"The Simpsons" Mother Simpson (TV Episode 1995) Poster

(TV Series)

(1995)

User Reviews

Review this title
9 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
10/10
The Saddest Episode Ever
I_Am_The_Taylrus27 October 2006
Warning: Spoilers
SPOILERS

Mother Simpson is without a doubt, the saddest episode ever. Homer fakes his death to get out of picking up garbage for Mr. Burns. Everyone comes to his house and tells Marge how very sorry they are for her. Marge tells Homer to straighten it out. While straightening it out, his profile says that his mother is alive. Homer, of course, doesn't believe it and goes to her grave, but it wasn't her grave, it was....Walt Whitman?! Darn you, Walt Whitman! Homer then goes to the gravestone with Simpsons on it, but it's his grave. He falls in it and a woman scolds him. He then finds out that it is his long-lost mother, Mona Simpson, voiced by who else than Glenn Close! Mona supposedly died when Homer was at the movies.

Homer then acts like a little boy again, but when police come by she hides. Mysterious, right? Bart and Lisa find her purse full of false drivers' license, including Martha Stewart. Mona then tells them why she abandoned Homer.

She says she joined a hippie group and helped destroy Mr. Burns's germs, thus curing Wiggum's Asthma. She is caught by Mr. Burns but escapes, becoming a fugitive. The Simpsons try to hide her but are found by the cast of Dragnet. Wiggum helps Homer and Mona escape because she helped cure his Asthma. She then takes a bus out of Springfield, with the last quote of the episode, "D'oh." Homer watches his mother drive away and he stays and looks up at the stars as the credits roll.

The music at the end is the saddest, best music in the Simpsons ever. I was amazed that they didn't nominate this for an Emmy. This episode, and definitely the ending, is the most saddest episode in Simpson history.

10/10
44 out of 46 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
8/10
Simply Brilliant
98nurdinm-130 June 2006
Warning: Spoilers
This is one of the most touching episodes of "The Simpsons" I have ever seen. Homer's mother turns out not to be dead after all and he is reunited with her. But she is a wanted criminal on the run and Mr Burns wants her head on a silver platter...

All the cast do their usual great work, and Glenn Close makes a good guest appearance as Homer's Mom. But it's the ending that gets me the most - the writers and director made the right choice of not ending with any jokes at all, just with a still shot of Homer on his own watching the stars after saying goodbye to his mum. The music for this gets me every time and I start to blub like a little baby. The should have entered this for that year's Emmy 'cos it would have won fair and square! 8/10
27 out of 28 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
9/10
Easily the most touching episode in the show's 20 year history
binkle2814 January 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Apart from having some of the most memorable quotes in the show's history ("A little from column A, a little from column B", "Look at those side burns! He looks like a girl!"), this episode is also the most touching and is evidence of just how good this show can be.

Upon faking his death (in an opening scene that is truly a Simpsons classic), Homer ends up meeting his mother, a 1960s radical who went underground after destroying Mr. Burns' germ warfare laboratory. Mother Simpson reconnects with the family, and we learn where Lisa got her smarts and her political leanings.

Joe Friday (voiced by Harry Shearer) and Frank Gannon (voiced by Harry Morgan) track down Mother Simpson (voiced by Glenn Close), but not before a mysterious and anonymous (up until the end) tipster lets the Simpson family know that the feds are on their way to arrest her.

The episode ends in what is arguably the most touching moment ever on the Simpsons: Mother Simpson getting a lift from her old hippie friends and leaving Homer again. As the credits roll, we see a long shot of Homer sitting on the hood of his car in the desert looking up at the stars with very sentimental music playing. Its been 13 years since I first saw this episode, and even today, going back and watching the DVD, I'm still moved to tears at the ending. I also recently read that the producers requested that Fox NOT run commercials over the closing credits due to the emotional nature of the ending, and I have to say that that was a brilliant move on their part.

This would easily make my Top 5 Simpsons episodes of all time. And it just goes to show how good this show can be. You don't find true emotion like this in even a lot of live action shows, let alone an animated one. This one episode makes purchasing the 7th Season Box Set totally worth it.
28 out of 31 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
An emotional look inside the mind of Homer Simpson
boclani23 November 2016
The Simpsons have had its ups and downs in terms of great film making. Even with a lot of un-funny, boring and dull episodes given lately, some episodes like "Barthood" give us glimpses of the little bit of creative juice left in the tank and give us episodes that were both hilarious and heartfelt.

Mother Simpson is not my favourite Simpsons episode, but has my favourite Simpsons scene. In an animated comedy, the acting, the score, the message and the feels that had to be crammed into a 1 minute scene and it works wonders, and that is why this episode is a gem.

I never thought I had seen a perfect scene in The Simpsons, but I remembered the ending of this episode.

The Mona character is one of the best and most interesting in the series as she isn't in many episodes. This episode is all about her, and her backstory and the explanation of why she left her son and husband at such a young age. Mona is an important character to every Simpson character in the family.

Bart and Maggie never say and give any real reasons why it was important seeing her. But we can infer that Mona would put Bart in line while watching him grow up, same with Maggie, Homer and Marge would want their Mother and Mother-in-law to watch one of their babies grow up from the beginning.

Marge lost her mother and says, when she sees her for the first time, "I can finally have a real talk…" showing that Marge needs someone to let out all of her contained feelings over the years and treat Mona like her very own mother.

Lisa feels alone and "adopted" as her whole family isn't up to the... intellectual standard of herself. When she talks to her grandma, she says she feels at home with her presence knowing that she belongs somewhere.

Homer, lost this woman when he was younger, and is bound to lose her again because she has to run from the police. Her mother left at a very young age, and as soon as he has her back, she leaves again, and seeing how many family members she has effected making for the saddest moment in The Simpsons.

The setting of this scene where they are, in the desert, a wasteland, showing that they are alone, just to talk for the last time with no artificial noises.

Cinematography ties in with this idea, his mother and him fill up the whole screen, showing their closeness and as soon as the window winds up and they drive away, you see the camera moving back further, showing that his mother is slipping away from his grasp. And in the last scene Homer is shown with himself and the stars, thinking about his biggest day in recent memory.

The score is the definition of tear-jerky it is brilliant. That's all I can say.

Everything that is spoken is perfect, Homer says "At least this time I'm awake to say goodbye." But the greatest part of it was after Mona uses Homer's world-famous line, to show that they are connected, not another word is spoken. No jokes are here to break the mood. Every time I watch this incredible final scene when Homer waves his mother goodbye, possibly for the last time, I always get teary. It is such a beautiful scene and important one. It gives the shown emotion of Homer that is dearly lacking in the rest of the episodes. It gives us more connection with Homer making him one of television's favourite animated father.

OVERALL : A

Watch more reviews like this at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfNozbWd9SJYYwLK2zYn_AA
23 out of 25 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
Best Episode Ever!
maiconfs1421 January 2015
Warning: Spoilers
I just love this episode.It got all we love about the Simpsons,good jokes,emotion,but,i actually like this episode because we had never seen an episode about Homer's mother before,so,it has the emotion of Homer meeting his mother for the first time,and as a human,it is a real heart-warming moment in the show.It is truly the most touching episode in the show,as well as it final.Sorry about my bad English

Sinopsis (contains spoiler):On a Saturday morning Homer fakes his death in order to get out of working at Mr.Burns garbage collecting event and is later forced to go to the records office to verify that he is alive. The clerk reveals that Homer's mother is still alive but Homer disagrees and goes to his mother's grave for proof. The grave actually belongs to Walt Whitman but Homer by chance does meet with his mother. He takes her home to meet his family, but she remains silent as to where she was for the past 27 years. The family finally forces her to reveal her secret: she was part of group of Hippie radicals in the 1960s and is on the run from Mr. Burns and the FBI. Mr. Burns later discovers Mona's whereabouts and she is forced to return into hiding
12 out of 13 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
The best Simpsons episode to date
kaimoney22 November 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Now there are many debates on what people think the best episode is. For me I would say Mother Simpson.

Homer's mother unexpectedly returns when news think Homer was dead, but she has a deep secret about her.

This episode is very sad, it turns out that she's wanted for a crime she committed a long time ago. So she had to abandoned Homer and Abe had to tell him that she's dead.

When the FBI is about to find her, Homer quickly takes her away and we get a very sad ending where she says bye to Homer one last time. And Homer stares at the sky while the credits roll.

This episode is very emotionally amazing. It tells a great story about Homer and his mother. And this is why classic Simpsons episodes are the best of the series. This episode is definitely worth a watch.
8 out of 9 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
A little from column A and a little from column B
snoozejonc1 December 2022
Homer is reunited with his mother.

This is a classic episode with great humour and character moments.

I am a sucker for The Simpsons episodes that have strong character arcs or plots, and manage to combine it with hilarious comedy. This is one of those.

The plot and backstory are excellent, especially the design of the sixties period, music and younger versions of the characters. Mona's history is very well done along with what happens after she reappears.

I love the humour as there are so many great one-liners and sight gags. It is hard to pick a favourite, but I love Abe's reaction to seeing her again.
4 out of 4 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
The Best of Them All
Hitchcoc21 June 2022
This has everything. It gives us a glimpse at the unsettled sixties. It delves into the idea of wanted protestors who committed violent acts going underground for years. We have the incredible crime of releasing antibiotics to kill off Mr. Burns' germ factory and his relentless efforts to capture and arrest the perpetrators. Then there are all the Chicago Seven guys helping out from the mega-industries after they sold out to capitalism. But most striking is the reappearance of Homer's mother and her backstory. Homer's efforts to be a forty year old child are touching. And the goodbye scene is wonderful.
2 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
Sublime
safenoe23 January 2024
Warning: Spoilers
It says something about Mother Simpsons, from the seventh season of one of the greatest sitcoms of all time, that no words needed to be spoken in one of the most poignant scenes from this fine series. Yes, the end credits, where Homer gazes at the stars after bidding a tearful farewell to his long-lost mom, is one for the ages. I would have loved for that scene to go on and on, because it really lifted the Simpsons to a higher level.

Anyway, all credit for having Glenn Close being cast as Homer's mom, and hopefully one day she will finally win her well-deserved Oscar (and not an honorary one please).
0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

See also

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews


Recently Viewed