0029 - Charles Montgomery Burns (Patreon)

Arguably one of the most important Simpsons characters in existence! Mr Burns is seen as the default villain of the show, filling a specific antagonistic role that is often necessary for storytelling. Additionally, I believe him to be a template for many rich characters to follow. Think about billionaire characters that existed before him - Scrooge McDuck, Batman, Richie Rich - often the hero of the story, as shining examples of capitalism as a basis for fun adventures.

And then comes along Mr Burns, framed not only as rich beyond your wildest dreams, but also as pure evil. This is one of the simpler core representations of the series, that wealth corrupts - we take it for granted given how often this theme has come up in media since, and even in the fact that real life billionaires are universally the worst. But I truly believe that Mr Burns is a turning point in the representation of the rich (for the better.)

Of course, the show has existed for 30 years, so we are also often given a glimpse of Burns' humanity, but usually this is only fleeting, with him reverting to his evil ways by the end of the story (a good example of this is Season 8's "The Old Man and the Lisa.")

Incidentally, in the course of our slow rewatch, Smithers has had a line spoken over the power plant intercom in "Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire", but he has not appeared on screen, so he's not getting an entry yet!

This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Character Ever" series. For a list of my rules in this project, click here.