Who shot Mr Burns in The Simpsons?
THE recurring antagonist of the American show meets a shocking end in a two-part episode.
TV villain Mr. Burns is shot by an unidentified assailant at the end of season six's last episode, leading other characters into an intense investigation.
Who really shot Mr. Burns in The Simpsons?
Both episodes were written by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein.
The first part of the intrigue was introduced in the twenty-fifth and final episode of season six of The Simpsons, on 21 May, 1995.
In this episode, Springfield Elementary School finds an oil strike which Mr. Burns steals, bringing misery to other citizens.
The episode ends in a dramatic cliffhanger as the owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant is shot during a town meeting by an unknown culprit.
The rest of the plot was then revealed in season seven's first episode, which originally aired on 17 September, 1995.
The assailant was then revealed to be Homer Simpson's daughter Maggie.
Why was Homer Simpson blamed?
Being Mr. Burns' employee at the nuclear power plant, Homer had more than one motive to want to harm his greedy and vicious boss.
He is first upset that Mr. Burns can never remember his name. Taking wife Marge's advice, he sends him a box of chocolates along with a picture of his family.
Mr. Burns discards the box and writes a thank you card to only Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie, further angering Homer.
Furious that his boss does not remember his name, Homer sneaks into his office and spray paints the sentence "I am Homer Simpson" before being caught in the act by Mr. Burns.
Failing to remember Homer's name, the latter attacks him in a rage before being hauled out by security.
Homer then vows revenge, much like other citizens affected by Mr. Burns' actions.
The events even led a fan to speculate that the assailant was none other than Homer, disguised as Krusty the Clown.
The fan took to Reddit to expose his theory, saying : "in the Who Shot Mr Burns episode of The Simpsons, Mr Burns is discovered shortly after being shot and is surrounded by a number of characters, including Krusty the Klown."
The LATEST ON THE SIMPSONS
"On close inspection it is absolutely irrefutable that it isn’t Krusty at all, but Homer Simpson in Krusty makeup (compare to when Homer dressed up as Krusty while in clown college)."
"Homer was actively on his way to kill Mr Burns while disguised as Krusty, echoing when he saw Sideshow Bob rob the Kwik-E-Mart while disguised as Krusty, but was beaten by mere seconds when Maggie shot him."
Writer Bill Oakley was however quick to debunk the theory on Twitter, after it spread like wildfire on social media.
"Let me clarify and say that if that *is* the “Homer dressed as Krusty” model (and the hair would seem to indicate it is not), we had no idea until today that it was", he said.
How was the assailant revealed?
Maggie was finally revealed as the shooter by Mr. Burns himself at the end of the second part of the intrigue.
Although he survived the shot, he was taken to hospital, unable to speak. It is then revealed that the only thing he can say is Homer's name, which makes other citizens and the police believe he is accusing the family man of attempted murder.
But the truth is revealed with Lisa's help. After investigating the crime scene, she finds out her baby sister is the one to blame, leading police other characters to Mr. Burns' hospital room, where an enraged Homer is violently shaking his employer.
This returns his ability to speak and, after stating that he still cannot remember Homer's name (who the brandishes a gun on him), Mr. Burns confirms that Maggie shot him.
He then goes over the events that led him to hospital : after leaving the town meeting, he came across the infant eating a lollipop in the Simpsons' car.
Mr. Burns decided to steal the candy from the baby, resulting in a struggle. Yanking the lollipop away, he loses his gun which slips into Maggie's hand.
Both the gun and the lollipop fell under the car seat with Homer unknowingly leaving fingerprints on the weapon.
Mr. Burns asks for Maggie to be arrested but is dismissed by Clancy Wiggum who reminds him that she is a baby and that no court could convict her for a crime at her age.
Marge then adds that she shooting must have been an accident... before Maggie is shown with shifty eyes, sucking on her pacifier, heavily implying that the shooting was from a stroke of bad luck.
