The Simpsons has returned to Disney+ with a brand new exclusive episode only seen with the streaming service, and with it has given C. Montgomery Burns a new origin for how he actually turned evil. The Simpsons has been experimenting with Disney+ in the last few months as not only did it end the year on the streaming service with a brand new exclusive special for the holidays, but it was only the first of more exclusive episodes coming to the service in the near future. Now fans have finally gotten to see the second of these brand new episodes hit.
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“The Past and the Furious” is a brand new, exclusive episode released with Disney+ this past week, and sent Lisa on a brand new adventure through time. In a Springfield that has been turned into concrete, Lisa discovers an ability to go back in time to the Jazz Age and meets a young Monty Burns before he becomes the evil corporate overlord he is today. Which means fans are treated to yet another new look into Mr. Burns’ past to somehow explain his current evil nature.
The Simpsons Reveals Mr. Burns’ New Origin Story
The Simpsons‘ “The Past and the Furious” imagines a version of Springfield where all plants have been wiped out thanks to Mr. Burns’ expanding corporate reach. When Lisa gets depressed at how hopeless the world has become, Homer and Marge enroll her in therapy where she begins to use special devices to dream where she’s going back to the past. Only to find out that she actually is going back into the past of her great grandmother named Edith, who once performed in a jazz band together with a much younger, and much happier Mr. Burns.
As Edith, Lisa continues to try and keep Mr. Burns from turning into the evil boss he is today. Finding out that the root cause of this is when he wiped out a species of Mini Moose, which then ruined the ecosystem forever, Lisa tries to stop Mr. Burns only to inadvertedly causing him to kill the Mini Moose instead. This young Burns had treasured a special green house filled with all kinds of special plants, but in Lisa’s attempts to save the Mini Moose, they end up destroying his greenhouse instead.
This where Mr. Burns turns into the evil boss who leads to the destruction of all kinds of plants after, and was further exacerbated when the current Mr. Burns is able to go back into the past and take over his younger self’s mind. Thus confirming that he’ll continue to be evil from then on out. For as much as Lisa tried to change him, she only set his current evil nature in stone.
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Is The Past and the Furious Canon in The Simpsons?
While “The Past and the Furious” shares a fun new look into Mr. Burns’ past, it unfortunately is not part of the extended actual timeline for the series overall. The Simpsons has showcased all kinds of looks into his past before, but this time was different as the episode starts with the reveal that it’s taking place in an alternate reality. Following a visual gag of someone opening “Yuhu” (a parody version of Hulu) and selecting from an “alternate realities” playlist, “The Past and the Furious” then starts in full.
So this new origin is indeed for a Mr. Burns, but it’s not the Mr. Burns in the main The Simpsons timeline. The animated series isn’t entirely tied to a specific timeline as it has shifted in many ways over the course of its over three decade run thus far, but this is a confirmation that the special is playing with something completely outside of its universe for a fun new experimental story. So it’s unfortunately non-canonical despite being a fun twist on Mr. Burns’ origin.
