family has no insurance to pay for invisible braces, Lisa's dentist fits her with the cheapest (and ugliest) braces available, causing her self-esteem to drop. Burns sends hired goons to the Simpson house in order to take Homer back to his manor to negotiate. While Burns is setting the agenda for the discussion, Homer is struck by the urgent need to use the restroom. He asks Burns where the restroom is and leaves, but his delayed attempts to find it led Burns to conclude that Homer is a tough negotiator who is unwilling to hear him out. At a later union meeting, Homer tries to resign, tired of meeting with Burns. The union misinterprets his frustration, and the members nearly unanimously decide to strike. Burns is undeterred by the strike and tries several methods of breaking it up but fails. On an edition of Kent Brockman's talk show, Burns threatens dire events if the strike is not concluded. Burns and Smithers march to a secret room in the Power Plant and turn off the power for the entire town. The strikers do not lose hope and begin to sing. Burns, confident he has broken the union's spirit, steps out on his balcony to hear their reaction but is disarmed by their unity and optimism. Burns finally calls a meeting with Homer to concede their demands on one condition: that Homer resign as union president. Homer celebrates madly, leading Burns to finally realize that Homer is not the "brilliant tactician" he thought he was. With the Simpson family insured again, Lisa gets her perfect new braces and she, the Simpson family, and the dentist gather, laughing—because the dentist has forgotten to turn off the nitrous oxide. Production The idea for this episode came from Mike Reiss, who thought it would be funny if the plant went on strike. The writers of the episode, Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky, would later add the dental plan aspect of the plot. During the production of this episode, an ABC camera crew was allowed into the rewrite room, which Al Jean says he regrets because they were working on stage direction, and they came off as not being very funny. The producers originally asked Anthony Hopkins and Clint Eastwood to provide the voice of the dentist, Dr. Wolfe, but they both turned the role down. Anthony Perkins was eventually cast in the role, but died