The Burns Cage

Meanwhile, Milhouse competes against a new boy for the lead role in a school production of Casablanca, so he can act alongside his own unrequited love, Lisa.

Openly gay actor George Takei makes a cameo as himself, and the episode features a variety of cultural references, including to Grindr, Vladimir Putin, Equus and the films of Humphrey Bogart.

Critical reception was positive: the emotionally touching aspects of LaZebnik's script and Harry Shearer's portrayal of Smithers were praised.

However, criticisms included the plot possibly ending the innuendo-driven humor involving Smithers' secret love of Burns, and an assumption that the character was being retconned due to changing attitudes on homosexuality since the series' debut.

Milhouse wants the male lead role of Rick because of his love for Lisa, but he is challenged by a new boy, Jack DeForest, who dresses, acts and speaks like Humphrey Bogart.

[2] In September 2015, in an interview to promote the 27th season, executive producer Al Jean announced that "we actually do a lot with Smithers this year", adding that two episodes would deal with the character's sexuality, including one in which he becomes tired of Burns not appreciating him.

[5] Tony Sokol of Den of Geek felt that Smithers coming out was good for social acceptance, but would end the comedy around his sexuality, which is based on double entendre.

He added that the school's production of Casablanca was disappointing compared to the series' previous adaptations of A Streetcar Named Desire and Planet of the Apes, and gave his opinion that the Bogart homages ruined the opportunity to do better parodies of his films.

[7] Writing in British progressive magazine the New Statesman, Anna Leszkiewicz felt that the episode was not about "coming out", as the innuendo concerning Smithers' sexuality had been running for decades.

Leszkiewicz concluded that it was progress – for the show more than for the LGBT community – that homosexuality was being treated in a more mature way on The Simpsons, but that the change should have been made at least a decade ago.

[10] The episode was covered by international media outlets including the BBC,[11] The Australian,[12] Die Welt,[13] La Stampa,[14] Jornal de Notícias,[15] El Mundo,[16] and L'Avenir.