Homer the Smithers

"Homer the Smithers" is the seventeenth episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons.

As employee night at the Springfield drag races ends, Smithers fails to protect Mr. Burns from being harassed by a drunken Lenny (although he was only thanking him).

When he attempts to drown himself in a water cooler, Burns demands he take a vacation once a suitable replacement can be found.

He is soon exhausted after waking up at 4:30 a.m. to prepare Burns' breakfast, assist him at the office all day, and cater to his every whim late at night in his mansion.

Stranded out of fear in his office, Burns gradually learns how to complete all of his tasks single-handedly and soon embraces his newfound self reliance.

[5] When the animation for the episode returned, the production staff found the scene of Homer fighting Smithers "horrifying", as the sounds of character exertion made it seem too violent.

[2] At the end of the episode, Burns is lying in bed in a body cast, chewing loudly and pausing his speech for Smithers to spoon-feed him, as in the film A Clockwork Orange when a bedridden Alex is spooned steak.

[7] The episode was the fifth-highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following The X-Files, Beverly Hills, 90210, Melrose Place, and Married... with Children.

He added that the staging and animation of the scene in which Homer tries to apologize to Burns "will remain engraved in your memory in the same way as some of the series finest dialogue can".

[8] DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson enjoyed the episode and commented that "any doubts about Smithers' sexuality will not last long when we see his vacation".

[10] The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, called it a "very good episode, and an unusually straightforward one for this surreal season".