The Burns and the Bees

"Dad, don't eat the bees!"

- Lisa

"The Burns and the Bees" is the eighth episode of Season 20. It first aired on December 7, 2008. It was written by Stephanie Gillis and directed by Mark Kirkland. Marv Albert, Jeff Bezos and Mark Cuban guest star.

Plot
Mr. Burns goes to Billionaire Camp where all the billionaires who attended, including, , Bill Gates and , go every year to have fun. Mr. Burns starts a food fight while other billionaires do archery and play Quidditch.

At Springfield Elementary School, Bart plays a prank on Principal Skinner, which is seen by the bullies. Jimbo dares Bart to knock a bee's nest down onto some second graders, including Lisa. Bart shoots it down with his slingshot and Lisa dives onto the nest to protect her fellow second graders. However, she finds out that all the bees are dead. Willie then informs her that bees all over the world are dying out and gets upset as he is a beekeeper.

In the Billionaire Camp, Mr. Burns is playing poker against The Rich Texan. He bets $1 million, and Smithers. The Rich Texan decides to throw in his basketball team, the Austin Celtics. Mr. Burns wins and the Rich Texan tells him to take good care of his team. Other billionaires are telling scary stories round a campfire and wets himself.

Lisa goes home to tell Homer about the bees dying. Homer is fine with this, until he learns that bees make honey. He then imagines a future without honey where the world has started to crumble and they are now offering Synthetic Honey. A WALL-E robot then approaches him and gives him some honey, before crushing Homer into a cube. Homer decides to help Lisa out.

Mr. Burns goes to watch his new basketball team's first match. He had renamed them the "Springfield Celtics" and they played against the Dallas Mavericks in the Dallas Arena. The Celtics were originally winning 2-0 before the Mavericks scored, bringing the score to 3-2. The owner of the Mavericks,, comes into the arena and starts recklessly performing to celebrate. Mr. Burns is shocked to find out that he is a billionaire that doesn't recoil from outsiders and that he is actually loved by people. Mr. Burns then decides to change.

Meanwhile, Lisa and Homer see Professor Frink to tell him about the dying bees. Frink finds out that the bees have been getting Bee Measles, or "Beesles", as he calls them. Homer is shocked to learn that animals can get sick and then Lisa finds that a queen bee has landed on her cheek. After getting stung by the queen, a colony of bees form around her face. Homer and Lisa head home and Marge is shocked to see Lisa, while Grampa thinks that Lisa is Abraham Lincoln. Marge takes Lisa to a greenhouse on the edge of Springfield to leaves the bees in peace, and they settle into their new home.

Mr. Burns tries to get the crowd at Springfield Sports Palace to like him by putting on a show. He brought out bad acts, sang the national anthem wrong, threw stuff over the audience and shot a guy in a gorilla costume. All these things made the audience leave. Mr. Burns was sad at first but then got an idea to build a bigger and more modern stadium.

Lisa is in the greenhouse with the bees when a wrecking ball comes through and the bees start to fly off. Lisa tries to reason with Mr. Burns but he won't listen, so they bring a debate to the Springfield Town Hall. Lisa makes her argument and the crowd seem to listen, but then Burns uses reverse psychology, and an athlete called Muk Mu, to win the crowd around and they build the stadium.

Lisa and Homer are in Moe's Tavern, now upset. Lisa leaves and Moe gives an idea to Homer to breed the bees with an African breed that can survive in almost any environment, as Lisa's bees are dying. Homer agrees and they stick the queen in with the African bees.

Homer then takes Lisa to the area outside of Mr. Burns' new Springfield Excitement Arena where he has got the new bees. Lisa is then told that her bees died ages ago, but these are a new breed. Homer lets them go and they fly straight into the new arena, stinging everyone and frightening everyone off. They eventually make the arena their new hive and Mr. Burns tells Lisa that she has won.

Production
The episode was written by Stephanie Gillis and directed by Mark Kirkland. Billionaires Mark Cuban and Jeff Bezos and sportscaster Marv Albert guest star as themselves. The episode marks a second use of the Christmas-themed opening, first seen in "Kill Gil, Volumes I & II".

Reception
IGN gave the episode 7/10 and said that with an episode like this "I just don't laugh as much as I would have liked".

The Burns and the Bees