Mona Leaves-a
"Mona Leaves-a"
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Episode Information
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"Mona Leaves-A" is the nineteenth episode of The Simpsons' nineteenth season. It aired on May 11, 2008.[1] It guest starred Glenn Close in her third and final appearance as Mona Simpson, and Lance Armstrong as himself.[1]
Plot
The Simpsons go to the mall to find Stuff-n-Hug is in a malfunctioning state due to Ralph overfilling his teddy bear. Bart makes things worse by recording himself insulting Homer on a bear. They return home to discover that someone has broken into their home. Homer prepares to confront the burglar using a device made from a concrete block on a chain, but when he smells apple pie, he abandons the attempt and rushes into the house. Here he finds that the housebreaker is, in fact, his mother. Mona informs Homer that she intends to give up her life on the run and settle down with the family permanently, but Homer refuses, having been hurt too many times by her in the past.
Bart and Lisa inform Mona that despite his anger, Homer loves her and misses her while she is away. After hearing this, Mona realises that in an attempt to save the world, she had destroyed her family, and is truly remorseful. However, when she tries to tell this to Homer, he becomes infuriated. Sadly, she leaves the room, saying that it takes time for him to forgive her.
Later that night, Homer feels guilty for the way he treated his mother, and decides to make her a card to express his feelings. He comes downstairs to give it to her, but finds her still and quiet in front of the fire. Unaware of the reason for his mother not speaking to him when she seemed so eager to apologise earlier, Homer gets directly into her face. Soon he realizes that his mother has died, and is devastated.
After Mona is cremated, the family returns from her funeral and finds a DVD with her will recorded on it. She has left Bart a pocketknife. She has left Marge with a bag made of hemp. She has left Lisa her rebellious spirit. She has left Maggie a soft toy made by the man at her first birthday. And she has left Homer with a difficult task.
Homer must carry Mona's ashes to the top of a mountain and release them into the air at 3 o'clock. Homer does this. The ashes float into a missile launching device in a secret lair inside of the mountain and cause it to malfunction. Homer, realizing that this was just another radical activist movement, feels betrayed. He accidently falls into the secret lair.
The secret lair is run by no other than Mr. Burns, who plans to send all of the leftover nuclear waste to the Amazon Rainforest to have it out of the way. Mona's ashes are removed from the missile launching system, and the plan proceeds as before. As punishment for trying to stop the missile launching, Homer is tied to a chair and trapped in Burns's lair. Outside of the secret lair, the family tries to break Homer out. Bart gives Homer Mona's pocketknife by throwing it into a vent that leads into the secret lair. Outside, Marge ignites the purse made of hemp, the smoke causes some guards that are guarding the lair to get high and Homer knocks them out. Homer takes out any remaining guards using the concrete block on a chain from the beginning of the episode. He finally makes peace with his mother and releases her ashes in the air. He fondly remembers her, and Paul Simon's "Mother and Child Reunion" accompanies a tribute to her at the end.
Dedication
This episode dedicates Elsie Castellaneta (Dan Castellaneta's mother) and Dora K. Warren. (Harry Shearer's mother)
Trivia
The Stuff n' Hug store is a parody of Build a Bear Workshop
Errors
The Simpsons family returns from the Stuff n' Hug store in the evening, but as Homer walks into the kitchen, spinning the "Defender", he stops next to a window and the sky outside is much brighter.
Cultural references
It's the third time a title is used based on the famous Da Vinci painting, the Mona Lisa the first two being "Moaning Lisa" and "Moe 'N' a Lisa.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Fox unleashes a May sweeps to remember"FoxFlash. Retrieved on 2008-04-15.
 
