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Last Exit to Springfield

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"Last Exit to Springfield" is the 17th episode of The Simpsons' fourth season. It was chosen as the best episode of the hugely popular animated television show by Entertainment Weekly.

Contents

Synopsis

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.
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.

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