitable replacement and must rehire Smithers. Burns reveals he has kept a secret: Smithers' performance review is "excellent." They hug and reconcile.

Meanwhile, Springfield Elementary stages Casablanca. Milhouse wants the lead role of Rick to impress Lisa, but a new student, Jack DeForest, who mimics Humphrey Bogart, also auditions. Milhouse gets bullies to beat up Jack, but Jack wins the fight. Principal Skinner punishes the violence by giving Milhouse the role. Lisa is upset because Milhouse is a poor actor, but Marge advises her to encourage untalented people, using Homer as an example. Milhouse delivers a great performance, but it turns out Jack was disguised as Milhouse the whole time. Jack and Lisa leave together.

In the epilogue, Milhouse goes to Moe's Tavern, where Smithers tells him that romantic disappointments are part of finding love, and that the search is worthwhile even if, as Smithers implies, true love may never be found. Moe says he only hunts for gold, not women, and sets off on a treasure hunt with Jack and Groundskeeper Willie.

Production

For years, a running joke on The Simpsons has been Smithers’ one-sided devotion to Mr. Burns. Producers once joked that he wasn’t gay but “Burns-sexual,” and Rolling Stone called his orientation the show’s worst-kept secret. In September 2015, executive producer Al Jean said two upcoming episodes would explore Smithers’ sexuality, including one where he grows tired of Burns’ lack of appreciation. Writer Rob LaZebnik told the New York Post the episode was inspired by his son Johnny, who came out in high school. LaZebnik, a Midwesterner not prone to showing emotion, thought writing a cartoon was a good way to express his love. He pitched the idea three years earlier and got his son’s approval. Smithers’ coming out is understated, just like Johnny’s. The episode aired five days before Johnny’s 22nd birthday. LaZebnik believes LGBTQ-themed television can genuinely influence people’s thinking.

Cultural references

The episode's name is a nod to the 1996 LGBT comedy The Birdcage, where Simpsons voice actor Hank Azaria played a Guatemalan housekeeper; his role as Cuban bartender Julio here is similar. In the opening chalkboard bit, Bart writes support for the Villanova Wildcats, who won the 2016 NCAA men's basketball championship the day after the episode aired. Smithers has a painting of Mr. Burns that parodies a photo of Vladimir Putin riding a horse shirtless. Smithers compares Homer, Lenny, and Carl to The Three Stooges, and Homer uses the gay dating app Grindr to pick potential partners for Smithers. At a party, George Takei asks another man if he wants to hear horror stories about his Star Trek co-star William Shatner. A billboard for the school's Casablanca production advertises that the kindergarten will perform the zoophilia-themed play Equus the next night. The treasure hunt ending pays tribute to Bogart's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The African Queen.

Reception

The episode "The Burns Cage" drew 2.32 million viewers and a 1.0 rating in the 18–49 demographic, making it the highest-rated program on Fox that night. Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club awarded it a B+, noting that casual viewers likely already assumed Smithers was gay. He praised Harry Shearer’s performance and the script by LaZebnik as "touching." Tony Sokol of Den of Geek argued that while Smithers’ coming out was positive for social acceptance, it would eliminate the comedy derived from his sexuality, which relied on double entendre. Sokol found the love story had "a few subversive laugh lines" but more "missed opportunities," and considered the school’s Casablanca production disappointing compared to earlier adaptations of A Streetcar Named Desire and Planet of the Apes. He felt the Bogart homages hindered better parodies of his films, though he noted improved animation quality for the season. In the New Statesman, Anna Leszkiewicz wrote that the episode was not truly about coming out, as innuendo about Smithers’ sexuality had existed for decades. She viewed it as a retcon of the series, which had previously made arguably homophobic jokes, for modern sensibilities—comparing it to J. K. Rowling revealing Dumbledore was gay after the Harry Potter series ended. Leszkiewicz concluded that it represented progress for the show more than for the LGBT community, but that the change should have occurred at least ten years earlier. The episode received coverage from international outlets including the BBC, The Australian, Die Welt, La Stampa, Jornal de Notícias, El Mundo, and L'Avenir.