Rosebud

"Hey, it's a teddy bear. Gross, it's probably diseased or something. Here, Maggie."

- Bart Simpson

"Rosebud" is the fourth episode of season 5.

Plot
During one night, Burns is restless and has dreams of his old teddy bear, Bobo, who he foolishly abandoned as a child. Smithers overhears Burns in the night, discovering that Burns longs for his lost bear. The following day, it is Burns' birthday and the town is invited. He is offered gold, a unicorn, rings and even a performance by Ramones. Burns is dissatisfied with his presents, and Smithers points out that Burns misses his teddy bear. Desperate to know what happened to his long lost bear, it turns out that Bobo was later owned by the likes of Charles Lindbergh and Adolf Hitler. As of 1957, Bobo was washed up to the submarine and discovered by Ice Deliverers in 1993.

The Ice Deliverers bring the ice to the Kwik-E-Mart, and Bart finds Bobo in an ice bag. He brings it home and gives it to Maggie, and the Simpsons find out that the bear Maggie received was the long lost teddy bear of Mr. Burns. Homer plans on giving the bear to Burns in return for millions of dollars and three islands. When Homer sees Maggie will miss the bear and angry that the stingy Burns is reluctant to give the reward money he had promised, Homer keeps it instead. Burns then goes on television to ask for his bear and cuts off the beer and television supply to Springfield, causing the whole town to force Homer to give Bobo back. When the townspeople see Maggie's expression, however, they return it to her. Burns is finally forced to confront Maggie in person, and convinces her to give him back Bobo. She does so, but the family gets nothing in return. That night, Burns snuggles up with his bear, wondering what the future will hold for his bear.

In 1,000,000 A.D., Bobo is found under a pile of rocks, by several apes. A robotic Burns snatches the bear and runs off, while being followed by Smithers, who has been turned into a robotic dog.

Production
The episode was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Wes Archer, with David Silverman supervising. Silverman has described the episode as "one of the more challenging ones" to direct on several occasions. Several scenes where cut from the episode due to being deemed as too dark, such as a clip where Bobo was involved in the assassination of.

Ramones, who are huge fans of the show, guest star as themselves. Marky Ramone called their appearance "a career highlight".

Reception
"Rosebud" acquired a Nielsen rating of 11.9 and was the second highest-rated show on the Fox network that week. Critical response to "Rosebud" was positive and Entertainment Weekly placed the episode in second place on their list of the 25 best episodes of The Simpsons.

Gallery
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