Flaming Moe (S22, E11-475)

For gathering the courage to try and kiss that thing, lets give applause to Waylon Smithers.

Not to be confused with the similarly titled Season 3 episode Flaming Moe's.

Plot Summary
Smithers is stunned to learn he's been left out of Mr. Burns' will.  Confronting Burns later, Smithers is told that because he's always been a follower, and has never been independent, Burns can't respect Smithers.  Torn by these revelations, Smithers tries to go to a bar for a drink.  However, a popular gay bar refuses him entry just from his looks.  Dejected further, Smithers goes to the bar across the street: Moe's.  As Smithers laments over a lack of a gay bar for regular guys, he notices that business is once again slow at Moe's, and comes up with an idea.  Smithers suggests to Moe that the two spruce the place up and turn into a gay bar.  Moe is initially hesitant, but given his only other customer at the moment is Barney, Moe decides to give it a try.

Once a lazy montage, the new bar is open for business, and Smithers is able to convince several gay men to come to it.  One of them, the school's music teacher Mr. Largo, finds a 'soulmate' there and the two decide to leave town for a bit.  To take his place at school, Superintendent Chalmers brings in a free spirited woman Calliope Juniper.  Principal Skinner eventually meets the woman and immediately falls in love.  Skinner calls in Bart for a favor: Calliope has a daughter named Melody, and he'd like Bart to take her someplace, and Skinner can chaperon Bart to meet Calliope.  Bart agrees to do so with some conditions, and Skinner's plan ultimately works like a charm, as the two go back to Calliope's place for the night.  However, Bart really can't stand Melody and before the rather obsessed Melody can get too close to him, Bart breaks up with her.  Calliope gets upset over this and decides to move out of town, but asks Skinner to come with her regardless of whether their relationship lasts for just one more day or a lifetime.  With that mindset, Skinner decides to go with them.

Meanwhile, Moe's new bar is work out pretty well, and Moe hopes it doesn't turn out like the other past, failed attempts at reimagining his bar.  As "Mo's" becomes popular, Smithers does receive the respect he desired from Burns.  However, Moe starts getting popular among his new patrons under the notion that Moe is also gay.  Moe picks up on this, but keeps up the charade to maintain his popularity.  Smithers doesn't like this, and on more than one occasion tries to get Moe to tell the truth about his preferences, but when patrons decide to let Moe run for a spot in the town council so that they can have a voice in government, Smithers reaches a boiling point.  Moe meets several groups out in public, but Smithers confronts Moe, and reveals to the truth to the stunned crowd.  Moe tries to defend himself, but Smithers forces Moe to prove his orientation... by kissing him.  Moe can't bring himself to do, and as he's likely running against a closeted gay Republican, he loses all of his support.  With nothing to lose (and nobody else around), Moe decides to kiss Smithers now, with no regrets.  Skinner also comes back, admitting that his relationship with Calliope lasted just one more day, though he's been gone for three months.

Quick Review
This was an episode that started off rather well, but fell apart at about the time where the Skinner subplot started up.  There was hardly anything about that side story that was even close to funny, and it brought the rest of the episode down.  The main plot also started to lose its steam as the episode shifted focus from Smithers to Moe, leaving it as one of the season's weaker episodes thus far.

Final Score: 6.7