History Recap / TheSimpsonsS8E12MountainOfMadness

* EpicFail: The power plant's fire drill, which kicks off the plot. No one gets it in at least ''fifteen minutes''. The first one out is Homer, who then blocks the exit.

* RhetoricalQuestionBackfire: When Homer tells his family about the teamwork retreat.

* ''Bart presses a button labeled "You"''*\\

* ''Bart kicks the animatronic in frustration''*

* CallingTheOldManOut: Smithers privately calls out Burns after being forced to hike the mountain alone.
-->'''Smithers:''' Sir, this can't be right. You assured me this drawing was rigged so we'd be teammates.\\
'''Burns:''' Yes, well, frankly, you've been a bit of a pill lately.\\
'''Smithers:''' Why do we always fight on vacation?

** Homer boasts to winning after he gets out of the plant first and blocks the door. Burns is naturally not pleased to see Homer being so dumb as to block the door in a fire drill and tells him he "won" more than he bargained for, to which Homer just cheers.

-->'''Homer:''' I think when we yelled we caused another avalanche. *''AVALANCHE''*\\
'''Burns:''' ''whispering'' We should... be... careful... not... to speak...unless... it's... absolutely... pos-i-tively... necessary. *''AVALANCHE''*\\
'''Homer:''' Shh. *''AVALANCHE''* You're... causing... more... avalanches. *''AVALANCHE''* I *''AVALANCHE''* think *''AVALANCHE''* they've *''AVALANCHE''* stopped. {{Beat}} *'''AVALANCHE'''*\\

* InVinoVeritas: Subverted, where a park ranger enters a cabin and finds it full of partying employees from the nuclear plant.
-->'''Ranger:''' Hey, what is going on here? Who are you people? This is a lookout post. Where is Ranger [=McFadden=]?\\
'''Drunk:''' I was just happy to see so many nice people!\\
'''Ranger:''' Quiet, you drunk. Where is Ranger [=McFadden=]?\\
(''the camera then moves a step to the side, revealing a straight-laced ranger with glasses'')\\
'''Ranger [=McFadden=]:''' Right here, sir, behind the drunk.

* DickDastardlyStopsToCheat: Discussed.
-->'''Burns:''' If you can take advantage of a situation in some way, it's your duty as an American to do it. Why should the race always be to the swift or the jumble to the quick-witted? Should they be allowed to win merely because of the gifts God gave them? Well, I say cheating is the gift man gives himself!\\
'''Homer:''' Mr. Burns, I insist that we cheat.\\
'''Burns:''' Excellent.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Burns normally doesn't care what kind of messes his idiotic employees cause. But a mock fire drill he set up for his plant shows that even he has his limits. The second it begins, Burns' employees spend fifteen minutes fighting each other to escape, and Homer, the first person to do so, ''bars the exit.'' The sheer incompetence on display motivates Burns to arrange a mountain cabin race for the company, hoping it will foster some good work values within its participants.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Burns normally doesn't care what kind of messes his idiotic employees cause. But a mock fire drill he set up for his plant shows that even he has his limits. The second it begins, Burns' employees spend fifteen minutes fighting each other to escape, and Homer, the first person to do so, ''bars the exit.'' The sheer incompetence on display motivates Burns to arrange a mountain cabin race for the company, hoping it will instill good work values into his workers.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Burns normally doesn't care what kind of messes his idiotic employees cause. But a mock fire drill he set up for his plant shows that even he has his limits. The second it begins, Burns' employees spend fifteen minutes fighting each other to escape, and Homer, the first person to do so, ''bars the exit.'' The sheer incompetence on display motivates Burns to arrange a mountain cabin race for the company, hoping the activities there will instill good work values into his workers.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Burns normally doesn't care what kind of messes his idiotic employees cause. But a mock fire drill he set up for his plant shows that even he has his limits. The second it begins, Burns' employees spend fifteen minutes fighting each other to escape, and Homer, the first person to do so, ''bars the exit.'' The sheer incompetence on display motivates Burns to arrange for a mountain retreat, hoping the activities there will instill good work values into their participants.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Burns normally doesn't care what kind of messes his idiotic employees cause. But a mock fire drill he set up for his plant shows that even he has his limits. The second it begins, Burns' employees spend fifteen minutes fighting each other to escape, and Homer, the first person to do so, ''bars the exit.'' The sheer incompetence on display motivates Burns arrange for a mountain retreat, hoping the activities there will instill good work values into their participants.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Burns normally doesn't care what kind of messes his idiotic employees cause. But a mock fire drill he set up for his plant shows that even he has his limits. The second it begins, Burns' employees spend fifteen minutes fighting each other to escape, and Homer, the first person to do so, ''bars the exit.'' The sheer incompetence on display motivates Burns to address it with his mountain retreat plan, hoping to instill good work values into his participants.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Burns normally doesn't care what kind of messes his idiotic employees cause. But a mock fire drill shows that even he has his limits. The second it begins, Burns' employees spend fifteen minutes fighting each other to escape, and Homer, the first person to do so, ''bars the exit.'' The sheer incompetence on display motivates Burns to address it with his mountain retreat plan, hoping to instill good work values into his participants.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Burns normally doesn't care what kind of messes his idiotic employees cause. But seeing a simple fire drill causing them all to fight each other to be the first one out, to the point where it took over fifteen minutes for anyone to get out of the plant (and once someone makes it out, in this case Homer, they ''bar the door'', trapping everyone else inside), is incompetence that outrages even him.

Episode - 4F10\\
First Aired - 2/2/1997

* JerkassHasAPoint: It's hard not to agree with Burns' disgust over his employees' inability to work together. Especially considering that it took them over 15 minutes to leave the plant during a fire drill in which they all fought one another to be the first one out.

* TookALevelInJerkass: Smithers becomes rather testy when Burns forced him to find the cabin alone. He becomes more annoyed by Bart and Lisa slowing his progress significantly.
-->'''Lisa:''' Mr. Smithers, Mr. Smithers! That moose is on fire!\\
'''Smithers:''' Fine, good. I don't care anymore.

--->'''Lenny:''' Maybe there is no cabin.\\

* ButtMonkey: Lenny. Not only is Carl disappointed with having him as partner, but he also ends up being the last to enter the cabin and gets fired. And at the end, he falls to the abyss when attempting to chew Burns out.

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Homer boasts to winning after he gets out of the plant first and blocks the door. Burns is naturally not pleased to see Homer being so dumb as to block the door in a fire drill and tells him he "won" more than he bargained for, to which Homer just cheers.

--->'''Carl:''' Maybe the "Cabin" was just a symbol for the special place in our hearts that we use when we work together?\\
'''Lenny:''' Eh... but he said there'd be sandwiches...

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Burns normally doesn't care what kind of messes his idiotic employees cause. But seeing a simple fire drill causing them all to fight each other to be the first one out, to the point where it took over fifteen minutes for anyone to get out of the plan (and once someone makes it out, in this case Homer, they ''bar the door'', trapping everyone else inside), is incompetence that outrages even him.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Burns normally doesn't care what kind of messes his idiotic employees cause. But seeing a simple fire drill causing them all to fight each other to be the first one out, to the point where it took over fifteen minutes for anyone to get out of the plan, is incompetence that outrages even him.

* PetTheDog: Burns threatened to fire the last person who reached the cabin, and while he does initially fire [[ButtMonkey Lenny]] he backs out of firing anyone. Lenny doesn't get the chance to find out in the episode itself however.

* SkewedPriorities: Lenny wouldn't evacuate the plant before the vending machine filled his cup.