Right now, with a sole watch, with the fresh image of Fred episode in my retina, and with all the hype still around, I have to say it was the strongest season premiere since The Falcon and the D'ohman, aired nine years ago.
David Harbour, the guest star, has great scenes and his actuation was outstanding. Fred was an entertaining, captivating character. Most of his entries were goddamn funny. His first interaction with an employee where he angrily decides to fire him, his presentation to Homer, Lenny, and Carl where he passes from being apathetic to kinda friendly, and his experience at Moe's stand out for me.
I really appreciate the evil role Mr. Burns performed here. The beginning of the fake fair used as an excuse to make children work was perversely cruel and it's an action worthy of the classic villain of the show. I enjoyed the scene in the bathrooms where he notices everyone hates him. After that, we learn a lot about his obscure repertory through the severe commentaries of Homer, Lenny, and Carl about the mistreatments they receive from their tyranny boss. And I must say, it's a mind-blowing idea that Mr. Burns suffers the hostile actions of Mr. Burns with another face, another body, and another voice.
The lines that Lenny and Carl had speculating about Fred, and how casually he and Burns were never together, and that kind of jokes were abundant throughout the episode vary from decent self-awareness jokes to create an absurd atmosphere to desperate attempts to explain the audience what was happening, depending on my mood, so I can not say if I liked them or not in general. Homer played a friendly role. He invites Fred to join him and his friends to lunch and then all of them enjoy great moments together. I enjoyed both montages a lot. The first one shows the crew in diverse activities as the roller coaster or fishing, ending up in a nice session of karaoke. The second one goes over the flexible, enjoyable, and relaxing place of work that the Nuclear Plant became.
In conclusion, I think Undercover Burns was better than expected. David Harbour was fantastic and his character, Fred, is quite funny. Burns recovered a pinch of evil, and it was nice to have so many scenes at the Nuclear Plant. The animation was easily above Anderson's standards, too. So, it was an enjoyable episode and a nice first-kick in season 32. Season 32, for God's love. I'm so proud of this show.