American History X-cellent
Encyclopedia
"American History X-cellent" is the seventeenth episode of The Simpsons
' twenty-first season
and 458th overall. In this episode, Burns is arrested for possessing stolen art and Smithers is chosen to run the nuclear plant—only to turn into a misanthropic slave driver when his co-workers begin taking advantage of his kindness.
The episode was written by Michael Price and directed by Bob Anderson
. The episode features references to Stephen King
's The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption
. "American History X-cellent" has received positive reviews from critics and received a 2.7 Nielsen Rating in the 18-49 demographic.
throws an elaborate Fourth of July party for himself, forcing his employees to wait on him and perform a Broadway-style musical number without pay. When Homer
, Lenny and Carl become frustrated, they break into Mr. Burns' wine cellar
and become completely drunk. Mr. Burns discovers this and calls the police, but the police soon notice that Mr. Burns' mansion contains stolen artwork including, The Concert
by Vermeer. He is arrested and paraded through the streets of Springfield inside a bamboo cage, where he is jeered by the townspeople on his way to prison. He leaves a reluctant Waylon Smithers
in charge.
In an attempt to blackmail the warden, who resembles the warden of The Shawshank Redemption
, Burns takes out a hand-written note. Reading it, he says, "I'm sure the boys at the city desk would be interested to learn that you're addicted to... to... I can't read my own writing. But I'll tell you this, warden: it starts with 'H'." A guard asks, "Ham?" to which Burns replies, "It's clearly more than three letters!" He is taken away, and the warden, when alone in the room, gets a helium tank from the closet, saying, "Ain't nobody gonna take my H from me." Afterward, he is taken into the cells, where the prison itself also resembles that of The Shawshank Redemption, in that the layout is very similar, and the showers are close to those of the movie.
In prison, Mr. Burns is placed in a cell with another white-collar criminal, but then demands to be moved when he discovers his cell-mate was educated at Dartmouth College
and the University of Virginia
. Burns soon finds himself in the company of a tough-looking felon (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson
) reminiscent of John Coffey in The Green Mile
. The felon, a born-again Christian, convinces Burns to find religion. The man became a born-again Christian when a inmate gave the man a book called Helter Skelter with a picture of Charles Manson
on the cover, since the man was illiterate he identified the picture as Christ thus he became who he is. Another reference to Shawshank Redemption is that the felon tears a Rita Hayworth poster off the wall, uncovering a cross. He then "sucks" the evil, represented by green slime, out of Mr. Burns. The prison, first seen by Burns as a hell hole, now becomes a heaven hole: he joins the prison choir and a Beatles tribute band called "Stab Four" and reads the Holy Bible many times in the laundromat while Sideshow Bob
is being washed.
Meanwhile, Smithers attempts to show the power plant employees that he is nothing like Mr. Burns by being kind and accommodating. But when he joins Homer, Lenny and Carl for beer at Moe's, he overhears the three friends making fun of him. Smithers realizes why Mr. Burns scorns humanity and his behavior quickly deteriorates into that of a tyrant.
Homer, Lenny and Carl decide to break Mr. Burns out of prison when they realize that Smithers's present behavior is even worse than that of Burns, even to the point of instead of releasing the hounds, he releases wolverines. The three disguise themselves as prison guards, sneak into the institution and remove Burns from his cell. Mr. Burns, however, does not want to leave because he believes he has found his spiritual home. When the cellmate tries to stop them from escaping, Mr. Burns realizes that he misses being a power figure and that his toilet-tank baptism did not purge away all of his inner evil, stating that he forgot to suck some evil from between his toes, which multiplied rapidly and made him "a bigger bastard than ever". But Mr. Burns also wonders genuinely why his cellmate helped him; he is told that after killing so many rich white men over the years, he figured he would do right by at least one of them. The two men decide they are not so different and part company. He uses his money to leave the prison system, and is once again at the helm of the nuclear power plant, although he hopes his friend will gain another disciple. Burns' former cellmate finds a new disciple in Fat Tony
.
Meanwhile, Bart
and Lisa
are forced to play with one another when Marge
goes shopping (she notes that the mall is deserted when the townspeople are rioting, as is the case with Burns' trip to prison). When the two fight over Lisa's ant farm, it breaks and Santa's Little Helper
eats all but one of the ants. The experience brings Lisa and Bart closer together, and they name the ant Annie (as in Little Orphan Annie
, as well as the layman's term ant itself). They care for her as they would a child, but realize that she is near death. They decide to release her, so she can live out her last days in the wild, but as soon as they let her go Santa's Little Helper eats Annie and the two siblings are enemies again.
, his second credit of the season after "Rednecks and Broomsticks
". The episode also features the second appearance of Kevin Michael Richardson
who first appeared in "Homer the Whopper
" and Joe Mantegna
as Fat Tony
. Sideshow Bob
makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in this episode when He is put in a Dryer
's novel The Green Mile. The episode also references The Shawshank Redemption
. The title is based on the film American History X
. The picture in Mr. Burns' office is based on Saturn Devouring His Son
by Francisco Goya
. Burns's wine cellar includes Chateau La Mondotte, a St Emilion
vineyard owned by Stephan von Neipperg, Count of the Holy Roman Empire, whose blue-bloodedness
Burns would doubtlessly admire. Burns' induction to the prison is accompanied by "Prison Bound Blues" by Leroy Carr
.
The episode received positive reviews. TVFanatic.com gave the episode a 3.5/5 saying "Overall, the main story line was great. Unfortunately, Bart and Lisa were given a weak side story, where really the only funny moments were Lisa telling Bart they need to keep the lines of communication open for organ transplants and Bart licking Lisa to try and earn her forgiveness." Jason Hughes of TV Squad gave the episode a positive review saying " A pleasant enough episode of 'The Simpsons' made better by the presence of C. Montgomery Burns. Even Smithers upped his game, bringing the funny this week". Todd VanDer Werff gave the episode a B, saying "I like Mr. Burns as a character enough, and I like the way the show tells stories about him enough to give this a mildly approving grade." Werff added that Lisa and Bart's story was "just plain stupid". Ariel Ponywether of FireFox News gave the episode a B- saying "All-in-all, a decent episode that could have used a bit of pruning".
There were though a few mixed reviews. Robert Canning of IGN
gave the episode a 6.9/10 and staying it was "Passable" and "Though the potential was there, "American History X-cellent" failed to deliver a would-be classic Mr. Burns episode. His time in prison was too mundane. Evil Mr. Burns is always more fun than a kindhearted Mr. Burns, and new and original ideas are always better than tired Shawshank references. Maybe we'll get an old school Mr. Burns episode next season." Readers, however, gave the episode 8.5/10.
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
The Simpsons (season 21)
The Simpsons twenty-first season aired on Fox from September 27, 2009 to May 23, 2010. It was the first of two seasons that the show was renewed for by Fox, and also the first season of the show to air entirely in high definition....
and 458th overall. In this episode, Burns is arrested for possessing stolen art and Smithers is chosen to run the nuclear plant—only to turn into a misanthropic slave driver when his co-workers begin taking advantage of his kindness.
The episode was written by Michael Price and directed by Bob Anderson
Bob Anderson (director)
Bob Anderson is an animation director on The Simpsons. He also contributed additional sequence direction on The Simpsons Movie....
. The episode features references to Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
's The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 American drama film written and directed by Frank Darabont and starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman....
. "American History X-cellent" has received positive reviews from critics and received a 2.7 Nielsen Rating in the 18-49 demographic.
Plot
Mr. BurnsMontgomery Burns
Charles Montgomery "Monty" Burns, usually referred to as Mr. Burns, is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons, who is voiced by Harry Shearer and previously Christopher Collins. Burns is the evil owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and is Homer...
throws an elaborate Fourth of July party for himself, forcing his employees to wait on him and perform a Broadway-style musical number without pay. When Homer
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
, Lenny and Carl become frustrated, they break into Mr. Burns' wine cellar
Wine cellar
A wine cellar is a storage room for wine in bottles or barrels, or more rarely in carboys, amphorae or plastic containers. In an active wine cellar, important factors such as temperature and humidity are maintained by a climate control system. In contrast, passive wine cellars are not...
and become completely drunk. Mr. Burns discovers this and calls the police, but the police soon notice that Mr. Burns' mansion contains stolen artwork including, The Concert
The Concert (Vermeer)
The Concert is a painting by Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. The 69 centimeter high by 63 centimeter wide picture depicts a man and two women playing music. It belongs to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, but was stolen in March 1990 and remains missing to this day...
by Vermeer. He is arrested and paraded through the streets of Springfield inside a bamboo cage, where he is jeered by the townspeople on his way to prison. He leaves a reluctant Waylon Smithers
Waylon Smithers
Waylon Smithers, Jr., usually referred to as Smithers, is a recurring fictional character in the animated series The Simpsons, who is voiced by Harry Shearer. Smithers first appeared in the episode "Homer's Odyssey", although he could be heard in the series premiere "Simpsons Roasting on an Open...
in charge.
In an attempt to blackmail the warden, who resembles the warden of The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 American drama film written and directed by Frank Darabont and starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman....
, Burns takes out a hand-written note. Reading it, he says, "I'm sure the boys at the city desk would be interested to learn that you're addicted to... to... I can't read my own writing. But I'll tell you this, warden: it starts with 'H'." A guard asks, "Ham?" to which Burns replies, "It's clearly more than three letters!" He is taken away, and the warden, when alone in the room, gets a helium tank from the closet, saying, "Ain't nobody gonna take my H from me." Afterward, he is taken into the cells, where the prison itself also resembles that of The Shawshank Redemption, in that the layout is very similar, and the showers are close to those of the movie.
In prison, Mr. Burns is placed in a cell with another white-collar criminal, but then demands to be moved when he discovers his cell-mate was educated at Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
and the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
. Burns soon finds himself in the company of a tough-looking felon (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson
Kevin Michael Richardson
Kevin Michael Richardson is an American actor and voice actor who currently stars as Cleveland Brown, Jr. in The Cleveland Show...
) reminiscent of John Coffey in The Green Mile
The Green Mile (film)
The Green Mile is a 1999 American drama film directed by Frank Darabont and adapted by him from the 1996 Stephen King novel of the same name...
. The felon, a born-again Christian, convinces Burns to find religion. The man became a born-again Christian when a inmate gave the man a book called Helter Skelter with a picture of Charles Manson
Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction...
on the cover, since the man was illiterate he identified the picture as Christ thus he became who he is. Another reference to Shawshank Redemption is that the felon tears a Rita Hayworth poster off the wall, uncovering a cross. He then "sucks" the evil, represented by green slime, out of Mr. Burns. The prison, first seen by Burns as a hell hole, now becomes a heaven hole: he joins the prison choir and a Beatles tribute band called "Stab Four" and reads the Holy Bible many times in the laundromat while Sideshow Bob
Sideshow Bob
Robert Underdunk Terwilliger, better known as Sideshow Bob, is a recurring character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Kelsey Grammer and first appeared briefly in the episode "The Telltale Head". Bob is a self-proclaimed genius who is a graduate of Yale, a member of...
is being washed.
Meanwhile, Smithers attempts to show the power plant employees that he is nothing like Mr. Burns by being kind and accommodating. But when he joins Homer, Lenny and Carl for beer at Moe's, he overhears the three friends making fun of him. Smithers realizes why Mr. Burns scorns humanity and his behavior quickly deteriorates into that of a tyrant.
Homer, Lenny and Carl decide to break Mr. Burns out of prison when they realize that Smithers's present behavior is even worse than that of Burns, even to the point of instead of releasing the hounds, he releases wolverines. The three disguise themselves as prison guards, sneak into the institution and remove Burns from his cell. Mr. Burns, however, does not want to leave because he believes he has found his spiritual home. When the cellmate tries to stop them from escaping, Mr. Burns realizes that he misses being a power figure and that his toilet-tank baptism did not purge away all of his inner evil, stating that he forgot to suck some evil from between his toes, which multiplied rapidly and made him "a bigger bastard than ever". But Mr. Burns also wonders genuinely why his cellmate helped him; he is told that after killing so many rich white men over the years, he figured he would do right by at least one of them. The two men decide they are not so different and part company. He uses his money to leave the prison system, and is once again at the helm of the nuclear power plant, although he hopes his friend will gain another disciple. Burns' former cellmate finds a new disciple in Fat Tony
Fat Tony
Marion Anthony "Fat Tony" D'Amico is a recurring character in the animated sitcom The Simpsons. He is voiced by Joe Mantegna and first appeared in the third season episode "Bart the Murderer"...
.
Meanwhile, Bart
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
and Lisa
Lisa Simpson
Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
are forced to play with one another when Marge
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
goes shopping (she notes that the mall is deserted when the townspeople are rioting, as is the case with Burns' trip to prison). When the two fight over Lisa's ant farm, it breaks and Santa's Little Helper
Santa's Little Helper
Santa's Little Helper is a recurring character in the American animated television series The Simpsons. He is the pet greyhound of the Simpson family. The dog was introduced in the first episode of the show, the 1989 Christmas special "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", in which his owner abandons...
eats all but one of the ants. The experience brings Lisa and Bart closer together, and they name the ant Annie (as in Little Orphan Annie
Little Orphan Annie
Little Orphan Annie was a daily American comic strip created by Harold Gray and syndicated by Tribune Media Services. The strip took its name from the 1885 poem "Little Orphant Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley, and made its debut on August 5, 1924 in the New York Daily News...
, as well as the layman's term ant itself). They care for her as they would a child, but realize that she is near death. They decide to release her, so she can live out her last days in the wild, but as soon as they let her go Santa's Little Helper eats Annie and the two siblings are enemies again.
Production
The episode was written by Michael Price and directed by Bob AndersonBob Anderson (director)
Bob Anderson is an animation director on The Simpsons. He also contributed additional sequence direction on The Simpsons Movie....
, his second credit of the season after "Rednecks and Broomsticks
Rednecks and Broomsticks
"Rednecks and Broomsticks" is the seventh episode of the twenty-first season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 29, 2009...
". The episode also features the second appearance of Kevin Michael Richardson
Kevin Michael Richardson
Kevin Michael Richardson is an American actor and voice actor who currently stars as Cleveland Brown, Jr. in The Cleveland Show...
who first appeared in "Homer the Whopper
Homer the Whopper
"Homer the Whopper" is the season premiere of The Simpsons twenty-first season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 27, 2009. In the episode, Comic Book Guy creates a new superhero called Everyman who takes powers from other superheroes. Homer is cast as the...
" and Joe Mantegna
Joe Mantegna
Joseph Anthony "Joe" Mantegna, Jr. is an American actor, producer, writer,director, and voice actor. He is best known for his roles in box office hits such as Three Amigos , The Godfather Part III , Forget Paris , and Up Close & Personal...
as Fat Tony
Fat Tony
Marion Anthony "Fat Tony" D'Amico is a recurring character in the animated sitcom The Simpsons. He is voiced by Joe Mantegna and first appeared in the third season episode "Bart the Murderer"...
. Sideshow Bob
Sideshow Bob
Robert Underdunk Terwilliger, better known as Sideshow Bob, is a recurring character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Kelsey Grammer and first appeared briefly in the episode "The Telltale Head". Bob is a self-proclaimed genius who is a graduate of Yale, a member of...
makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in this episode when He is put in a Dryer
Clothes dryer
A clothes dryer or tumble dryer is a household appliance that is used to remove moisture from a load of clothing and other textiles, generally shortly after they are cleaned in a washing machine....
Cultural references
The Mr. Burns plot is based on Stephen KingStephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
's novel The Green Mile. The episode also references The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 American drama film written and directed by Frank Darabont and starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman....
. The title is based on the film American History X
American History X
American History X is a 1998 American drama film directed by Tony Kaye and starring Edward Norton and Edward Furlong. It was distributed by New Line Cinema....
. The picture in Mr. Burns' office is based on Saturn Devouring His Son
Saturn Devouring His Son
Saturn Devouring His Son is the name given to a painting by Spanish artist Francisco Goya. It depicts the Greek myth of the Titan Cronus , who, fearing that he would be overthrown by his children, ate each one upon their birth...
by Francisco Goya
Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era...
. Burns's wine cellar includes Chateau La Mondotte, a St Emilion
Saint-Émilion AOC
Saint-Émilion is an Appellation d'origine contrôlée for wine in the Bordeaux wine region of France, where it is situated in the Libourne subregion on the right bank of the Dordogne...
vineyard owned by Stephan von Neipperg, Count of the Holy Roman Empire, whose blue-bloodedness
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
Burns would doubtlessly admire. Burns' induction to the prison is accompanied by "Prison Bound Blues" by Leroy Carr
Leroy Carr
Leroy Carr was an American blues singer, songwriter and pianist, who developed a laid-back, crooning technique and whose popularity and style influenced such artists as Nat King Cole and Ray Charles. He first became famous for "How Long, How Long Blues" on Vocalion Records in 1928.-Life and...
.
Reception
In its original American broadcast, "American History X-cellent" was viewed by 5.649 million viewers and a 2.7 rating and 8% share in the 18-49 demographic tying with last week's episode. the episode ranked 20 in the 18-49 weekly Nielsen Rating.The episode received positive reviews. TVFanatic.com gave the episode a 3.5/5 saying "Overall, the main story line was great. Unfortunately, Bart and Lisa were given a weak side story, where really the only funny moments were Lisa telling Bart they need to keep the lines of communication open for organ transplants and Bart licking Lisa to try and earn her forgiveness." Jason Hughes of TV Squad gave the episode a positive review saying " A pleasant enough episode of 'The Simpsons' made better by the presence of C. Montgomery Burns. Even Smithers upped his game, bringing the funny this week". Todd VanDer Werff gave the episode a B, saying "I like Mr. Burns as a character enough, and I like the way the show tells stories about him enough to give this a mildly approving grade." Werff added that Lisa and Bart's story was "just plain stupid". Ariel Ponywether of FireFox News gave the episode a B- saying "All-in-all, a decent episode that could have used a bit of pruning".
There were though a few mixed reviews. Robert Canning of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave the episode a 6.9/10 and staying it was "Passable" and "Though the potential was there, "American History X-cellent" failed to deliver a would-be classic Mr. Burns episode. His time in prison was too mundane. Evil Mr. Burns is always more fun than a kindhearted Mr. Burns, and new and original ideas are always better than tired Shawshank references. Maybe we'll get an old school Mr. Burns episode next season." Readers, however, gave the episode 8.5/10.
External links
- "American History X-cellent" at The Simpsons ArchiveThe Simpsons ArchiveThe Simpsons Archive, better known as snpp.com or simply SNPP , is a Simpsons fan site that has been online since 1994...