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| Remember when Burns gave Castro the trillion-dollar bill? Those were fun times... |
After Mr. Burns spurs Smithers' attempts at affection, the latter takes out his frustrations on Homer, Lenny and Carl, making them do menial tasks at work. The three pick up on this and set up a social event for Smithers to find a boyfriend and let off their asses. The ploy ultimately works - Smithers and the bartender Julio hook up.
Meanwhile, the elementary school is hosting a production of Casablanca, and Lisa wins the lead role of Ilsa. Milhouse comes to believe that co-stars will inevitably fall in love and as such auditions for the role of Rick. Being the only one to do so, Milhouse initially wins the role but from out of nowhere, a gruff, 40s-speaking kid named Jack comes along and takes the role right from Milhouse. After Bart tells him that the role would default back to him should Jack no longer be able to act, Milhouse hires Jimbo and pals to beat Jack up. However, Jack beats them up, but importantly Principal Skinner witnesses this and punishes Jack for his violence by giving the role back to Milhouse. This upsets Lisa, as Milhouse is a terrible actor, but Marge gives Lisa the advice to make Milhouse think he's doing a good job in hopes he actually improves. The night of the play, the advice seems to pay off as Milhouse performs the role well. Afterward, however, its revealed Jack had disguised himself as Milhouse for the play, and it was him that was acting as Milhouse acting as Rick. Lisa is impressed enough and walks off with the object of her enamor.
Though Smithers is initially happy with his relationship with Julio - enough so that he gains the fortitude to quit his job (and Mr. Burns), soon Smithers' years of servitude to Burns come back to haunt the relationship. Smithers' Burns-specific quirks annoy Julio, which ultimately reveal to Smithers that, deep down, he still loves Burns and the two break up. Meanwhile, Mr. Burns' business has gone to hell without Smithers' steady hand. The two meet up to reconcile, and as Burns admits that Smithers' service has been "excellent", Smithers admits that's enough to get him back with Burns.
Quick Review
So, apparently, this episode has garnered national attention mostly because of the Smithers plotline (and some are stupid enough to claim Smithers is "coming out" in this episode even though its been implied or outright stated he's gay since nearly the beginning). That attention focuses on how its cool that the show is tackling LGBT issues or whatever (and I'm not surprised media outlets are covering that angle, given how clickbaitey they've become).
That's fine and all, but I'm sure its possible, somehow, in some way, to write such a pandering episode and.... wait for it... make it funny.
The Smithers' storyline was dry, boring and - save for a few decent gags from Burns himself - absolutely dull. The sidestory featuring - guess who - Season 27's darling Lisa! was slightly better and I liked the few moments in which Jack was a character. That helped bring the episode over the 6 line, which is sad to say. After the previous episode was such a pleasant surprise, this episode was nothing but terrible disappointment.
Final Score: 6.4
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