Last Exit to Springfield
The episode was written by Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky (their final writing credit for The Simpsons), and directed by Mark Kirkland.
[3][4] While awaiting the arrival of his employees' union president (who has not been seen since he promised to clean up corruption in the organization) to discuss the latest contract, Mr. Burns reminisces of simpler times back in 1909, when his grandfather would deal with workers' complaints by walling them away in abandoned coke ovens.
Marge is worried, but Homer tells her that the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant's dental plan, which the workers won during a strike in 1988, will cover the cost.
Meanwhile, after learning the Simpsons have no dental insurance, Dr. Wolfe fits Lisa with the cheapest (and ugliest) braces available, causing her self-esteem to plummet.
[5] During the production of this episode, an ABC camera crew was allowed into the rewrite room, which Al Jean says he regrets because they were working on stage direction, and they came off as not being very funny.
[5] The title of the episode is an homage to Hubert Selby Jr.'s novel Last Exit to Brooklyn, one subplot of which involves the corruption and downfall of a union leader during a strike.
[6] The body of the union president, Chuckie Fitzhugh, is seen buried under a football field, an homage to the mystery surrounding the whereabouts of Jimmy Hoffa and his alleged burial at New Jersey's Giants Stadium.
[7] Homer's fantasy of a life of organized crime is based on Don Fanucci's first appearance in The Godfather Part II, accepting donuts rather than a necklace and an orange.
[8] Lisa's nitrous oxide-induced hallucination echoes The Beatles film Yellow Submarine, which Al Jean says had to be changed slightly for legal reasons.
In the script, the name was changed to "purple submersible", and letters spelling "HATRED" can be seen in the background; a contrast to the message of love popular in the 60s.
Mr. Burns and Smithers going through multiple doors to get to the main power switch is a parody of the opening credits of Get Smart; the bit with the book case and twin fire poles is a reference to the original Batman TV series.
Before Mr. Burns shuts off the town's power in response to the strike, he says, "From Hell's heart I stab at thee", a reference to Captain Ahab's curse in Moby-Dick, one of Wolodarsky's favorite books.
[7] When Homer succeeds in getting the dental plan reinstated, he celebrates by spinning around on the floor and yelling “woo-woo-woo” à la Curly Howard of The Three Stooges.
Smithers says "He thwarted your campaign for governor, you ran over his son, he saved the plant from meltdown, and his wife painted you in the nude..." Burns says, "Eh... doesn't ring a bell."
[11] An Entertainment Weekly article from January 2003 looking back at the top 25 episodes of the series named the episode as the show's greatest, calling it "virtually flawless, the product of a series at the height of its creative powers -- when the satire was savage and relevant" with "the stuff of syndication legend: Burns facing down 'brilliant' labor kingpin Homer Simpson; Homer Simpson facing down his own brain (DENTAL PLAN!/Lisa needs braces!
Last Exit is a glorious symphony of the high and the low, of satirical shots at unions and sweet ruminations on the humiliations of adolescence (as evidenced by Lisa, who copes with a medieval mouth contraption).
[13] He also called it "the funniest half-hour in TV history", and provided a full analysis of the episode, only criticizing the chalkboard and couch gags.
(with the animation and line delivery implying Homer is lying) after being asked if he found the bathroom is one of Jay Kogen's favorite Simpsons jokes.
