There’s no shortage of Homer-centered episodes in The Simpsons, classics the place the Dan Castellaneta-voiced patriarch is on the forefront, like “Homer on the Bat” and “Colonel Homer.” However the episodes the place Homer is reunited along with his mom, Mona, performed by the long-lasting Glenn Close, are arguably essentially the most private. It’s among the many solely instances we actually ever see Homer in a deep, complicated, emotional state – one that may’t be settled by a donut – and since these episodes give unprecedented depth to the character, they forge a storyline that stands as Homer’s largest and greatest.
Mona is, in spite of everything, a girl that deserted Homer and his father years earlier than, and when she passes away – for actual this time, in Season 19’s “Mona Leaves-a” – Homer lastly appears to return to some kind of peace about their relationship. After which comes Season 36’s “The Man Who Flew Too A lot,” and Mona reappears, and the storyline that was laid to relaxation is resurrected along with her… and is totally ruined by confirming that Mona Simpson is in Hell, right there with Richard Nixon and the beginning line-up of the 1976 Philadelphia Flyers.
Homer and Mona Simpson Are Reunited in ‘The Simpsons’
, Moe, my mother as soon as mentioned one thing that basically caught with me. She mentioned, ‘Homer, you’re a giant disappointment,’ and God bless her soul, she was actually onto one thing.
The quote above is the primary time that Homer ever mentions his mom, within the Season 1 episode “There’s No Shame Like House,” and the primary time we see her, briefly, is in Season 2’s “Oh Brother, The place Artwork Thou?” It would not be till Season 7 that we get a correct introduction to Mom Simpson in, appropriately sufficient, “Mom Simpson.” Within the episode, Homer, on the Springfield Corridor of Data to elucidate he is not lifeless (after faking his personal dying to keep away from work), learns that his mom, considered lifeless for 26 years, remains to be alive. Confused, he visits her grave (which is not hers in any respect, however Walt Whitman‘s), falls into his grave, and is reunited with Mona, who got here after listening to about his so-called dying.
Homer brings Mona dwelling to fulfill the household, however her unusual conduct when a police automobile drives by prompts the household to confront Mona concerning the reality. Because it seems, Mona ran afoul of Mr. Burns (Harry Shearer) in 1969, when she and a bunch of hippies launched an “antibiotic bomb” inside his germ warfare laboratory, disrupting his plans to poison the residents of Springfield. Burns acknowledged her, nevertheless, forcing her to go away Homer and Abe (Castellaneta) and go into hiding. Sadly, an opportunity encounter with Burns forces Mona to return into hiding, so she says goodbye to Homer, promising that he shall be a part of her life perpetually. The episode ends on a poignant observe as Homer stares up on the stars from the hood of his automobile, his mom having left him as soon as once more.
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Homer and Mona’s Relationship Ends With a Tentative Peace in ‘The Simpsons’
Mona would attain out to Homer in Season 15’s “My Mom the Carjacker” by way of a coded message in an article titled “World’s Largest Pizza.” They meet at a diner, solely Mona is acknowledged and brought into custody. On the trial, Homer begs for his mom to not be taken away from him once more, a heartrending second that strikes the jury to acquit Mona, a move that infuriates Burns. Now not on the run, Mona catches up on the moments she missed from Homer’s childhood – giving him a shower, watching him within the college play, and instructing him methods to trip a motorbike.
The enjoyment is short-lived, nevertheless, after Burns tips Mona into confessing to a federal offense, and she or he’s going to jail… or is she? Homer commandeers the bus taking Mona and different feminine convicts to jail. Mona, not eager to see Homer imprisoned, tases him and pushes him out of the bus earlier than it flies off a cliff right into a lake, the place it explodes, setting off a rockslide that covers the bus. The household holds a funeral for Mona, however one other coded message assures Homer that Mona managed to flee.
Then comes “Mona Leaves-a,” the place the household returns dwelling from Springfield mall to search out Mona inside, baking a recent apple pie. She’s achieved with activism, and plans on staying for good. Solely the ache of Mona’s fixed reappearing and disappearing in Homer’s life has left him damage and deserted. In what’s arguably Homer at his most compelling and trustworthy, he states that he by no means desires to really feel that manner once more, angrily asserting that he won’t ever forgive her.
After cooling off, Homer comes downstairs to apologize, nevertheless it’s too late: Mona handed away. Homer is racked with guilt and depressed that he did not apologize earlier than she died, a dying that he blames himself for. Mona, in a video will that she left behind, asks Homer to launch her ashes from the best level at Springfield Monument Park at precisely 3:00 pm. It is an arduous job, however Homer is set, seeing it because the least he can do to honor her. Solely the ashes journey contained in the mountain, and disrupt a secret nuclear missile launch. Already combating the idea Mona cared extra about her protests than him, it was yet one more devastating blow to know he was a pawn in a single final protest from past the grave. He is taken captive by Burns, solely to be freed by his household due to the objects Mona left them in her will. Homer releases her ashes as soon as extra, and the episode ends with clips of Homer having fun with time with Mona from her earlier episodes.
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Mona Is in Hell in “The Man Who Flew Too A lot”
It is all very un-Homer like, which makes it hit that a lot tougher. Homer, sometimes, is about as deep as an inflatable kiddie pool, and issues have a manner of figuring out for him ultimately. However his relationship along with his mom is unresolved. It is not labored out, and it could actually’t be labored out now. He has to return to some kind of peace with it, and the storyline ends the way in which it ought to. Mona is not let off the hook. It is harsh, sure, however she passes away understanding that her actions scarred Homer irreparably. For a sequence that seldom holds consequences for a character’s actions, that’s one that’s about as actual because it will get.
Which brings us to “The Man Who Flew Too A lot.” In a nutshell, Homer and his Pin Buddies are in a helicopter that crashes right into a mountainside, stranding them. Regardless of their hopes that somebody will come to their rescue, their ordeal pushes into per week, bringing them close to dying. Homer, delirious, calls out, lamenting that his life goes to finish, frozen and alone within the snow. Simply then, Mona seems, and asks, “My pricey son, are you prepared to hitch me?” He replies, “I’m, Mommy. Take me to the great place.” Solely that is not the place she is. She’s in Hell, with the afterlife not eager on former left-wing radicals.
For starters, there’s merely no cause for it. It is unnecessarily darkish, and whereas the percentages that she’s really in Hell are distant – characters which have died, like Larry the Barfly and Maude Flanders, have not been proven to be there – it is fairly harsh to imagine that somebody who stopped Burns’ nefarious plans not as soon as however twice could be the primary. What which means, then, is that Homer’s hallucination is his unresolved anger at his mom, inserting her in Hell as a result of that is the place his unconscious believes she ought to be. However even then, his first assumption is that she’s there to take him to Heaven, so there’s some kind of disconnect. It suggests Homer has had no progress in any respect within the years since his mom’s dying, and even for Homer, that appears a stretch. “Mona Leaves-a” ended the connection on the suitable observe. “The Man Who Flew Too A lot” did not want so as to add the exclamation mark.
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The Simpsons
- Launch Date
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December 17, 1989
- Community
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FOX
