Grilka

From The Simpsons Archive

American History X-cellent
Episode #MABF08

When stolen paintings are found in Burns Manor, Mr. Burns is arrested, so he has Smithers take over for him at the nuclear plant, but when he starts working the employees night and day, they try to get Mr. Burns back, even if it means breaking him out of prison - which it does.

22 Umbrellas

Is this supposed to air tomorrow? I'll have to try and remember to catch it on TV.

Smithers running the plant and breaking Mr. Burns out of prison! This should be interesting.

Grilka

Smithers wasn't the one who broke Burns out of prison. However, I could see why Smithers was angry.

The insulation scene reminded me of the TOH with Kang and Kodos and the recipe book on how to cook humans.

JustMe2000

Although I wish we had seen more of Smithers actually running the plant, I thought the Burns in prison plot was terrific with some great gags, including the warden's helium, Manson being mistakes for Jesus, Sideshow Bob in the washer and dryer and Fat Tony at the end. Oh and I love the idea of Burns finding religion.

As for the subplot, may not have been the best, but it was sweet and I enjoyed it. Also, Bart licking Lisa, the visual gag of Marge (who was mostly MIA) carrying cat food on her back, the dog eating the ants and Homer mistaking the ant's deaths for Patty and Selma's were all great bits.

pixels

In the episode there is a short blues tune when Burns get thrown in prison where a man sings "early one morning the blues come falling down"

Does anyone know who it is by? I'd love to have the whole song.

Grilka

I'm not sure, but try Horace Sprott. That's the name that kept coming up when I googled the lyric.

22 Umbrellas

Okay, I fell asleep on Sunday before the show so I had to catch up on hulu, but I finally saw it! I thought there were some great moments. My favorite was the scene mentioned above when Bart says "I didn't mean to kill our ants!" and Homer starts dancing around the room, "Patty and Selma are dead?" and then they randomly walk by. :rofl:

I also liked having Burns narrating the story and starting in media res, it gave the episode a different flavor than usual. Does anyone know if it was based off the movie American History X? I haven't seen the movie yet but I've been wanting to.

Grilka

I haven't seen the movie either. I went to imdb.com for a plot, and this is what they had:
"A former neo-nazi skinhead tries to prevent his younger brother from going down the same wrong path that he did."

It doesn't sound like it was based on the movie, though the other prisoner was trying to change Mr. Burns by absorbing his evil. That could be preventing Burns from going down the same wrong path.

22 Umbrellas

I finally watched the movie American History X a couple weeks ago (really amazing movie if you can stomach all the neo-Nazi violence; Ed Norton is great in it) and while the plots aren't really similar enough for the episode to be a parody IMO, I can see where they got the title. The whole movie is about Norton's character who has reformed in prison and like the episode, it starts mid-action and tells the back story in a series of flashbacks. Thankfully no one actually tries to suck his evil out in the movie though.

Grilka

Thanks for the explanation Susan!

Grilka

The episode is re-airing this Sunday (9/12).

Firestar007

I realized I missed so many eps this past season.

Grilka

Same here - I rely on repeats and Hulu.

Firestar007

Yep I need to catch up over there.