The Burns and the Bees

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References/Trivia

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Quotes

	Season 20 Episode
← 427 "MyPods and Boomsticks"	428 "The Burns and the Bees"	"Lisa the Drama Queen" 429 →

"Dad, don't eat the bees!"

―Lisa

"The Burns and the Bees"

Episode Information Episode number: 428 Season number: S20 E8 Production code: KABF21 Original airdate: December 7, 2008 Chalkboard gag: Jesus is not mad his birthday is on Christmas. Couch gag: The simpsons sit down on the couch, only to reveal they are in a Christmas ornament Guest star(s): Marv Albert as himself Jeff Bezos as himself Mark Cuban as himself Showrunner: Al Jean Written by: Stephanie Gillis Directed by: Mark Kirkland DVD features

"The Burns and the Bees" is the eighth episode of season 20 of The Simpsons and the four-hundred and twenty-eighth episode overall. It originally aired on December 7, 2008. The episode was written by Stephanie Gillis and directed by Mark Kirkland. It guest stars Marv Albert as himself, Jeff Bezos as himself and Mark Cuban as himself.

Synopsis

"When Mr. Burns wins a professional basketball team in a poker game, he decides to build a new sports arena in Springfield for them – on the site where Lisa is trying to keep Springfield's bee population from dying out; Homer tries to solve the problem by mating the bees – with "killer" Africanized bees."

Plot

Mr. Burns goes to Billionaire Camp where all the billionaires who attended, including Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Branson, Bill Gates and Rupert Murdoch, 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 Jeff Bezos 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, Mark Cuban, 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.

Reception

"The Burns and the Bees" was nominated for a 2010 Writers Guild of America award in Animation, but it lost to "Wedding for Disaster".

"The Burns and the Bees" was nominated for a 2009 Environmental Media Award in Best Television Episodic Comedy, but it lost to "Jabberwocky" from Better Off Ted.

Harry Shearer was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards for voicing Mr. Burns and Waylon Smithers in this episode, but he lost to Dan Castellaneta for "Father Knows Worst".

References

Wikisimpsons has a collection of images related to "The Burns and the Bees".

← Season 19 Season 20 Episodes Season 21 →

Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes • Lost Verizon • Double, Double, Boy in Trouble • Treehouse of Horror XIX • Dangerous Curves • Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words • MyPods and Boomsticks • The Burns and the Bees • Lisa the Drama Queen • Take My Life, Please • How the Test Was Won • No Loan Again, Naturally • Gone Maggie Gone • In the Name of the Grandfather • Wedding for Disaster • Eeny Teeny Maya, Moe • The Good, the Sad, and the Drugly • Father Knows Worst • Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D'oh • Four Great Women and a Manicure • Coming to Homerica