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"Last Exit to Springfield" is the 17th episode of The Simpsons
Synopsis
Mr. Burns sits in his office awaiting union leader Chuckie Fitzhugh—who hasn't been seen since he promised to clean up the union—to discuss the proposed union contract. Overlooking the contract, Mr. Burns is disgusted with the demands: "Benefits? Perks? A green cookie on Saint Patrick's Day?" Burns flashes to simpler times. Springfield, 1909, back when atoms were crushed by hand. Grandfather Burns catches one of his employees "stealing atoms" and has him taken away. As he's being dragged away he proclaims that the working man will one day form a union and get the fair and equitable treatment they deserve. Modern-day Burns considers the missed lessons of the past and regrets not listening to the young man, "instead of walling him up in the abandoned coke oven." Determined to claim some victory over the unions, Mr. Burns picks a line at random from the contract to strike out. He selects the company dental plan.
At Painless Dentistry, the Simpson children are getting their teeth checked, to which it is discovered Lisa needs braces —"Oh no! I'll be socially unpopular! .... More so!" When Marge informs Homer he tells her not to worry, the union won a dental plan during the strike of '88 where he also received a scar. Homer flashes to the strike and while the other employees are picketing in front of the Nuclear Power Plant, Homer is near a food truck demanding his burrito, slamming his fist while doing so, causing the awning of the food truck to fall on his head. He got another scar trying to sneak under the door of a pay toilet.
Back at the Nuclear Power Plant a meeting of the International Brotherhood of Jazz Dancers, Pastry Chefs and Nuclear Technicians is taking place. Carl informs his fellow brothers of Local 643 their union president "ain't been seen lately" but they're all praying he turns up, alive and well, to which they all laugh. Then they get down to business: The latest union contract requires the union to give up their dental plan. In exchange Mr. Burns has offered the union a keg of beer, which they all rush to. As Lenny, beer in hand, toasts the memory of their dental plan, Marge's voice begins to echo in Homer's mind ("Lisa needs braces"), which is then replaced by Lenny's decleration ("So long dental plan!") over and over until Homer finally makes the connection: "If we give up our dental plan ... I'll have to pay for Lisa's braces!" He then jumps into action, reminding everyone how their dental plan has helped them all and how the new contract is an insult. He then begins to try to tear the contract to pieces. The handle on the Keg-o-Duff begins to move, revealing it to actually be a camera. Mr. Burns watches and is impressed by Homer's vigor and asks Smithers if he's a new employee. Smithers briefly chuckles and recounts the many ways Homer has been involved in Mr. Burns' life, including thwarting his campaign for governor, Burns running over his son, Bart, his wife painting him in the nude and Homer saving the Power Plant from a meltdown, but it doesn't ring any bells.
Carl proposes Homer be Local 643's new president and is unanimously elected, save for one vote by someone with a meek voice. Homer asks how much the job pays. Carl says it pays nothing, disappointing Homer, "Unless you're crooked", to which Homer bellows "Woo hoo!"
Back at Painless Dentistry Dr. Wolfe shows Lisa the braces she'll be getting. They're nearly invisible, and periodically release a delightful burst of Calvin Klein's Obsession ... for Teeth. But when Marge tells the doctor they do not have dental insurance the doctor quickly digs into a drawer and pulls out bear trap-like braces that pre-date stainless steel, so Lisa won't be able to get them wet.
Mr. Burns continues to monitor and be impressed with Homer, confusing his attempt to get a Sugar Daddy candy bar off his back with exercising. Burns invites Homer to his office to try to reach an agreement but Mr. Burns' sly innuendos are mistaken by Homer as sexual advances. Homer quickly gets to his feet, saying he's flattered, even a little curious, but he doesn't go for those backdoor shenanigans and promptly leaves.
To assuage Lisa's fear Dr. Wolfe decides to show her the tools he'll be using to install Lisa's braces, which have friendly names such as the "gouger" and the "poker". It doesn't seem to help. He puts Lisa under anaesthesia gas and she begins to have a vivid dream where she is flying in the world of The Yellow Submarine, which is purple in this version. When she awakes she demands a mirror and goes temporarily insane with the sight of her new face.
Burns finally resorts to sending hired goons to Homer's house who kidnap and take him back to Burns Manor to negotiate. Before getting down to business Mr. Burns gives Homer a tour of his magnificent home. The tour ends in his basement which is nothing more than a bricked box with a ping-pong table and a leaky pipe. Homer comments it isn't as nice as the other rooms. Mr. Burns agrees and says he really should stop ending the tour with it. Once they sit to talk Homer begins to seriously need to get to a bathroom due to his large intake of beer, coffee and watermelon. He asks where the bathroom is. Mr. Burns tells him it's the twenty-third door on the left and Homer rushes off. Burns thinks Homer is just unwilling to even hear him out. Homer runs through a long corridor opening every door looking for the bathroom. When he returns, sighing with relief, Mr. Burns asks him if he found the bathroom to which Homer replies unconvincingly, "uuuhhhh.. ..yeeeaah." Homer is escorted back home by helicopter. Marge rushes out to greet him, but her hair is chopped off by the helicopter blades. As the helicopter leaves Mr. Burns begins his dramatic and threatening exit but it comes to a halt when he falls out of the helicopter and needs to be taken away by stretcher, and begins to threaten Homer again (before slamming onto the side of a house nearby).
Homer is finally fed up with Mr. Burns. He calls a meeting and the union and unanimously vote to strike, save for one, being that same meek voice in the back of the room. Homer asks who keeps saying that. Two men are at the back of the room: a very small man with a meek voice and a big, well-fit man. The small man says in his meek voice, "It was him. Let's get him fellas" who then begin to beat the other man up. The meek man chuckles.
Mr. Burns is undetered by the strike and thinks he and Smithers can run the plant themselves. He begins to replace his employees with worker robots but they go beserk and they barely escape with their lives.
That night on "Smartline" guests are Monty Burns, union leader Homer Simpson, and talk show mainstay, Dr. Joyce Brothers —who brought her own mike— to discuss the Nuclear Power Plant Strike. When Kent Brockman asks Homer a question he freaks. Kent then says hes been told not to speak to him anymore, which makes Homer exclaim with joy. Mr. Burns is then allowed his requested opening tirade and treatens dire events in fifteen minutes.
Mr. Burns and Smither then march to a secret room in the Power Plant heavily secured—but for a dilapidated back screen door Mr. Burns forgot to close, slamming it in frustration on a stray dog that was wandering in—and turns off the power to the whole town; causing normal, average people to riot the second the power is off. The strikers don't lose hope and begin to sing. Burns, confident he had broken the union's spirit, steps out of his balcony to hear their reaction but is disarmed by their unity and optimism. Mr. Burns finally calls a meeting with Homer to conceed to their demands on one condition: that Homer must resign as union president. Homer celebrates by rolling on the floor on his side and making silly noises. Burns watches, perplexed, and tells Smithers Homer might not be the brilliant tactician he thought he was.
With the Simpson family insured again Lisa gets her perfect, new braces. Lisa glows. Her family and Dr. Wolfe are gathered around her. Marge says she can barely see the braces. "And that's the tooth," Lisa replies. They all laugh. The doctor then realizes he had left the laughing gas on and they all continue to laugh.
Parody
- The title is an homage to Hubert Selby Jr.'s Last Exit to Brooklyn.
- The film Batman is parodied when Lisa acquires her monstrous braces, and breaks her mirror and cackles like the Joker. Also when Smithers and Mr. Burns are going to the control console to shut off the town's power, the secret entrances, music and firemen's poles are reminicent of Batman.
- Lisa also has a dream that echoes the Beatles film Yellow Submarine.
- When Homer imagines a life of organized crime, he places himself in the role of Don Fanucci ("The Black Hand") in the famous San Gennaro sequence of The Godfather Part II, accepting donuts rather than a necklace and an ominous orange.
- The workers' resistance to the power outage, and Mr. Burns' baffled response, is a play on the television special How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
- The body of the union president is seen buried under a football field, an homage to the urban legend surrounding the whereabouts of Jimmy Hoffa.
- Before Mr. Burns shuts off the power to the town in response to the strike, he says, "From Hell's heart I stab at thee." A reference to Captain Ahab's curse before he harpooned Moby Dick.
Trivia
- Anthony Perkins was supposed to provide the voice of dentist Dr. Wolfe, but was unable to do so because of illness. The producers also asked Clint Eastwood to provide the voice of Dr. Wolfe, but he backed out as well. Hank Azaria ended up playing Dr. Wolfe.
- This is the last episode written by Jay Kogen and Wally Wolodarsky.
- For this episode, Lisa plays the guitar (during the part with the strike).
- An "Entertainment Weekly" article from January 2003 looking back at the top 25 episodes of the series chose this episode as the show's greatest episode.
- Also, it is revealed in the commentary for the episode, the original panelist on Smartline was supposed to be O.J. Simpson, but he turned it down and Dr. Joyce Brothers was cast (much to the relief of the writers).
Quotations
- different voices speak in Homer's head
Voice 1: (Lenny): Dental plan!
Voice 2 (Marge): Lisa needs braces!
Those two lines repeat eight times - A worker in 1909: You can't treat the working man this way. One day, we'll form a union and get the fair and equitable treatment we deserve! Then we'll go too far, and get corrupt and shiftless, and the Japanese will eat us alive!
Burns's grandfather: The Japanese? Those sandal-wearing goldfish-tenders? Bosh! Flimshaw!
Mr. Burns (to Smithers, in the present): If only we'd listened to that boy, instead of walling him up in the abandoned coke oven. - Mr. Burns: Where is that union representative, Smithers? He's twenty minutes late!
Smithers: I don't know, sir. He hasn't been seen since he promised to clean up the union.
football player is seen running down a field, then trips over what is obviously a body buried under the field.
Football player: What the hell? - Carl: As you know, our president, Chuckie Fitzhugh, ain't been seen lately. We're all prayin' he'll turn up soon, alive and well. laughs All right, all right. But seriously..."
- Homer: Hey, what does this job pay?
Carl: Nothin'.
Homer: D'oh!
Carl: Unless you're crooked.
Homer: Woo-hoo! - Homer (inner monologue): Why is Mr. Burns being so nice to me?
Mr. Burns: And if you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.
Homer (inner monologue): Wait a minute. Is he coming onto me?
Mr. Burns: I mean, if I should slip something into your pocket, what's the harm?
Homer (inner monologue): My God! He is coming onto me!
Mr. Burns: After all, negotiations make strange bedfellows. and winks
Homer (inner monologue): *
Homer: Sorry, Mr. Burns, but I don't go in for these backdoor shenanigans. Sure, I'm flattered, maybe even a little curious, but the answer is no! - couple of goons have kidnapped Homer and taken him to Burns' house.
Mr. Burns: Ah, Homer. I hope Crusher and Low-Blow didn't hurt you.
Homer: You could've just called me!
Mr. Burns: I know, but the telephone is so impersonal. I prefer the hands-on approach you only get from hired goons. - is observing the strike from his balcony Burns: Smithers, get me some strikebreakers! The kind 'they had in the thirties!scene changes to Burns' office. Grandpa Simpson and several other old people are standing in front of Burns' desk Grandpa: Well, we can't bust heads like we used to, but we have our ways. One is to tell stories that don't go anywhere! Like the time I caught the ferry over to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for my shoe... telling a story that doesn't go anywhere
- Kent Brockman: Tonight, on Smartline: the power plant strike, argle bargle, or fooforaw? With us tonight are plant owner C. Montgomery Burns, union kingpin Homer Simpson, and talk show mainstay, Dr. Joyce Brothers.
Dr. Joyce Brothers: I brought my own mike.
Brockman: Yes, well... Homer, organized labor has been called a lumbering dinosaur...
Homer: OK, my director is telling me not to talk to you anymore...
Homer: WOO-HOO!
Brockman: Mr. Burns, you mentioned you wanted an opening tirade?
Mr. Burns: Yes, thank you Kent. In 15 minutes I will unleash a terrible vengeance on this city. No one will be spared! NO ONE!
Brockman: [chuckling A chilling vision of things to come. - Dr. Wolfe (Dentist): How often do you brush, Ralph?
Ralph: Three times a day, sir.
Dr. Wolfe: Why must you turn my office into a house of lies?
Ralph: You're right. I don't brush. (begins to cry) I don't brush!
Dr. Wolfe: Let's look at a picture book. The "Big Book of British Smiles". (scene after scene of rotten, decaying British teeth)
Ralph (crying): That's enough! That's enough. - Lisa Simpson: *
So we'll march day and night
By the big cooling tower
They have the plant
But we have the power. - Mr Burns: Look at them all in the darkness I'm bringing, they're not sad at all, they're actually singing! (Grabs Smithers) They sing without juicers. (Pauses) They sing without blenders. (Pauses) They sing without flunjers, capdabblers and smendlers!
- Dr. Wolfe: Maggie's teeth are coming in crooked. Has she been sucking on a pacifier?
Marge: Er, not that I know of.
Dr. Wolfe: Liar! - (inside a leaky basement in Burns' mansion)
Burns: Now, let's get down to business.
Homer: (thinking) Oh, man. I have to go to the bathroom. Why did I have all that beer and coffee and watermelon?
Burns: Now Homer, I know what you're thinking. I want to take the pressure off. Now, it doesn't take a whiz to know that you're looking out for Number One. Well, listen to me, and you'll make a big splash very soon.
Homer: Ooh, which way to the bathroom?
Burns: Oh, it's the twenty-third door on the left. - Mr. Burns: Simpson, eh! New man?
Smithers: He thwarted your campaign for governor; you ran over his son; he saved the plant from meltdown; his wife painted you in the nude...
Mr. Burns: Doesn't ring a bell...
External links
"Last Exit to Springfield"