u/Ellie_Rulze18

Throughout the Series, Reese appears to be a stereotypical over the top idiot. But maybe he's just pretending to be stupid. Why pretend? Malcolm is miserable, everyone picks on him. The other characters run to Malcolm to fix their problems. Malcolm has tons of pressure placed on him By Lois and Hal. Reese has at times shows he may actually be very smart. At one point he got an absolute Zero on a test so he would have do another year of school. Which getting an absolute Zero would mean he knew enough to get literally every answer wrong on purpose. In season four, he reveals that he simply thinks of a TV advertisement when something difficult comes up. Malcolm does this, and starts to act like Reese. Nobody expects anything of Reese, he's also seemingly much happier then Malcolm. Plus he is also a lot more popular then Malcolm. I don't think he is actually all that dumb, he's just faking it so he can have an easier life.

In an earlier episode, MR Burns shows Smithers that the Power Plant is under a Birds name. As such he himself cannot get into trouble for doing the various highly illegal things he does. Throughout the series, a running Joke is MR Burns doesn't know who Homer Simpson is. Despite Homer and his family being a huge part of MR Burns life. But what if he's just pretending he doesn't know? Homer is easily the worst dumbest, employee at the power Plant. He also nearly destroyed Springfield several times. Other characters seem to understand how incompetent he is. So why keep him Around? Since Homer is the safety inspector who hardly ever does his actual Job, MR Burns can cut corners. A good safety inspector would likely cost MR Burns millions, and have the Plant shutdown. Something Homer actually does when he becomes smart and starts doing his job. Furthermore when something goes wrong, Homer takes the fall. MR Burns pretends he didn't know Homer was even employeed. Was also unaware of the issue the Plant had. But why pretend in front of Smithers his right hand man? Mr Burns doesn't seem to fully trust Smithers or like him all that much. He probably plays it safe, and pretends in front of him as well. In case Smithers ever spilled the beans that MR Burns dam well knew who Homer was.