Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)/References

Cultural references

 * Homer escaping from the overturned paddywagon is a homage to .
 * The musical score that ends the Part 1 of the episode (when the credit rolls) is a parody of "Drummers' Salute", which is part of the musical score he wrote for 's movie .
 *  was playing at Moe's Tavern.
 * The scene where Chief Wiggum has a dream in which Lisa speaks backwards is an obvious homage to  and Special Agent 's interaction with . Also, after Homer escapes from the paddywagon, the Squeaky-Voiced Teen speaks to his manager Diane, which is the same name as the unseen secretary that Agent Cooper dictates messages to.
 * In the first part, Mr. Burns sings "hello lamp-post, what you knowin', I'm come to watch your power flowin'", which is close to the lyrics of 's "59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)".
 * Sideshow Mel demonstrates deductive reasoning and logic similar to that demonstrated by noted fictional detective . This connection is further noted by Mel's smoking of a pipe during his reflections, as Holmes was frequently known to do.
 * The DNA database includes the names of Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
 * The opening sequence of Part Two, wherein Smithers dreams that he merely dreamed shooting Mr. Burns, before going on to dream that they are in fact undercover detectives on the 1960s Speedway racing circuit, is similar to an incidence on the 1980s soap opera , in which the events of an entire season (including an attempted murder) were explained away as being merely a character's dream.
 * Groundskeeper Willie's interrogation scene where he is wearing a kilt and uncrosses his legs is a reference to Sharon Stone in . Moe's lie-detector test also alludes to the film.
 * The book that Chief Wiggum was reading is a parody of Agatha Christie's novel .
 * 's jazz club, Chez Guevara, is a pun on.

Trivia

 * At the end of the closing credits of the Part One episode, the Gracie Films logo sequence ends with a gunshot sound, referring to the mysterious atmosphere of the episode.
 * Tito Puente and his Latin Jazz Ensemble perform the Theme Song in the closing credits of Part Two.
 * The alternate ending to "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" (featured in the 138th Episode Spectacular) was created to prevent any staff (be it writers, or even the overseas animators) on The Simpsons from spoiling the mystery. There were also many of people who could have shot Mr. Burns as shown in the same episode. Which included Apu (with a semi-automatic gun which fired multiple rounds instead of just one), Moe, Barney,, and even Santa's Little Helper (who held the gun in his mouth and somehow pulled the trigger).
 * This episode is currently the only one of The Simpsons to have two parts. The story began with "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One)", aired as the season 6 finale, almost four months previously.
 * One of the men in Tito Puente's band plays a bongo drum that has Mr. Burns' face on it, paralleling a scene in And Maggie Makes Three where Homer actually plays Burns' head like a bongo drum.
 * Burns' hospital room number is 2F20, the same as the episode's production code.
 * The alternate ending is that Smithers shot Mr. Burns.
 * List of names in the DNA computer:

Goofs

 * Smithers was watching Pardon My Zinger at the time Mr. Burns was shot, yet somehow he knew Burns had been shot in the beginning of this episode. (Debunked:  Smithers had been at home drinking and watching TV for some time before he passed out and had the "Burns in the shower" dream.  He probably saw a news bulletin about Burns being shot.)
 * When Smithers realizes that he shot Jasper, instead of Mr. Burns, he mentions he left the meeting early in order to watch "Pardon My Zinger". However, in the previous episode, you see him walk out of the meeting with everyone else, very slowly. (Debunked: Smithers was delirious at the time. He probably couldn't remember the fact he did leave the meeting with everyone else.)

Continuity

 * The "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" saga has been referenced several times after:
 * In "The Old Man and the Lisa", Mr. Burns comes to the Simpsons house for Lisa, asking her to help him rebuild his fortune after he loses all his money. While in her house, Homer shows him Maggie, and she makes a gun shape with her hand. Mr. Burns then says "Oh yes, the baby who shot me". Kent Brockman also mentions the sun being blocked out.
 * In "The Cartridge Family", when Homer brings a gun home, Marge asks if he remembers when Maggie shot Mr. Burns, Homer replies "I thought Smithers did it".
 * "Day of the Jackanapes" had Mr. Smithers say "Maggie shot Mr. Burns again".
 * In "A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love", Homer tells Gloria that Burns blocked out the sun and was shot by a baby.
 * In "Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Three Times", Homer claims he did it and framed Maggie.
 * In "The Fool Monty" Maggie aims a gun at Burns, Lisa tells her "not today".
 * In "Walking Big & Tall", Bart writes "It's the only home we got, the town where Mr. Burns was shot" for the song.
 * In the comic story Baby Got Back (at Burns), when Mr. Burns and Smithers walk past Maggie at the beach, Burns says "look, Smithers, it's that child who shot me".
 * There is another reference of Maggie as a "killer". In the episode "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge", Homer is threatened to be killed by the mafia after stopping their business. Just as the mafia is about to kill Homer, several gunshots wound all the gangsters. The shooter was, of course, Maggie. The show also refers to Who Shot Mr. Burns? in the following line after Maggie saves Homer:
 * Homer: Look at Maggie. Napping so peacefully. Marge: Yeah. Probably thinking of the time she shot Mr. Burns. Homer: She's just like Clark Kent. Whenever there's lots of excitement, she's nowhere to be found. (Homer and Marge leave. Maggie wakes up and smiles right at the camera ominously)


 * Maggie's propensity for firearms is also seen in the segment "The Fright to Creep and Scare Harms" of "Treehouse of Horror XIII" and in the comic story Maggie's Crib 10.
 * The alternate ending (mentioned above) was featured in the "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular", along with several (fake) alternate versions of Burns getting shot, with a different culprit in each.
 * The "Outhouse Gag": Grampa abruptly ends a discussion to "use the outhouse". Lisa says that the family doesn't own an outhouse, which causes Homer to panic and run outside to try to stop Grandpa from befouling a building (Homer's tool shed) that only resembles an outhouse. The gag is later repeated in "The Bonfire of the Manatees".
 * Chief Wiggum also drinks warm cream and subsequently experiences a bizarre dream in the comic story Future Cop!.