Review: The Simpsons – “The Burns Cage”

Once again, Smithers has been rebuffed by Mr. Burns. As a result, he has been coming down on the plant’s employees rather hard. In an attempt to get him to be nice again, Homer and the guys turn to Marge, who decides to throw a gay party. Even though he wasn’t looking for love, Smithers fell for the party’s bartender, Julio. Realizing that Julio made him happy, Smithers quits his job at the plant. It isn’t until the two lovebirds take a trip to Cuba that Julio points out that Smithers isn’t really over Burns. They end their relationship and Smithers goes running back to his awful boss.

Let’s not forget about the Simpson kids. Lisa has nabbed the lead role in the school’s production of Casablanca. Milhouse was almost cast as the male lead but a suave transfer student arrived at the last minute. When Milhouse tells Bart that he wants to play opposite Lisa so they can fall in love, Bart hires the school bullies to beat up the new kid. The plan backfires but Principal Skinner sees the kid beating up the billies and recasts Milhouse as the lead, even though Milhouse is a terrible actor. Marge tells Lisa to be very supportive and Milhouse will be better. Lisa follows her mother’s advice and, surprisingly, Milhouse crushes it on opening night. However, after the play ends, it is revealed that it wasn’t Milhouse but the transfer kid the entire time.

This was a great episode. The writers have never actually said that Smithers was gay. We all knew that he was but it was never actually stated. It was nice to see it confirmed and not in an “Ew, he’s gay!” kind of way. I have to admit that I was surprised at how maturely the show handled the subject. At no point did they make fun of him or homosexuality. If only all shows would handle homosexuality in the same way.