It's Mr. Charles Montgomery Burns's birthday, but, despite getting everything a cold, loveless billionaire could ever want (including King Arthur's Excalibur, the only existing nude painting of Mark Twain, a unicorn, all of Australia spelling his name in lights, the unrequited love of his assistant, Smithers; and an early draft of the U.S. Constitution with the word "suckers" in it), all Mr. Burns really wants is Bobo, the teddy bear he abandoned the day he was adopted into wealth a la Charles Foster Kane. And when The Simpsons discover the bear inside a bag of ice that Bart bought from the Kwik-E-Mart, Mr. Burns does whatever he can to reclaim his childhood toy.
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One night, Burns is restless and has dreams of his old teddy bear, Bobo, who he foolishly abandoned as a child. Smithers overhears Burns in the night, discovering that Burns longs for his lost bear. The following day, it is Burns' birthday and the town is invited. He is offered gold, a unicorn, and even a performance by The Ramones, which scares him so much, he orders Smithers to have them killed (thinking they're The Rolling Stones). Burns is unsatisfied with his presents (and shuts down his party after Homer's attempt at stand-up ends with Homer mooning his boss, the nuclear plant security hitting Homer on the head, and the other security guards attacking everyone else at the party), and Smithers points out that Burns misses his teddy bear. Desperate to know what happened to his long lost bear, it turns out that Bobo was with Charles Lindbergh when he made his famous trans-Atlantic flight to Paris in 1927, who threw it in a crowd and was caught by a young Adolf Hitler. Eighteen years later (in 1945), Bobo was with Adolf Hitler (now the embattled leader of Nazi Germany) in his bunker as Berlin was being bombed during World War II, with the dictator blaming Bobo for his actions. Twelve years after that (in 1957), Bobo was on the nuclear submarine, The Nautilus, and was encased in ice as the submarine dove under the Arctic waters. For the next 36 years (1993 at the time of the episode's premiere), Bobo was trapped in the ice until the day some ice harvesters chipped him out, bagged him, and delivered him to the Kwik-E-Mart.
The Ice Deliverers bring the ice to the Kwik-E-Mart, begging Apu to lower the price due to how dangerous the job is (until Apu suggests that they find a better way to get ice, which none of the men can come up with). Bart, who has been sent to the store to get ice for Homer's head injury for wiggling his bare butt in public (which, despite promising Lisa that he'll never do it again, is planning on doing the same thing during Selma's birthday), finds the bag and thinks it's a human head. When he gets home, he opens the bag and sees that it's a teddy bear, which he gives to Maggie. Homer is initially ignorant of the valuable bear being two feet in front of him when it is first shown on TV but he soon realizes its true identity. Homer intends on giving the bear to Burns in return for one million dollars and three Hawaiian islands (Not the Leper ones), but after Maggie refuses to give up Bobo, as well as Burns' reluctance in giving away the reward money he promised, he keeps it instead. To make matters worse, Burns goes on television to ask for his bear, and even cuts off the beer and TV supply in Springfield swearing that he won't return them until Homer gives Bobo back to him. Barney immediately goes to the house to threaten Homer with a gun, only for Homer to slam the door on him. Barney's gun goes off, followed immediately by the sound of glass breaking and a woman screaming. Police sirens are heard and Barney says "Uh-oh". The neighborhood forces Homer to give Bobo back, but when they see Maggie's expression, they turn it over to her.
As Burns resorts to having Smithers beg Homer to return Bobo, Homer finally tells him to talk to Maggie in person, and while he does talk kindly at first he starts to have an unsuccessful tug of war with her. Finally Burns gives in and lets Maggie keep him and asks her to take care and hold onto Bobo like he should have. As he leaves however, Maggie kindly gives him back the bear which he is overjoyed by, but the family does not get any money. That night, Mr. Burns snuggles up with his bear, wondering what the future will hold for it.
The contents of this article or section are considered to be non-canon and therefore may not have actually happened/existed.
In 1,000,000 A.D., the world is run by apes and the only human alive is Homer, who has been cloned for slave labor. Bobo is found under a pile of rocks, by several simian scientists. A robotic Burns snatches the bear and runs off, while being followed by Smithers, who has been turned into a robotic dog.
Burns and Maggie.
Behind the Laughter[]
Reception[]
Entertainment Weekly named this the second best episode in the show's history.
