Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One)
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For the second part of this episode, see: Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two).
"Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One)" is the first half of the only two-part episode of The Simpsons to date. It originally aired on May 21, 1995 and features a cliffhanger ending that prompted months of public speculation.
This episode is the only one of the series to have a "to be continued..." ending. It is also the only episode to have aired in two back-to-back parts. The episodes Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? and Viva Ned Flanders also had sequels, but neither was a direct follow-up. The second part of the episode aired as the season premiere of season seven, on September 17, 1995.
In the months following the airing of part one, there was much widespread debate among fans of the series as to who actually shot Mr. Burns. FOX, the television network that ran the series, offered a contest to tie in with the mystery (sponsored by 1-800-COLLECT). It was one of the first contests to tie together elements of television and the Internet. When the show returned in September, FOX saw their ratings quadruple to 46 million people, making it the most watched Simpsons episode ever.[citation needed]
The show mimicked the similar controversy that had resulted when the character J.R. Ewing was shot on the series Dallas in the episode titled "A House Divided," known by most as "Who shot J.R.?"
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[edit] Synopsis
The episode features Springfield's resident plutocrat, Montgomery Burns angering much of the town in a variety of ways.
When Principal Skinner walks into school one day and discovers a horrible stench, and a dead gerbil called Superdude in one of the classrooms, he orders Groundskeeper Willie to refresh the school, and give Superdude a proper burial. But as Willie digs the grave, he strikes oil, making Springfield Elementary the richest school in the state and putting it on the front page of the Springfield Shopper newspaper under the headline, "Awful School Is Awful Rich". The school makes a number of suggestions on what to do with the money; Groundskeeper Willie wants a crystal bucket for his slopwater and new filthy blankets, Lunchlady Doris wants new cafeteria staff (the current staff is complaining about mice in the kitchen), Otto Mann wants "those guitars that are like double guitars, you know?", Ralph Wiggum suggests chocolate microscopes and Lisa wants a jazz music program with Tito Puente as the teacher. But Burns finds out about the oil, and tries to persuade Skinner to give it to him. He refuses, so Mr. Burns establishes a slant drilling operation to take it. On the day when the switch for the oil pump is to be thrown (by the school's star student, Lisa Simpson) nothing happens. A mechanic announces the oil well has already been tapped; Mr. Burns has pumped the oil first.
The Simpson family gets involved when Burns' slant drilling derrick shoots oil into the air toward the Simpson home, which knocks out Bart Simpson, destroys his tree house and badly injures his dog, Santa's Little Helper. Then Lisa becomes severely disappointed when Skinner announces that since the school doesn't have the oil anymore, and that they would have to pay more money for the construction, operation and demolition of the school's oil derrick, he would have to cancel all unnecessary departments, which included the new music program and the school maintenance (this angers Groundskeeper Willie, because not only is he unable to have his bucket and blankets, he also loses his job as janitor). The slant drilling operation also wrecks the foundations of the Springfield Retirement Castle, making it collapse, which in turn causes Grampa to lose most of his possessions and move in with the family. Also, since the drill was set up next to Moe's Tavern, Moe has to close because of the oil fumes. Finally, Mr. Burns still can't remember Homer Simpson's name, despite his (Homer's) working at the plant for 10 years. Homer becomes enraged by this. He tries sending Burns a box of candy with his photo in it, showing Burns his name tag and graffiti-ing "I AM HOMER SIMPSON" on Mr. Burns' office wall.
At the episode's climax Burns unveils his most dastardly scheme of all to the town; the construction of a giant, movable disk that would permanently block out the sun in Springfield, thus ensuring the residents constant use of electricity to earn massive profits for his nuclear power plant. When Burns' personal aide, Waylon Smithers, objects, Burns promptly fires him, citing a "shocking decrease in the quality and quantity of your toadying."
A city hall meeting is held to discuss Burns' recent actions (most of the attendees being heavily armed and stroking their guns), at which Burns appears in order to unveil his sun-blocking device, and states that nobody would be able to stop him. Bart tries to take him down but Burns opens his coat, revealing a gun in a shoulder-holster. As the town leaves, Carl, Otto and Marge discover some mysterious things; Smithers has left his jacket behind, Skinner has left his mother behind and Bart, Homer, Lisa and Grampa are nowhere to be found. Could they, in the light of the recent events, have gone after Burns? An ominous omen appears on the Simpson front lawn, where earlier, Marge had buried Grandpa's handgun when he moved in: the box it was buried in is dug up, and is lying empty. Marge leaves Maggie and Santa's Little Helper in the car and goes to look for them.
As Burns leaves the city hall, the camera shows him walking into an alley, obscuring him from view. The following exchange could be heard:
- BURNS: Oh, it's you. What are you so happy about? (pause, then a gasp from Burns) I see. I think you'd better drop it. I said... drop it! (grunts of a struggle) Get...your...hands...off! (gunshot)
Burns then wanders out, with a bleeding gunshot wound in his chest, and collapses onto the town's now-useless sundial, with his arms pointing to West and South. The townspeople (including the people who disappeared) find his body and wonder who shot him. Dr. Hibbert then remarks, "Well I can't solve this mystery. Can you?", pointing directly at the viewer. The view then rotates to show Dr. Hibbert actually pointing at Chief Wiggum, who replies that he'll give it a shot, since it's his job after all.
[edit] Main Suspects
- Principal Seymour Skinner, motive: Burns bankrupted his school and ruined Skinner's chance of having a fully equipped school.
- Groundskeeper Willie, motive: the bankruptcy of the school cost him his job and shattered his dreams of a crystal slop bucket and a new filthy blanket. Also blocking the sunlight would kill all the plant life in Springfield, making it impossible for him to get another groundskeeping job. (Not actually mentioned on screen).
- Tito Puente, motive: due to the school's budget cutbacks, he was fired from his new job as jazz teacher.
- Bartender Moe Szyslak, motive: Burns' drilling operation caused sufficient pollution to force him to close his bar.
- Resident drunk Barney Gumble, motive: Burns closed Moe's bar, leaving him with no place to drink, and no means of support, as he would suck coins out of the "Love Tester" machine.
- Waylon Smithers, motive: fired by Burns from the only job he was ever good at. He was also growing uneasy with Burns' increasingly evil ways in the days leading up to the shooting.
- Homer Simpson, motive: constantly frustrated by Burns' inability to remember his name. The closing of Moe's may have also contributed.
- Abe Simpson, motive: Burns' drilling operation caused an earthquake which destroyed the Springfield Retirement Castle.
- Bart Simpson, motive: Burns was responsible for crippling his dog, Santa's Little Helper.
- Lisa Simpson, motive: Building and then dismantling the oil derrick cost the school a fortune. As a result the school had to fire Tito Puente and remove its music program.
- Dewey Largo, motive: due to the school's budget cutbacks, he was fired. Overall, he would have needed the job more than Tito Puente.
[edit] Clues
See also Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)
According to the DVD commentary for the episode, a number of subtle clues, and a few red herrings, were planted in Part 1 for viewers who wanted to unravel the mystery. For example, after Mr. Burns says "You all talk big, but who here has the guts to stop me?", the camera pans across the entire crowd. All the people look at Burns and then at each other, as if hoping that someone else will do the deed — all except one. The only person in the whole crowd who keeps her eyes fixed squarely on Burns is Maggie.
Also, when Burns was viewing the oil pump he said, "Oh Pish Posh, it'll be like taking candy from a baby." Burns was trying to take candy from Maggie when he got shot. Burns' "Oh, it's you" when he sees his assailant shows that he knew the person who shot him. This eliminates several characters as Burns had not interacted with Moe, Barney, etc, in the events beforehand. The nonchalant way in which this is said also indicates that Burns did not feel threatened, and did not regard his assailant as dangerous (this eliminates Homer, who had earlier assaulted Burns in his office, and due to the fact that Burns never knows who Homer is).
Much was made of the fact that Burns lay his hands on "W" and "S" on the sundial. It was assumed that these initials stood for the name of his assailant. When Burns receives chocolate from Homer, he talks about the family and says about Santa's Little Helper, "Oh there's that Simpson mutt." Grandpa's gun was a Smith & Wesson. SW could be reversed to mean WS, as in Waylon Smithers. SW flipped upside down makes MS, meaning Maggie Simpson (as Lisa points out in the end) and Marge Simpson. When Mr. Burns was talking with Skinner in his office there was a diploma in the background that said "W. Seymour Skinner." Also, Moe's liquor license reads Moe Szyslak, his last name being revealed. Sideshow Mel is also present, but reveals his name to be "Melvin Van Horn."
[edit] 3:00
The documentary special, Springfield's Most Wanted, noticed that there are several references made to the number 3 (or more specifically 3 o'clock, as noted in the SNPP capsule). John Walsh notes that:
- In the opening credits, Bart leaves the classroom at 3pm.
- Homer delivers Mr. Burns's package back to Burns at 3pm.
- After Burns is shot, the way his arms land on the sundial indicate 9:00, the mirror image of 3:00.
- When Mr. Burns was shot and stumbled over to the sundial and collapsed, a clock is heard in the background chiming 3:00.
Additionally:
- The TV in Moe's bar shows an ad for "Pardon My Zinger, Weekdays At 3pm". This eliminates Smithers, as he says he never misses "Pardon My Zinger," as Sideshow Mel points out.
- Mr. Burns, just before putting his sun-blocker in place, asks "Have you ever seen the sun set at 3 p.m.?" Soon thereafter, he is shot.
- Nearly every clock seen in the episode is shown at or around 3 o'clock. For example, when the Simpsons are at the vet after the treehouse is destroyed, the clock is at 5:00pm.
[edit] Trivia
- When shown in syndication, Smithers' line, "It's not so bad; I never miss Pardon My Zinger", is cut, despite the fact that it serves as evidence that he isn't the assailant.
- Willy claims he couldn't have shot Mr. Burns due to his arthritis, which he claims he received from battling space invaders in 1977. The game Space Invaders wasn't released until 1978, which explains Willy having never heard of it (although according to him he was fighting the real thing).
- The three places that Mr. Burns crushes in his model of the town, Barney's Bowlarama, the Kwik-E-Mart, and the Nuclear Power Plant are all places where Homer has worked over the years.
- For part one, Moe Szyslak's surname was made up specifically to make him a stronger suspect when Burns falls at the sundial pointing to W and S, interpreted as M and S in this case. According to the DVD commentary, the name "Szyslak" came from a phonebook.
- In the season 6 DVD box, the one that has the first part of the episode, there is an Easter Egg: if you take out the DVDs of the box, and take out the background of the box, you will find a secret picture that shows Maggie In Jail.
- When the episode first aired, there was a write-in contest for any fan who could accurately guess who shot Mr. Burns. According to the DVD commentary, the contest rules said that a sampling of 1000 randomly-selected entries would be taken and the first one they picked out of that sampling that guessed correctly would win. When no winner was found, Fox wouldn't allow another sampling, so the producers had to find a "winner" in the original sampling which turned out to be an old lady who incorrectly guessed Smithers.
- A prize for guessing the correct answer was to be placed in a Simpsons episode. This never happened.
[edit] Cultural references
- When Mr. Burns says, "I have a monopoly to maintain: I own the electric company and the water works, plus the hotel on Baltic Avenue," it is an obvious reference to the popular board game of the same name. Principal Skinner's claim that "that hotel is a dump" may refer to the fact that Baltic Avenue is the second cheapest piece of property on the Monopoly game board.
- The musical score that ends the Part 1 of the episode (when the credit rolls) is a parody of John Williams' Drummers' Salute, which is part of the musical score he wrote for Oliver Stone's movie JFK.
- Mystery Science Theater 3000 was playing at Moe's.
- In the first part, Mr. Burns sings "hello lamp-post, what you knowin', I'm come to watch your power flowin'", which echo the lyrics of Simon & Garfunkel's 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)
- The title and the idea of these two episodes are also taken from the series Dallas. In Dallas, they had the "Who shot J.R." two episodes, the first of which ending a season, and the second opening the next season.
[edit] Contest
Viewers were invited to participate in a contest to guess who shot Mr. Burns. The winner would be animated on an episode of the show. No one, however, was ever animated on the show.
This was because, as the DVD audio commentary for the episodes reveals, no one officially guessed the right answer. Due to contest regulations, a winner had to be selected out of a random sample of entries. Since the winner did not have the right answer, the commentary reports that the individual was paid a cash prize in lieu of being animated.
The creators and writers added on the commentary that they were aware of one person who posted the correct answer to the Simpsons newsgroup online after the night of the broadcast. They were forbidden from contacting the person while the contest was underway, but after it ended they wanted to contact the individual. The answer came from a person using a college internet account, and after the summer the person's address was no longer valid and they were unable to track the person down. They issued an invitation on the DVDs for this person to reveal him or herself.
[edit] External links
- "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One)" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive
- Springfield's Most Wanted at the Internet Movie Database
