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30 years ago today, on November 19, 1995, The Simpsons debuted the classic episode “Mother Simpson.” This episode was one of the strongest of the Golden Age offerings of the series, and introduced fans to Homer’s mother Mona (voiced by major guest star Glenn Close) for the first time. Believed by Homer to be dead thanks to his father lying to him all this time, Homer having to say goodbye to his mother again after all those years led to one of the saddest endings in the series’ history.
Homer Says Goodbye to His Mother in The Simpsons Saddest Ending
The Simpsons Season 7 episode, “Mother Simpson,” officially introduced fans to Homer’s mother Mona. The series had been keeping the character off-screen all this time, and Homer only discovered she was alive when looking into his own history following an incident where he faked his death. From there, he’s reunited with his mother and the two quickly patch things up. It’s revealed that she was inspired to become a hippie freedom fighter after seeing Joe Namath’s sideburns, and ended up bombing a facility run by Mr. Burns. When she was the only one caught, she was forced to go on the lam in the decades since.
Despite Homer and the rest of the family getting some more time to spend with Mother Simpson, it’s cut all too short when Burns discovers her whereabouts and attempts to arrest her again. She’s forced to go on the run once more, and that means Homer has to say goodbye to her officially. It’s an even more heartbreaking goodbye because while Homer thought his mother was dead this whole time, it’s an even worse case to have her be alive but just not able to be in his life.
Mona says goodbye to him, and Homer knows that he has a mother out there that loves him. But he can’t but sit in the fact that he’s lost her for real this time. The episode ends with him sitting on the hood of his car staring out into the night sky as this goodbye just washes over him, and it resulted in one of the most iconic images from the franchise’s history. The end credits even continue to roll over this image as fans are left to soak in this moment, and really feel the weight of it all.
