The Greatest Mr Burns episodes of The Simpsons:
Few shows can match The Simpsons in terms of sheer volume of beloved characters. Aside from the first family itself, the likes of Troy McClure, Moe Szyslak and Krusty the Clown all have truly brilliant episodes that are focused around them. The background character who may well lay claim to having the best range of episodes with them at the centre however, is the unrelentingly unscrupulous Charles Montgomery Burns. Here are the top five Mr Burns centric episodes:
1. Rosebud
The extended Citizen Kane parody episode that charts Burns’ loss of childhood innocence and his eternal search for his beloved toy bear. My personal favourite moment in the episode comes after an abrasive performance from The Ramones at his Burns’ birthday party leads to him making the stern order, “Smithers, have the Rolling Stones killed.” The episode is a wonderful cinematic homage, and also shows a touching human side to the usually heartless Mr Burns.
2. Who Shot Mr Burns?
The Simpsons big whodunnit double episode that centres on capturing the Springfield resident responsible for shooting Mr. Burns. This comes after his evil scheme to block out the sun causes friction amongst most of the town’s population. Burns is on peak malevolent form in this episode, he even tries to take candy from a baby, with very little success.
3. Last Exit to Springfield
When Homer becomes a Union leader and goes directly up against Mr Burns over the loss of the employee’s dental plan, the two of them engage in a steady battle of wits in which Burns continuously over-estimates Homer’s political acumen. It also contains the immortal gag referring to monkeys working at typewriters to produce great works of literature: “All right, let’s see, ‘it was the best of times, it was the BLURST of times?’ Stupid Monkey.”
4. Two Dozen and One Greyhounds
Burns’ takes his evil to new heights here as he kidnaps the Simpsons family’s precious new batch of greyhound puppies. The stand out moment of the episode comes in the form of one the shows’ all-time great songs as Burns reveals his devious plan for the puppies through the unforgettable ditty, “See My Vest”. Lyrics like, “feel this sweater, there’s no better, then authentic Irish Setter” will now unavoidably be stuck in your head for hours.
5 Homer the Smithers
When Smithers is finally forced to take an overdue holiday, it once more forces Burns and Homer together as the latter is drafted in to be Smithers’ temporary replacement. Burns’ inability to fend for himself is soon made clear, and his unrelenting bullying of Homer eventually leads to him receiving a long overdue punch. My favourite of Burns’ outlandish demands of Homer is his insistence that his office be rotated so that it faces the hills.
