After the Simpsons return from the mall, they return home to find it has been broken into. Homer grabs the "Defender", which is just a cinder block on a chain, and investigates, but suddenly sniffs the aroma of an apple pie. He heads into the kitchen and finds that his mother, Mona Simpson is back! As she is now presumed dead, Mona is fairly sure the heat's off her for good, and she's more than willing to finally settle down and live the rest of her life with the Simpsons. Homer, though, isn't willing to let his heart be broken a third time, and refuses to re-embrace his mother. Mona keeps trying to prove she means it, but Homer refuses each time, and eventually Mona gives up. That night, though, Homer finally relents, realizing how much of a jerk he's been, and goes downstairs to make up with his mother. However, he finds Mona slumped over near the fireplace, and to his horror, he finds that she has died.
Mona's body is cremated and given to Homer, who is unable to cope not just with his mother's death, but the knowledge that she believed he hated her to the last moment. The family looks through Mona's belongings, which contain a video will on a DVD. In it, Mona leaves Bart a Swiss army knife, Lisa "her rebellious spirit", Marge a hemp purse, and for Homer she leaves him a difficult yet odd task: reach the summit of Mount Springfield and release her ashes at 3:00 PM. Homer decides to do just that to make up for how he treated his mom at the end. The family attempts to climb the mountain together, though with Bart and Lisa unable and Marge unwilling to finish, Homer completes the climb himself, just as 3:00 PM rolls around. He releases his mother's ashes into the sky, but the winds push those ashes the other way, into a secret base conveniently located right behind Homer. The ashes destroy a missile control unit, and Homer is angered that his mother tasked Homer posthumously to commit one final radical act. Homer is quickly subdued and captured by the guards inside, Mona's ashes collected into a vacuum cleaner's bag.
Homer learns that Mona's biggest enemy, Mr. Burns, is behind the base as he plans to send a missile full of nuclear waste into the Amazon rainforest. Homer forgives his mom for the task, and promises the stop the launch if he gets free. Just then, Bart finds Homer's jail cell from outside the mountain, and tosses Homer his army knife to use to free himself. Elsewhere, Marge and Lisa use the hemp purse, as well as Mona's earrings that Lisa pilfered, to send in hemp fumes through the ventilation. Homer is able to find a cinder block and chain to make another Defender and uses it to defeat the subdued guards and eventually destroy the base. Homer is able to escape just in time, and finally releases Mona's ashes into the open, as Homer's few memories and/or clips with his mother are shown.
Quick Review
This ended up being a tale of two stories that really didn't have any right being together. I understand if the writers wanted to do a story where Mona dies. I don't have to like it unless they do it really well (of note, they did it okay here), but I would understand a 19 year old show doing such a thing. For most of the first two acts, its seemed like it was going to be an emotional episode.
However, the final act gets into a weird spy-like theme with the missile launch of the family's various ways of stopping it using Mona's final gifts. It seemed really out of sync with how the rest of the episode set up, and the quick tribute at the end wasn't enough to make up for that awkwardness. Its too bad, really. Also, the episode wasn't really that funny; it might've gained a point if it had stuck with the emotional theme, but the forced-in spy stuff at the end ruined that.
Final Score: 6.5
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