Monty Burns' Fleeing Circus

Monty Burns' Fleeing Circus is the first episode of Season 28. It aired on September 25, 2016.

It is a flashback episode showing Mr. Burns' childhood.

Synopsis
When Springfield is burned to the ground, the Simpsons beg Mr. Burns to fund its rebuilding. Burns agrees - with one condition: he gets to put on a variety show at the Springfield Bowl.

Full Story
The Simpsons are on a walk through Springfield when they observe the townspeople looking at the sky in terror. They soon found out that the Lard Lad statue disappeared. With the police unable to do anything, the town's residents are split between rioting and not rioting, which made the total damage from the riot $0, but because of that, the Lard Lad company decided to rebrand themselves with a new chrome statue.

However, they soon found out that the statue had a major issue, as it started reflecting sun rays into the town, burning it down almost completely. Mayor Quimby promisses people that they will rebuild the city, but six months later, they haven't done any progress. Because of that, the Simpsons beg Mr. Burns to fund the town's reconstruction. He agrees with the condition that he can put a variety show on the Springfield Bowl.

During the audition, Burns has a flashback to when he was a child, about to go on stage for the pee-wee pageant of 1913, with his mother licking him to wish him good luck. Later that day, he goes to Springfield Elementary School looking for other people to perform on stage for him when he has problems opening a clasp on a clipboard. Lisa helps out and Burns agrees to hire her as his personal assistant.

Back at the audition, Mr. Burns has another flashback to his childhood presentation, showing that he was the laughing-stock for everyone at the bowl, and even his mother failed to comfort him. He then says that he wants his presentation to have someone been shot into a cannon. Lisa laughs at his idea, saying that it would be impossible to perform. This makes Burns nettled and he agrees to cancel the show.

Feeling bad for Mr. Burns, Lisa chooses to go to his mansion to try to convince him to do the show, without any success. She then gets curious about what happened to him, so Smithers shows her an old recording of his presentation, showing that his suspenders snapped in the middle of his tap-dance presentation, making his pants fall, and as he went to put them back, his underwear also fell, resulting on everyone laughing at him. Later, Lisa manages to convince Burns to make the show.

Meanwhile, at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, with Mr. Burns gone, the employees started treating the plant as a resort, complete with a pool and games. However, when Homer was preparing for a prank, Marge reminded him that he is the safety inspector for the plant, and he was the one who should be stopping that. Later, Homer manages to put the employees back to work, but some bags of popcorn that were inside the core caused a fire.

At the bowl, everything goes according to plan, but at the ending they were interrupted by what looks to be fireworks, which is later revealed to be the power plant exploding. However, Mr. Burns isn't done with the show yet, as he wants to reenact his presentation, but his second try doesn't go any better, as he gets pushed away by a spotlight into a lamp, which causes his pants to burn down, and making him the laughingstock at the bowl once again. Burns gets mad at Lisa, but he ends up forgiving her and letting her play the saxophone on stage for an empty crowd.

In the final scene, Lisa asks Homer why Simpsons always fail, and he answers that it is because of a curse, as their ancestors didn't let Joseph and Mary stay at their home for Jesus' birth.