January 12, 2022 • 37 mins
Check out our latest character study of our favorite hippie fugitive, Mona Simpson. She may not be in many episodes, but her impact on Homer and the future of germ warfare is felt throughout the series.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Shaun (00:02):
Hey everybody.
I'm Shaun.
Sari (00:08):
And I'm Sari.
And we're the Simpsons Siblings.
We could have saidit at the same time.
Shaun (00:13):
Time.
I was just tryingto mess you up.
Sari (00:16):
And, uh, we're here to talk about Simpsons related
Shaun (00:22):
things as we do all the time, as we do
Sari (00:25):
quite often.
And we're backfrom winter break.
Shaun (00:29):
Oh, it was busy.
It was
Sari (00:32):
busy, but, uh, yeah, it feels good to be back making
episodes and we hope you allhad a nicer holiday season and
all that, all that good stuff.
Yeah.
And we're, we're, uh, startingoff the new year with a
character study, which I'ma little nervous about.
Cause we've only done thisonce, which was with Troy
(00:52):
McClure, which was fun.
Yeah.
Shaken things up.
No that, so, uh,
Shaun (01:01):
yeah, I had a lot of fun with this, like, cause
it was over several episodesand I feel like I wanted the
episodes that she was in.
Wasn't necessarily, she wasn'tnecessarily a main focus, but
it was fun pulling details
Sari (01:16):
from those.
And yeah, I also feel likewe're making our way up the
staircase because we startwith Troy McClure who like
only has one real episode wherehe's the subject and now we're
moving up to Mona Simpson.
Who's got like five, six ish,depending on what you count.
And so we're not goingstraight into like, let's
talk about homework becausethen it's going to take.
(01:38):
20 episodes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I wrote an intro and I'mgoing to say that intro.
This is the intro to the intro
Shaun (01:47):
and that intro is
Sari (01:50):
grandpa.
Maybe the Simpson's grandparentto get the most screen time,
but his wife Mona takesthe cake when it comes to
heartfelt Simpson's story.
Her first episode of otherSims in as known as one of
the tear, jerkier must haveall Simpsons episodes and her
follow-ups do a great job.
Continuing the theme of along lost mother who can never
(02:11):
fully reconnect with her son.
Oh, she's a complexcharacter with connections.
Each member of the Simpson'sfamily has had a bad streak with
the law, but is also heartfeltand truly loves her family.
Let's get
Shaun (02:23):
going well, like we first see her in mother Simpson and
it was interesting how, like,we first see her dynamic with
Abe sin and a lot of how sheis, at least in the beginning,
she starts off being very closeand connected to the homeowner.
And, and it was like, like yousaid, that the mother Simpson's
(02:46):
a real tear-jerker episodebecause it is sad to see that.
She gets something that's likesuch a passion in her life.
What she's first seeslike the football player
with his long hair.
And that sets offdouble rebellion.
Sari (03:03):
But I mean, we'll go with it,
Shaun (03:05):
but, but it is kind of sad too, that she finds
something that she canhave a passion for in life.
And then once she finds thatthat's something that draws
her away from her family.
Yeah.
It's kind of mixed feelings inmy mind that like, I'm happy
that she's kind of willingto sacrifice things in her
life to do what she feels is.
(03:26):
Right.
But it's also sad that shefeels like she has to do that.
Like I wish.
It's fiction, but I wishshe could have found
a better middle ground
Sari (03:36):
and that the sorta irony of it too.
Like I remember when they'rerunning out of like the germ
warfare facility building,um, that she's the only one
that stops and helps Mr.
Burdens to get up.
Cause he like falls over andher helping him to get up
is what makes him catch her.
And that it's almost, andI wonder if that's almost
(03:57):
like a parallel that she'sso willing to give up.
Things to better theworld that's you almost
does it too much.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, how that's interesting.
And, and it's not thatshe's a bad mother per se.
Like she definitelyloves homework.
Yeah.
Um, And I, uh, one thingI thought was interesting
(04:20):
with mother Simpson is thatwhen she first comes back,
it's to see Homer's graveafter he's faked his death.
Shaun (04:26):
Right.
And that, like I had notedthat too, that she has been
keeping an eye out in the news.
And it made me think of howmany times in the past, on the
Simpsons Homer, especially,or anyone else in the family
has been in the newspaper oron the news or in the media.
And you know, that.
Basically following the familythrough all of their headlock
Sari (04:49):
man loses pants, come up life.
That would have beenwhat she saw with
Shaun (04:56):
all the times that like stupid things where like Homer
had a fight with someone ordifferent things where like,
I can't remember exactly.
Now I should havelooked it up, but.
Homer fighting abear or something.
Ridiculous.
Sari (05:09):
Give him getting stuck in the woods.
And they think he's bigfoot, all that kind of stuff.
I
Shaun (05:13):
wonder if she saw an old Daniel's a
Sari (05:15):
cloud.
I mean, she probably did it.
I was like, Hey babe.
Um, eh, yeah.
And also the fact thatshe risked getting
caught to see his grave.
Yeah, yeah.
That, that was somethingshe was willing to come
back into the open for.
Um, well, and
Shaun (05:34):
how sad it would be to in her mind.
The first time goingto reconcile would be
after Homer's death.
Not only that, butafter he loses his
Sari (05:43):
pants.
Okay.
Oh yeah.
Gosh.
And the beavers couldn'tsay any of them.
And, uh, it's, it's interestingseeing her with homework
as a kid and how thatcompares to him as an adult.
Um, and, and the whole sort of.
Oh, it's almost like a lovetriangle, but not romantically
(06:06):
between, between MonaSimpson, Homer and food.
Because if you think about it,like the first time when you see
her tucking him in, she singshim, the fig Newtons song, and
he's tucked in with his armpopping fresh and, um, which
he's also mistaken for by Mr.
(06:26):
Burns.
Interesting, butthat's much later.
And like how in Mona leaves,where he sort of realizes that
she's the reason he got addictedto food that her leaving, like
once she left, he started kindof gorging himself and, and
that he, he kind of filledhis absence of her with food.
Shaun (06:50):
And I kind of got the impression too, that he was
already using it as a copingmechanism when Mona and Abe
were fighting all the time.
That's true.
And then when she left thatjust pushed him over and
he went full in on thatas a coping mechanism.
Sari (07:06):
Definitely the thing that always gets me is when
she kisses him goodbye.
And he says, I thoughtI imagined that kiss.
Shaun (07:14):
Yeah.
That's just like a
Sari (07:16):
punch to the.
Like just the thought,the little Homer, how he's
processing this and how hisbrains retaining these memories.
Um, and we also get analternate scene of her leaving
in, um, Todd, Todd, why hastthou forsaken me, I think.
And in that episode we see.
(07:37):
Uh, Mona and Abekind of arguing.
And that's the thingthat gets her to leave.
And that almost makes mewonder, like obviously a wizard
did it, like someone didn'tlook up their continuity,
but, but what if she hadleft and come back multiple
Shaun (07:51):
times?
That's the impression that I gotthat that was one of the times
that she was leaving and not thelast time that she was leaving.
Sari (07:58):
So it might've been more to her leaving
that she thought she toldherself she was leaving.
To help the world and doall this humanitarian stuff.
And that might've been partof it, but she might've
also been leaving becauseshe just despised Abe.
And that if he had beena supportive husband,
maybe she would havebeen able to have both.
Shaun (08:22):
Yeah.
Because looking back there's yousee it several times where Abe
doesn't really care at all, andhe's just sitting on the couch,
watching TV, watching football.
Mona's trying to do goodin the world and, you know,
he could have supported hereven just in the slightest,
even just by agreeing andsaying, oh yeah, I'm glad
you're doing your thing.
(08:42):
Or, but he justcompletely rejected her.
And I can definitely seethat that would lead to
multiple fights at herstorming out several nights,
Sari (08:51):
one that doesn't, and that doesn't take into
account either that, uh,she could have told him.
That she was on the runfrom the law and they
could have all booked it.
They could have all left andrun together and, you know,
just say, Hey, let's go moveto another state because I
don't think this was likea national level manhunt.
I think they were justlooking in Springfield area.
(09:13):
And if they could had all justmoved to a different state.
And it could have been fine.
So, I mean, I'm notexcusing what she did, but
it also could have beenmade a better situation.
Shaun (09:25):
Yeah.
But I also feel like Abe.
Turn it around or something,maybe knowing that yeah.
Turned her into the authoritiesof the great state of wherever
Springfield's located in.
Sari (09:37):
What was it that they said in the Simpsons movie it's
like in between Alaska, Ohio,Maine, and Kentucky, the four
states that border Springfield.
Um, it's interestingtoo, to see how.
In the present day in quotes,cause this is all floating
timeline and all that.
But how grandpa acts towards herafter the fact, now that they're
(10:01):
all older and after she dies,he says, after your mother died,
I wanted to dance on her grave.
And he goes through like allthese different dance moves
he's been learning and all this.
And then he says, butnow I don't feel like
much like dancing andhe's very sad about it.
And then he like walks away andhe's like wearing tap shoes.
(10:21):
But there's definitely mixedfeelings there and that's
something you don't see alot, um, that after the fact
grandpa could have grown moreand regretted how he treated
her, but still have thatsort of anger at her as well.
Shaun (10:37):
I think it's something that there was
definitely anger from bothsides and it just, yeah.
And like we saw twoon mother Samson, like
she was kind to him.
She, no, she said he didn't age.
Well, and wasn't, it wasn'tnecessarily nicest, but oh,
I, you know, but you know,it's, there was so much
(10:57):
resentment from both sidesthat you've never all those
years of not seeing each other.
It would have takena long time to
Sari (11:03):
reconcile that.
Oh yeah.
And you can't forget that Abewas left to raise Homer all
by himself and that's a lot.
My did
Shaun (11:12):
agreed.
Sari (11:18):
Um, and of course he here originally told the Homer
that his mother was dead.
So he didn't have to tell himshe was on the run from the
law, which is it's like, whatdo you do in that situation?
The thing
Shaun (11:31):
that's dangerous too, because.
What if she comes up inthe news, what if she
returned five years later?
What would they have done toHomer and Abe's relationship?
Sari (11:40):
Uh, yeah, so, uh, something I thought was
interesting was that in, um,Mona Mona leaves, it's kind
of shown that she's a hippiefor a longer period of time.
Whereas in mother Simpson,it's all seems very fast.
Shaun (11:56):
Yeah.
It, I mean, at the end ofother substances, She leaves
with her hippie friends
Sari (12:01):
though.
So she had to have beenable to form a bond.
I think it was weird too,that she says she's going to
chain herself to a submarine.
I don't know howthat's gonna work.
Shaun (12:14):
It's like, they're not going to dive because he do it.
Sari (12:17):
Um, which, I mean, she could be there
with the village people
Shaun (12:22):
I forgot about.
Sari (12:25):
Oh, that didn't turn out very well for them
Shaun (12:27):
though.
Oh, man.
Yeah, it's, it's almostlike she grew out of the
hippie lifestyle, but notlike the ideology, if that
Sari (12:37):
makes sense.
Um, especially, um, and we'llget further into this later,
but like her last task.
After her death, she wantsher ashes spread at this
very specific spot atthis very specific time.
And it was so that they couldgo and disrupt like this missile
launching system and all this.
Like she was protestingeven through her ashes
(12:59):
being straight spread.
And Homer's reaction is reallytelling that he gets mad and
he says, you used me to pulloff one last hippie protest
and he seems mad about it.
Yeah.
But later he kind ofcomes to understand it
a little bit better.
And, and I think almost kindof accepted as part of who
(13:21):
she was even after she's dead.
So
Shaun (13:26):
talking about her motherhood, I know we talked
about that a little bit already.
She, before she got intoall the hippie stuff, she
was a really good mom.
And I feel like she kindof shielded him, have Homer
from a lot of the behaviorsthat Abe was showing.
But in front of like,we were watching these
(13:46):
episodes, I was wondering.
How Homer would have been ifyou would've had more of that
motherly influence, becausehe was already starting to
show some oddball behaviorsas a child, you know, like
playing the, uh, the operationgame and getting stuck
and electrocuted that ma
Sari (14:06):
I love little over is
Shaun (14:08):
poison, but I don't know.
I feel like.
He still wouldn't have been afully well functioning adult
to put it, but he could haveprobably been better off.
And, but I think she sethim up, especially when
she knew that she wasgoing to be leaving soon.
(14:28):
Potentially.
She, I feel like shewas really setting him
up to kind of be good.
And wife, I kind of wasalmost like a crash course.
Like, Hey, I'm goingto be leaving soon.
So you don't want to do allthese things on the street.
It's extra love and attention.
And.
I dunno.
I feel like she wanted tobe there the whole time.
It's not like she choseto abandon or wanting to
(14:49):
leave him, but I can seethat conflict in her mind
that she wanted to be that.
Mom that was thereconsistently, but just couldn't.
Sari (14:59):
And I can definitely see too that the sweet parts
of homework come from her.
And it's interesting.
Cause I can see both like himand his kids, what each of
them gets from her because hegets the sweetness from her
and Lisa gets the rebellious.
To the point that she says,I didn't know how I fit in
(15:22):
with this family, but nowthat I met you, this suddenly
makes a lot of sense thatthat rebellion of hers kind of
skipped the generation to Lisa.
And then I feel like Bartgets her troublemaking.
Yeah.
In a way they just, theyjust express it differently.
And
Shaun (15:38):
it's like, Lisa gets the reason Bart gets the.
That's a great way
Sari (15:43):
to put it.
Yup.
Yup.
And then Maggie, I guessjust gets that little cute
little dance that she does.
Side note.
If you take that, that giftand like set it to music,
it goes with just aboutanything and she just like
dances and it's super cute.
I love it.
She definitely passes herself onto each of those family members.
(16:05):
And I'm wondering if.
Um, if she had been morepresent, if there would have
been a little less of a jerkass Homer in like the middle
seasons, if that was some sortof manifestation of her being
gone and not nurturing himenough and his dad, grandpa
Simpson, having too much.
(16:26):
Yeah, and his life, but
Shaun (16:29):
I think to Marge was lacking in a lot of things
by not having her there.
Remember in mother'sSimpson, she gets really
nervous when Mona comesback like that nervous.
Laughter oh, I have amother-in-law and I think
that, you know, fromMarge's family, There was
a lot of anger and theydismissed her feelings a lot.
(16:51):
And I think that March couldhave done a lot better,
especially with her anxiety thatshe has, if she would have had
monitored, having a relationship
Sari (17:00):
with, she could have been a bit like a
second mother to her.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's true.
Shaun (17:07):
But even while she's gone, She was trying to be
supportive of Homer when shekept sending him the care
packages and the post office.
And that's kind of sad thatjust because you didn't
tip your mail carrier.
Homer didn't know thatshe was alive still.
And, and he could've continuedto at least through the mail
(17:27):
to have that relationship
Sari (17:28):
with her.
Yeah.
And, um, it's shown in a,the season 32 episode and
mothers and other strangersthat, um, she actually sends
him a postcard when he's 16.
And they go looking forher, which probably messes
up the Canon a bit, butyou know, what is there?
Did it, so that's okay.
Shaun (17:48):
Ned would not like that.
Oh no.
Sari (17:53):
So she sends him a postcard from Utah and homework
convinces grandpa that theycan both track her down.
Um, and they find herat this gas station in
the middle of nowhere.
And they could have reconnected,but the FBI tracked them
through the postcard and theychased her into a canyon.
(18:14):
And Homer gets this sort ofdecision where he has to,
because grandpa gets stuckin like, it's hard to explain
completely, but he gets stuckand he has to either choose
between following his motheror going and helping grandpa.
And he ends up choosinggrandpa, which is interesting.
I think that's more of himchoosing what he has versus
(18:36):
what he wants to have.
And that's when she meetsthe guy in the hippie van
and they go driving off.
But it was absolutely apart of the Canon that did
not need to be filled, butthey did and the episodes.
Okay.
Shaun (18:52):
I don't, I don't remember seeing that one,
Sari (18:54):
but yeah, that was one I forgot to put on our.
Shaun (18:57):
It does seem like it wouldn't fit in oddly
with all the other yeah.
Counsel her,
Sari (19:02):
but it did also lead to, um, showing Homer, getting
therapy, um, and talking abouther during mother's day because
it showed that like basicallyevery mother's day, he kind
of socks and thinks about her.
So this is something that'svery much still on his mind,
even after all these years.
(19:24):
I mean years, even thoughthe kids have an age it's
it's it still counts.
It's time.
I guess it's a little out there.
It's still good.
It's still good.
It's still good.
So airborne.
Uh, and he definitely stillPines for her attention when
she comes back that firsttime, um, like he was like
(19:46):
doing handstands or somethinggoing mom, you're not looking
Shaun (19:50):
well.
It's like two, it kindof goes along the lines.
We said earlier with herkeeping up with the news,
she still had a lot that sheheld on to over the years.
Like she still had themacaroni pencil holder
holder that Homer made.
She was still just like,like she remembered Glennie
and Carl, like she saw anyand Carl and she was like,
(20:11):
oh, well, sorry, I saw you.
You were so smalland everything.
Like, she still knowsall the things that
are important to Homer.
And I dunno, I, I still likein mother, the carjacker mother
Simpson, all the other episodes.
She regrets all thetime that was lost.
And, and she, even thoughshe may not have as much
memory wise, she holdsonto what she does have.
(20:33):
Yeah.
Sari (20:35):
And she, she keeps a lot of pictures of him.
Um, she remembers howhe stores his clothes.
Oh, that's right.
Just right in the drawers one.
And that's the otherthing, like she never.
It's kind of a neat inversebecause there's a line from
Lisa where she says, oh,you used a big word for me.
(20:57):
You didn't dumb it down.
And at the same time,she doesn't insult Homer
for not meeting smarter.
She knows how to adjust herselfto whoever she's talking to.
Um, As like a way of caringfor them when she, when he says
that and she says, right inthe drawers, she doesn't say it
like, she's making fun of him.
(21:18):
She's she's saying it lovingly.
And when she talks to Lisa, shetalks a bit with a bit higher
vocabulary because she knows howto adjust yourself to people.
And in a way, I wonder ifthat's why she got into.
The hippy movement so much wasbecause she does have a lot of
empathy and she does know howto connect with other people.
Shaun (21:39):
Yeah.
She would be good at like,even if you're in conflict
with someone kind of, likewe said again with Mr.
Burns too, like she hatedwhat he was doing, but she
didn't necessarily hate.
Completely as a person,like she's still wanting to
negotiate and work things out.
And she just has thoseinterpersonal skills that
(22:00):
it's not just going outthere and yelling about some,
but let's find a solution.
Sari (22:05):
I'm an old man yelling at a cloud, um, which
it would be interesting.
I would love to have an episodeof them meeting Mona and
Abe and know that backstory.
Shaun (22:19):
Yeah.
Cause it was kind of sadin that one episode when
they're fighting and shesays, oh, I just got with
you to make my parents manat work, there had to have
been some connection there
Sari (22:30):
it's pretty petty for her.
Like she doesn't seem likethe kind of person that would
do that, but she could havealso changed over the years.
Uh, Again, connecting, um,Mona and Homer's relationship
with food when they find heragain and Mona leaves, uh,
they think she's broken intothe house and then they smell
(22:52):
a pie baking and it turns outshe's baked them a pie and.
Homer kind of starts to eatthe pie, but then when she
kind of starts apologizingto him and stuff, he he's
very slowly sets down thepie, which is interesting.
You don't usually see Homerstop, think about something
(23:12):
and set down a piece of foodthat is not Homer style.
Um, and it's kind offrustrating, cause it was
a really cool moment thatthey put that in, but then
five seconds later, shesays, he's eating the whole.
Yeah, which I don't know ifthat was like, they forgot the
continuity or again, it might'vejust been a wizard, just
Shaun (23:34):
wizards all throughout Springfield.
So many
Sari (23:36):
wizards, they're doing all these things.
Shaun (23:39):
Now, there was one part that it did
seem kind of odd to me.
Cause we were talking allabout how she does really
care and everything.
And she was there, butin Mona, Lisa there's
towards the beginning.
When she goes to head out andhomeless, like looking at the
KFC in the fridge where she goeshugs and kisses, and he goes
(23:59):
to put out his arms for a hug,and then she leaves like that.
I don't know if you hadany thoughts on that.
Like that's mostlyconsistent with everything.
Sari (24:08):
So it was kind of interesting.
Um, later on in Todd Todd YFLper second, me, she says she's
finally able to give him that.
Like at first, he, she says, youknow, I'm not really a hugger.
And then, and hesays, oh yeah, I know.
And then, and thenshe says, well, we're,
(24:28):
we're dead in heaven.
I'll go ahead and giveyou a hug anyways.
But that's also inconsistentwith her hugging him when
he was really little.
Yeah.
So
Shaun (24:39):
I kind of just
Sari (24:39):
didn't frequently give hugs.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Maybe.
Um, that was it.
It was a weird connection.
It connects two episodes,but not the rest.
I don't know why she gives them.
You know, I don't knowwhen he does hug her.
He says, this isall I ever wanted.
Shaun (24:58):
And then he does that at all, as he fades away.
Sari (25:04):
Yeah.
It's so I like that thatepisode did give them
that sort of closure.
Shaun (25:09):
Yeah.
See what I would have wantedat the end of that was for
Homer and Ned to comparenotes and be like, Hey, we
had the same experience.
So it had to be real.
And then for him to knowthat that actually was his
mother and not just a dream.
Sari (25:23):
True.
Yeah.
They should have saidsomething about this.
Oh man.
That's why
Shaun (25:29):
I need to just be a writer
Sari (25:30):
for the Simpsons.
Here you go.
Come on, call them up.
Come on.
I kind of wouldn't mindtaking a little break.
We'll be right there.
I was supposed to say that.
A lot of us are stuck athome, which means now more
than ever, we've got totake care of our furry
friends, keeping us company.
So treat your dog withBarkBox super chewer.
(25:53):
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Use our link to getone free extra month.
Go to super chewer.com/simpsonsor click the link
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That's superchewer.com/simpsons.
(26:14):
And we're back here andwe're going to talk about.
It's going to be fun.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
First of all, thank you, Disneyplus, because the description
of this episode says what'sgoing to happen like in
the first sentence and it'sjust like, yeah, she does.
Okay.
Yeah.
(26:35):
Thank you,
Shaun (26:35):
Disney plus that's what the plus in
Disney plus is for it's
Sari (26:38):
for the spoilers.
So, this is about whenshe breaks in with the
whole apple pie scenario.
And she really, really trieshard to get Homer, to forgive
her for leaving her, forleaving him and all that.
Um, but he veryadamantly does not.
And, um, It's kind of weirdbecause she's trying to do
(27:03):
all of these sort of motherlythings to him, like, like
very mother to child, thingslike she bakes in the pie
and she actually tucks him inlike physically tucks him in.
He still does not forgive her.
And then her last wordsto him are I understand
these things take time.
Good night.
(27:23):
Damn Homer wakes up in themiddle of the night and
is upset about all this.
And he says, I'llmake her a card.
And the card is likeone of those hand Turkey
drawings that kids make.
And it says I'vebeen a real Turkey.
Which
Shaun (27:40):
is adorable.
Little bit of aggression.
Sari (27:43):
Yes.
Very Homer dumb, but sweet.
And I think shewould have loved it.
And then the part where hefinds her, it's kind of, it's
like a brush, but you know,
Shaun (27:55):
to do the angle like panning out from the house.
Sari (27:58):
Yeah.
Shaun (28:00):
All the emotional moments are with Mona.
Sari (28:01):
Yeah.
It's very, it's like almost kindof jarring the way it works.
It it's also very muchthe opposite of a.
Of a one fish, two fish,something Blowfish.
When he thinks he's going todie, she's like, oh, the drool
is still warm and all that.
It's like the exact opposite,which is interesting.
(28:24):
A Homer takes it super hard.
Like he stays in his bed andjust stares at her urn, which
is very not Homer, which is.
We're always fascinates me withcharacters is when they act the
opposite of how they usuallyact, you know, something's
happened and he buys, earn parPolish at the quickie Mart.
(28:44):
So he's definitelycaring for the earn.
And then we get the wholesituation with him, dumping
the ashes into the missilesilo, which turns out.
To be owned by Mr.
Burns.
It was his rocket that he wasusing to dispose of nuclear
waste in order to send it intoAmazon reinforce, which is kind
(29:07):
of an aha moment for Homer.
Um, because he's a littleupset about how she wanted him
to spread the ashes about howshe kind of manipulate them a
little bit, but then he kindof realizes in that moment,
the importance of what she wasdoing and what it meant to her.
And I think that'skind of when he sort of
(29:28):
reconciles it a little bit
Shaun (29:31):
and I feel like also she, in part of her video
will said that she's passingon her, her sense of like
protests and everything to Lisa.
But I think it's, she'spassing it along the
Homer to just so key.
Kind of more for closure becausethat way he can understand her
(29:51):
motivations earlier in life.
And so he can understandmore why she had to leave.
If he can turn around,be like, oh wait, I
need to do what's right.
And get that justifiedanger and everything.
That can maybe help himto understand why he
grew up the way he did.
Sari (30:08):
Yeah.
And he goes, andhe fights for it.
Like he gets in a fight.
He has that like contraptionwith a chain around a brick
that he just like whips around.
Shaun (30:18):
He's like, what am I going to do with these?
Sari (30:22):
And, um, and he parachutes out of the facility
after it blows up and stuff.
Like she leaves him that and,and she leaves him her sweetness
too, because she even ends thewill by saying here's a bunch
of footage of animal bloopersto get you to feel better,
which is just so specificallyHomer and also so sweet.
(30:46):
A Homer says when he comesback with her ashes, now I'll
just add some water to theseashes and bring her back to.
Oh, God, it's so sad, butit's also, but he's used
Shaun (30:59):
to her leaving and faking your death and coming back and
Sari (31:04):
it's, he's ready for that, that cycle that happened again.
And it's just not going to, and
Shaun (31:11):
one thing I thought of too, because.
She had to plan ahead withknowing the three o'clock
being up on the mountain,getting it into a video
will and everything.
When she broke into thehouse to make that pie, she
had to know she was dying.
Ah, that's true.
And then that just makesit hurt that much more
(31:33):
one Homer wouldn't forgive
Sari (31:34):
her.
Yeah, because she knewthat was her last shot.
And, and for her to just sortof sit in front of the fire
to think she probably knewthat was going to be the last
thing she saw that she wasjust gonna, she wasn't watching
TV or doing something stupid.
She was probably justruminating on her life.
Yeah.
(31:54):
Yeah.
Shaun (31:56):
But she couldn't tell him that she was
dying because then he would
Sari (31:59):
have freaked out and upset.
Oh God, that's hard.
Um, as much as, as much as like,I almost don't like her death
scene and when I saw it, I wasalmost like, that's it like,
it's not gonna, it's not sad.
It's not super sad or anything.
It's very sudden.
But then the end of theepisode, they show the
(32:19):
montage and it's got momentsfrom earlier episodes,
as well as newer moments.
Um, showing her being a goodmother to Homer, both as a kid.
And then those few momentsshe gets when he's an adult.
And then it ends with Homerdemanding more sugar in a
cereal, he's saying more sugar.
And she says, no.
(32:40):
And then she saysyour sweet enough.
And I think that showsthat that's where he gets
her, his sweetness from.
And that's when I startedcrying and it worked.
It was great.
It was a good conclusion.
And.
Yeah,
Shaun (32:56):
but yeah, I like, like we were saying, I think
Homer does have a hard timeaccepting her death, but I
think it's something thatthere's been so much back and
forth and like, you know, shecomes back and then she gets
arrested again because oftechnicality and everything
with the national parks.
And it's, I almost feel likethe cycle has to end for Homer
(33:18):
and I don't know as much as.
My first reactions werewhen she had them going up
and you find out it's likefor another motivation of,
you know, saving the worldand doing another protest.
At first, I also thought, likeI wrote down manipulation, like,
(33:39):
like even in her debt, she'susing her death to manipulate
the family into doing stuff.
But I really think that it'simportant for the family to
understand her motivations andwhy she was doing things that.
For Homer to be able to getthat sense of right and wrong
and to finally understandwhy she's doing what she did.
(34:00):
I think that was the bestway for her to go out.
And I don't know, we seeher come up a few more
times throughout the seriesand will, who knows what
part might sear again andflashbacks in the future.
But I feel like that kind ofhelps solidify a good memory
of her Homer's mind becausegoing into this episode,
(34:20):
he was very sour about.
Abandoning him andwasn't trusting ever.
And I just feel like that wasa good way to kind of push that
all aside and to make it beall good memories and no, no.
It's something where Iknow she's a lot of these
(34:40):
episodes that we want.
She's only like in a thirdof them and stuff like that,
but I'm really glad thatthroughout the years, they've
decided to go into Monash.
So you can learn moreabout homework because
Sari (34:49):
she's a big part of his characterization.
Shaun (34:53):
And she's a big part of Abe too.
And sheep, I feel like shehas a lot to do with his
grumpiness and anger that wesee throughout the years too.
But.
You know, it's just, it kind ofcloses the circle on that whole
family dynamic that even thoughit's may not be completely
functional and good all thetime, at least we understand
(35:13):
where it's coming from.
Sari (35:15):
Yeah.
With that.
I also want to shout out Glennclose for voicing the character.
It's kind of interesting becauseshe's a pretty big actress
and she came on to do everysingle one of these episodes.
I think there's just acouple there's a couple of
times she showed up likepre mother Simpson that she
was voiced by someone else.
(35:35):
But other than that, shecame for every one of these,
um, these voices for her.
So that's pretty cool.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Shaun (35:45):
Yeah, I like that.
Consistency.
You know, you hope thatthe people who do those
voices are fans and comingin just to have that little
part in the continuity.
Definitely.
Sari (35:59):
I guess this is also a good time to shout out our
Patriots eight Timothy Burleson.
Shaun (36:04):
Yes.
Yes.
The great Timothy,
Sari (36:06):
the great Timothy Timothy.
You
Shaun (36:11):
just imagine in the future, when we have.
Five patrons.
You could say I was the first.
We
Sari (36:17):
could have tens of patrons tens, but on that note
as well, check out our Patrionpatrion.com/simpson sibs.
We've got bonus episodes.
We've got, I'm sending apainting to Timothy and it, I
need to work on it some more,but I'm going to have it to you.
By the end of the month, youget extra crap, extra crap.
(36:41):
Last time we did.
At the, well, it wasa couple of times ago.
We did an episode where weactually recorded a video of
us recording the episodes.
So you get to see thewhole thing, which we
need to do that again.
But that was fun and
Shaun (36:53):
intimidating.
Oh, you're
Sari (36:54):
you're, you're not usually on camera.
I have another YouTubechannel, so I'm like,
I'm on a camera in Sean.
No, Eva's no,
Shaun (37:02):
no Eva's
Sari (37:04):
glide even.
So this was our secondcharacter study.
Our other one wason trauma core.
You want to go backand check that out?
Our next episode is season 12,episode 18 trilogy of error.
I'm looking forward tothis one because of the
one with the multiplestorylines happening at once.
And I love it.
(37:25):
Yeah, definitely a listen.
No, that's not whatI'm supposed to say.
Watch the episode you listen.
Yeah.
To get that full experience.
Yeah.
Until next time.
Happy new year, everybody.
Hey everybody.
I'm Shaun.
Sari (00:08):
And I'm Sari.
And we're the Simpsons Siblings.
We could have saidit at the same time.
Shaun (00:13):
Time.
I was just tryingto mess you up.
Sari (00:16):
And, uh, we're here to talk about Simpsons related
Shaun (00:22):
things as we do all the time, as we do
Sari (00:25):
quite often.
And we're backfrom winter break.
Shaun (00:29):
Oh, it was busy.
It was
Sari (00:32):
busy, but, uh, yeah, it feels good to be back making
episodes and we hope you allhad a nicer holiday season and
all that, all that good stuff.
Yeah.
And we're, we're, uh, startingoff the new year with a
character study, which I'ma little nervous about.
Cause we've only done thisonce, which was with Troy
(00:52):
McClure, which was fun.
Yeah.
Shaken things up.
No that, so, uh,
Shaun (01:01):
yeah, I had a lot of fun with this, like, cause
it was over several episodesand I feel like I wanted the
episodes that she was in.
Wasn't necessarily, she wasn'tnecessarily a main focus, but
it was fun pulling details
Sari (01:16):
from those.
And yeah, I also feel likewe're making our way up the
staircase because we startwith Troy McClure who like
only has one real episode wherehe's the subject and now we're
moving up to Mona Simpson.
Who's got like five, six ish,depending on what you count.
And so we're not goingstraight into like, let's
talk about homework becausethen it's going to take.
(01:38):
20 episodes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I wrote an intro and I'mgoing to say that intro.
This is the intro to the intro
Shaun (01:47):
and that intro is
Sari (01:50):
grandpa.
Maybe the Simpson's grandparentto get the most screen time,
but his wife Mona takesthe cake when it comes to
heartfelt Simpson's story.
Her first episode of otherSims in as known as one of
the tear, jerkier must haveall Simpsons episodes and her
follow-ups do a great job.
Continuing the theme of along lost mother who can never
(02:11):
fully reconnect with her son.
Oh, she's a complexcharacter with connections.
Each member of the Simpson'sfamily has had a bad streak with
the law, but is also heartfeltand truly loves her family.
Let's get
Shaun (02:23):
going well, like we first see her in mother Simpson and
it was interesting how, like,we first see her dynamic with
Abe sin and a lot of how sheis, at least in the beginning,
she starts off being very closeand connected to the homeowner.
And, and it was like, like yousaid, that the mother Simpson's
(02:46):
a real tear-jerker episodebecause it is sad to see that.
She gets something that's likesuch a passion in her life.
What she's first seeslike the football player
with his long hair.
And that sets offdouble rebellion.
Sari (03:03):
But I mean, we'll go with it,
Shaun (03:05):
but, but it is kind of sad too, that she finds
something that she canhave a passion for in life.
And then once she finds thatthat's something that draws
her away from her family.
Yeah.
It's kind of mixed feelings inmy mind that like, I'm happy
that she's kind of willingto sacrifice things in her
life to do what she feels is.
(03:26):
Right.
But it's also sad that shefeels like she has to do that.
Like I wish.
It's fiction, but I wishshe could have found
a better middle ground
Sari (03:36):
and that the sorta irony of it too.
Like I remember when they'rerunning out of like the germ
warfare facility building,um, that she's the only one
that stops and helps Mr.
Burdens to get up.
Cause he like falls over andher helping him to get up
is what makes him catch her.
And that it's almost, andI wonder if that's almost
(03:57):
like a parallel that she'sso willing to give up.
Things to better theworld that's you almost
does it too much.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, how that's interesting.
And, and it's not thatshe's a bad mother per se.
Like she definitelyloves homework.
Yeah.
Um, And I, uh, one thingI thought was interesting
(04:20):
with mother Simpson is thatwhen she first comes back,
it's to see Homer's graveafter he's faked his death.
Shaun (04:26):
Right.
And that, like I had notedthat too, that she has been
keeping an eye out in the news.
And it made me think of howmany times in the past, on the
Simpsons Homer, especially,or anyone else in the family
has been in the newspaper oron the news or in the media.
And you know, that.
Basically following the familythrough all of their headlock
Sari (04:49):
man loses pants, come up life.
That would have beenwhat she saw with
Shaun (04:56):
all the times that like stupid things where like Homer
had a fight with someone ordifferent things where like,
I can't remember exactly.
Now I should havelooked it up, but.
Homer fighting abear or something.
Ridiculous.
Sari (05:09):
Give him getting stuck in the woods.
And they think he's bigfoot, all that kind of stuff.
I
Shaun (05:13):
wonder if she saw an old Daniel's a
Sari (05:15):
cloud.
I mean, she probably did it.
I was like, Hey babe.
Um, eh, yeah.
And also the fact thatshe risked getting
caught to see his grave.
Yeah, yeah.
That, that was somethingshe was willing to come
back into the open for.
Um, well, and
Shaun (05:34):
how sad it would be to in her mind.
The first time goingto reconcile would be
after Homer's death.
Not only that, butafter he loses his
Sari (05:43):
pants.
Okay.
Oh yeah.
Gosh.
And the beavers couldn'tsay any of them.
And, uh, it's, it's interestingseeing her with homework
as a kid and how thatcompares to him as an adult.
Um, and, and the whole sort of.
Oh, it's almost like a lovetriangle, but not romantically
(06:06):
between, between MonaSimpson, Homer and food.
Because if you think about it,like the first time when you see
her tucking him in, she singshim, the fig Newtons song, and
he's tucked in with his armpopping fresh and, um, which
he's also mistaken for by Mr.
(06:26):
Burns.
Interesting, butthat's much later.
And like how in Mona leaves,where he sort of realizes that
she's the reason he got addictedto food that her leaving, like
once she left, he started kindof gorging himself and, and
that he, he kind of filledhis absence of her with food.
Shaun (06:50):
And I kind of got the impression too, that he was
already using it as a copingmechanism when Mona and Abe
were fighting all the time.
That's true.
And then when she left thatjust pushed him over and
he went full in on thatas a coping mechanism.
Sari (07:06):
Definitely the thing that always gets me is when
she kisses him goodbye.
And he says, I thoughtI imagined that kiss.
Shaun (07:14):
Yeah.
That's just like a
Sari (07:16):
punch to the.
Like just the thought,the little Homer, how he's
processing this and how hisbrains retaining these memories.
Um, and we also get analternate scene of her leaving
in, um, Todd, Todd, why hastthou forsaken me, I think.
And in that episode we see.
(07:37):
Uh, Mona and Abekind of arguing.
And that's the thingthat gets her to leave.
And that almost makes mewonder, like obviously a wizard
did it, like someone didn'tlook up their continuity,
but, but what if she hadleft and come back multiple
Shaun (07:51):
times?
That's the impression that I gotthat that was one of the times
that she was leaving and not thelast time that she was leaving.
Sari (07:58):
So it might've been more to her leaving
that she thought she toldherself she was leaving.
To help the world and doall this humanitarian stuff.
And that might've been partof it, but she might've
also been leaving becauseshe just despised Abe.
And that if he had beena supportive husband,
maybe she would havebeen able to have both.
Shaun (08:22):
Yeah.
Because looking back there's yousee it several times where Abe
doesn't really care at all, andhe's just sitting on the couch,
watching TV, watching football.
Mona's trying to do goodin the world and, you know,
he could have supported hereven just in the slightest,
even just by agreeing andsaying, oh yeah, I'm glad
you're doing your thing.
(08:42):
Or, but he justcompletely rejected her.
And I can definitely seethat that would lead to
multiple fights at herstorming out several nights,
Sari (08:51):
one that doesn't, and that doesn't take into
account either that, uh,she could have told him.
That she was on the runfrom the law and they
could have all booked it.
They could have all left andrun together and, you know,
just say, Hey, let's go moveto another state because I
don't think this was likea national level manhunt.
I think they were justlooking in Springfield area.
(09:13):
And if they could had all justmoved to a different state.
And it could have been fine.
So, I mean, I'm notexcusing what she did, but
it also could have beenmade a better situation.
Shaun (09:25):
Yeah.
But I also feel like Abe.
Turn it around or something,maybe knowing that yeah.
Turned her into the authoritiesof the great state of wherever
Springfield's located in.
Sari (09:37):
What was it that they said in the Simpsons movie it's
like in between Alaska, Ohio,Maine, and Kentucky, the four
states that border Springfield.
Um, it's interestingtoo, to see how.
In the present day in quotes,cause this is all floating
timeline and all that.
But how grandpa acts towards herafter the fact, now that they're
(10:01):
all older and after she dies,he says, after your mother died,
I wanted to dance on her grave.
And he goes through like allthese different dance moves
he's been learning and all this.
And then he says, butnow I don't feel like
much like dancing andhe's very sad about it.
And then he like walks away andhe's like wearing tap shoes.
(10:21):
But there's definitely mixedfeelings there and that's
something you don't see alot, um, that after the fact
grandpa could have grown moreand regretted how he treated
her, but still have thatsort of anger at her as well.
Shaun (10:37):
I think it's something that there was
definitely anger from bothsides and it just, yeah.
And like we saw twoon mother Samson, like
she was kind to him.
She, no, she said he didn't age.
Well, and wasn't, it wasn'tnecessarily nicest, but oh,
I, you know, but you know,it's, there was so much
(10:57):
resentment from both sidesthat you've never all those
years of not seeing each other.
It would have takena long time to
Sari (11:03):
reconcile that.
Oh yeah.
And you can't forget that Abewas left to raise Homer all
by himself and that's a lot.
My did
Shaun (11:12):
agreed.
Sari (11:18):
Um, and of course he here originally told the Homer
that his mother was dead.
So he didn't have to tell himshe was on the run from the
law, which is it's like, whatdo you do in that situation?
The thing
Shaun (11:31):
that's dangerous too, because.
What if she comes up inthe news, what if she
returned five years later?
What would they have done toHomer and Abe's relationship?
Sari (11:40):
Uh, yeah, so, uh, something I thought was
interesting was that in, um,Mona Mona leaves, it's kind
of shown that she's a hippiefor a longer period of time.
Whereas in mother Simpson,it's all seems very fast.
Shaun (11:56):
Yeah.
It, I mean, at the end ofother substances, She leaves
with her hippie friends
Sari (12:01):
though.
So she had to have beenable to form a bond.
I think it was weird too,that she says she's going to
chain herself to a submarine.
I don't know howthat's gonna work.
Shaun (12:14):
It's like, they're not going to dive because he do it.
Sari (12:17):
Um, which, I mean, she could be there
with the village people
Shaun (12:22):
I forgot about.
Sari (12:25):
Oh, that didn't turn out very well for them
Shaun (12:27):
though.
Oh, man.
Yeah, it's, it's almostlike she grew out of the
hippie lifestyle, but notlike the ideology, if that
Sari (12:37):
makes sense.
Um, especially, um, and we'llget further into this later,
but like her last task.
After her death, she wantsher ashes spread at this
very specific spot atthis very specific time.
And it was so that they couldgo and disrupt like this missile
launching system and all this.
Like she was protestingeven through her ashes
(12:59):
being straight spread.
And Homer's reaction is reallytelling that he gets mad and
he says, you used me to pulloff one last hippie protest
and he seems mad about it.
Yeah.
But later he kind ofcomes to understand it
a little bit better.
And, and I think almost kindof accepted as part of who
(13:21):
she was even after she's dead.
So
Shaun (13:26):
talking about her motherhood, I know we talked
about that a little bit already.
She, before she got intoall the hippie stuff, she
was a really good mom.
And I feel like she kindof shielded him, have Homer
from a lot of the behaviorsthat Abe was showing.
But in front of like,we were watching these
(13:46):
episodes, I was wondering.
How Homer would have been ifyou would've had more of that
motherly influence, becausehe was already starting to
show some oddball behaviorsas a child, you know, like
playing the, uh, the operationgame and getting stuck
and electrocuted that ma
Sari (14:06):
I love little over is
Shaun (14:08):
poison, but I don't know.
I feel like.
He still wouldn't have been afully well functioning adult
to put it, but he could haveprobably been better off.
And, but I think she sethim up, especially when
she knew that she wasgoing to be leaving soon.
(14:28):
Potentially.
She, I feel like shewas really setting him
up to kind of be good.
And wife, I kind of wasalmost like a crash course.
Like, Hey, I'm goingto be leaving soon.
So you don't want to do allthese things on the street.
It's extra love and attention.
And.
I dunno.
I feel like she wanted tobe there the whole time.
It's not like she choseto abandon or wanting to
(14:49):
leave him, but I can seethat conflict in her mind
that she wanted to be that.
Mom that was thereconsistently, but just couldn't.
Sari (14:59):
And I can definitely see too that the sweet parts
of homework come from her.
And it's interesting.
Cause I can see both like himand his kids, what each of
them gets from her because hegets the sweetness from her
and Lisa gets the rebellious.
To the point that she says,I didn't know how I fit in
(15:22):
with this family, but nowthat I met you, this suddenly
makes a lot of sense thatthat rebellion of hers kind of
skipped the generation to Lisa.
And then I feel like Bartgets her troublemaking.
Yeah.
In a way they just, theyjust express it differently.
And
Shaun (15:38):
it's like, Lisa gets the reason Bart gets the.
That's a great way
Sari (15:43):
to put it.
Yup.
Yup.
And then Maggie, I guessjust gets that little cute
little dance that she does.
Side note.
If you take that, that giftand like set it to music,
it goes with just aboutanything and she just like
dances and it's super cute.
I love it.
She definitely passes herself onto each of those family members.
(16:05):
And I'm wondering if.
Um, if she had been morepresent, if there would have
been a little less of a jerkass Homer in like the middle
seasons, if that was some sortof manifestation of her being
gone and not nurturing himenough and his dad, grandpa
Simpson, having too much.
(16:26):
Yeah, and his life, but
Shaun (16:29):
I think to Marge was lacking in a lot of things
by not having her there.
Remember in mother'sSimpson, she gets really
nervous when Mona comesback like that nervous.
Laughter oh, I have amother-in-law and I think
that, you know, fromMarge's family, There was
a lot of anger and theydismissed her feelings a lot.
(16:51):
And I think that March couldhave done a lot better,
especially with her anxiety thatshe has, if she would have had
monitored, having a relationship
Sari (17:00):
with, she could have been a bit like a
second mother to her.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's true.
Shaun (17:07):
But even while she's gone, She was trying to be
supportive of Homer when shekept sending him the care
packages and the post office.
And that's kind of sad thatjust because you didn't
tip your mail carrier.
Homer didn't know thatshe was alive still.
And, and he could've continuedto at least through the mail
(17:27):
to have that relationship
Sari (17:28):
with her.
Yeah.
And, um, it's shown in a,the season 32 episode and
mothers and other strangersthat, um, she actually sends
him a postcard when he's 16.
And they go looking forher, which probably messes
up the Canon a bit, butyou know, what is there?
Did it, so that's okay.
Shaun (17:48):
Ned would not like that.
Oh no.
Sari (17:53):
So she sends him a postcard from Utah and homework
convinces grandpa that theycan both track her down.
Um, and they find herat this gas station in
the middle of nowhere.
And they could have reconnected,but the FBI tracked them
through the postcard and theychased her into a canyon.
(18:14):
And Homer gets this sort ofdecision where he has to,
because grandpa gets stuckin like, it's hard to explain
completely, but he gets stuckand he has to either choose
between following his motheror going and helping grandpa.
And he ends up choosinggrandpa, which is interesting.
I think that's more of himchoosing what he has versus
(18:36):
what he wants to have.
And that's when she meetsthe guy in the hippie van
and they go driving off.
But it was absolutely apart of the Canon that did
not need to be filled, butthey did and the episodes.
Okay.
Shaun (18:52):
I don't, I don't remember seeing that one,
Sari (18:54):
but yeah, that was one I forgot to put on our.
Shaun (18:57):
It does seem like it wouldn't fit in oddly
with all the other yeah.
Counsel her,
Sari (19:02):
but it did also lead to, um, showing Homer, getting
therapy, um, and talking abouther during mother's day because
it showed that like basicallyevery mother's day, he kind
of socks and thinks about her.
So this is something that'svery much still on his mind,
even after all these years.
(19:24):
I mean years, even thoughthe kids have an age it's
it's it still counts.
It's time.
I guess it's a little out there.
It's still good.
It's still good.
It's still good.
So airborne.
Uh, and he definitely stillPines for her attention when
she comes back that firsttime, um, like he was like
(19:46):
doing handstands or somethinggoing mom, you're not looking
Shaun (19:50):
well.
It's like two, it kindof goes along the lines.
We said earlier with herkeeping up with the news,
she still had a lot that sheheld on to over the years.
Like she still had themacaroni pencil holder
holder that Homer made.
She was still just like,like she remembered Glennie
and Carl, like she saw anyand Carl and she was like,
(20:11):
oh, well, sorry, I saw you.
You were so smalland everything.
Like, she still knowsall the things that
are important to Homer.
And I dunno, I, I still likein mother, the carjacker mother
Simpson, all the other episodes.
She regrets all thetime that was lost.
And, and she, even thoughshe may not have as much
memory wise, she holdsonto what she does have.
(20:33):
Yeah.
Sari (20:35):
And she, she keeps a lot of pictures of him.
Um, she remembers howhe stores his clothes.
Oh, that's right.
Just right in the drawers one.
And that's the otherthing, like she never.
It's kind of a neat inversebecause there's a line from
Lisa where she says, oh,you used a big word for me.
(20:57):
You didn't dumb it down.
And at the same time,she doesn't insult Homer
for not meeting smarter.
She knows how to adjust herselfto whoever she's talking to.
Um, As like a way of caringfor them when she, when he says
that and she says, right inthe drawers, she doesn't say it
like, she's making fun of him.
(21:18):
She's she's saying it lovingly.
And when she talks to Lisa, shetalks a bit with a bit higher
vocabulary because she knows howto adjust yourself to people.
And in a way, I wonder ifthat's why she got into.
The hippy movement so much wasbecause she does have a lot of
empathy and she does know howto connect with other people.
Shaun (21:39):
Yeah.
She would be good at like,even if you're in conflict
with someone kind of, likewe said again with Mr.
Burns too, like she hatedwhat he was doing, but she
didn't necessarily hate.
Completely as a person,like she's still wanting to
negotiate and work things out.
And she just has thoseinterpersonal skills that
(22:00):
it's not just going outthere and yelling about some,
but let's find a solution.
Sari (22:05):
I'm an old man yelling at a cloud, um, which
it would be interesting.
I would love to have an episodeof them meeting Mona and
Abe and know that backstory.
Shaun (22:19):
Yeah.
Cause it was kind of sadin that one episode when
they're fighting and shesays, oh, I just got with
you to make my parents manat work, there had to have
been some connection there
Sari (22:30):
it's pretty petty for her.
Like she doesn't seem likethe kind of person that would
do that, but she could havealso changed over the years.
Uh, Again, connecting, um,Mona and Homer's relationship
with food when they find heragain and Mona leaves, uh,
they think she's broken intothe house and then they smell
(22:52):
a pie baking and it turns outshe's baked them a pie and.
Homer kind of starts to eatthe pie, but then when she
kind of starts apologizingto him and stuff, he he's
very slowly sets down thepie, which is interesting.
You don't usually see Homerstop, think about something
(23:12):
and set down a piece of foodthat is not Homer style.
Um, and it's kind offrustrating, cause it was
a really cool moment thatthey put that in, but then
five seconds later, shesays, he's eating the whole.
Yeah, which I don't know ifthat was like, they forgot the
continuity or again, it might'vejust been a wizard, just
Shaun (23:34):
wizards all throughout Springfield.
So many
Sari (23:36):
wizards, they're doing all these things.
Shaun (23:39):
Now, there was one part that it did
seem kind of odd to me.
Cause we were talking allabout how she does really
care and everything.
And she was there, butin Mona, Lisa there's
towards the beginning.
When she goes to head out andhomeless, like looking at the
KFC in the fridge where she goeshugs and kisses, and he goes
(23:59):
to put out his arms for a hug,and then she leaves like that.
I don't know if you hadany thoughts on that.
Like that's mostlyconsistent with everything.
Sari (24:08):
So it was kind of interesting.
Um, later on in Todd Todd YFLper second, me, she says she's
finally able to give him that.
Like at first, he, she says, youknow, I'm not really a hugger.
And then, and hesays, oh yeah, I know.
And then, and thenshe says, well, we're,
(24:28):
we're dead in heaven.
I'll go ahead and giveyou a hug anyways.
But that's also inconsistentwith her hugging him when
he was really little.
Yeah.
So
Shaun (24:39):
I kind of just
Sari (24:39):
didn't frequently give hugs.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Maybe.
Um, that was it.
It was a weird connection.
It connects two episodes,but not the rest.
I don't know why she gives them.
You know, I don't knowwhen he does hug her.
He says, this isall I ever wanted.
Shaun (24:58):
And then he does that at all, as he fades away.
Sari (25:04):
Yeah.
It's so I like that thatepisode did give them
that sort of closure.
Shaun (25:09):
Yeah.
See what I would have wantedat the end of that was for
Homer and Ned to comparenotes and be like, Hey, we
had the same experience.
So it had to be real.
And then for him to knowthat that actually was his
mother and not just a dream.
Sari (25:23):
True.
Yeah.
They should have saidsomething about this.
Oh man.
That's why
Shaun (25:29):
I need to just be a writer
Sari (25:30):
for the Simpsons.
Here you go.
Come on, call them up.
Come on.
I kind of wouldn't mindtaking a little break.
We'll be right there.
I was supposed to say that.
A lot of us are stuck athome, which means now more
than ever, we've got totake care of our furry
friends, keeping us company.
So treat your dog withBarkBox super chewer.
(25:53):
He themed collection of supertough toys, treats and chews
sent to your home every month.
Use our link to getone free extra month.
Go to super chewer.com/simpsonsor click the link
in our description.
That's superchewer.com/simpsons.
(26:14):
And we're back here andwe're going to talk about.
It's going to be fun.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
First of all, thank you, Disneyplus, because the description
of this episode says what'sgoing to happen like in
the first sentence and it'sjust like, yeah, she does.
Okay.
Yeah.
(26:35):
Thank you,
Shaun (26:35):
Disney plus that's what the plus in
Disney plus is for it's
Sari (26:38):
for the spoilers.
So, this is about whenshe breaks in with the
whole apple pie scenario.
And she really, really trieshard to get Homer, to forgive
her for leaving her, forleaving him and all that.
Um, but he veryadamantly does not.
And, um, It's kind of weirdbecause she's trying to do
(27:03):
all of these sort of motherlythings to him, like, like
very mother to child, thingslike she bakes in the pie
and she actually tucks him inlike physically tucks him in.
He still does not forgive her.
And then her last wordsto him are I understand
these things take time.
Good night.
(27:23):
Damn Homer wakes up in themiddle of the night and
is upset about all this.
And he says, I'llmake her a card.
And the card is likeone of those hand Turkey
drawings that kids make.
And it says I'vebeen a real Turkey.
Which
Shaun (27:40):
is adorable.
Little bit of aggression.
Sari (27:43):
Yes.
Very Homer dumb, but sweet.
And I think shewould have loved it.
And then the part where hefinds her, it's kind of, it's
like a brush, but you know,
Shaun (27:55):
to do the angle like panning out from the house.
Sari (27:58):
Yeah.
Shaun (28:00):
All the emotional moments are with Mona.
Sari (28:01):
Yeah.
It's very, it's like almost kindof jarring the way it works.
It it's also very muchthe opposite of a.
Of a one fish, two fish,something Blowfish.
When he thinks he's going todie, she's like, oh, the drool
is still warm and all that.
It's like the exact opposite,which is interesting.
(28:24):
A Homer takes it super hard.
Like he stays in his bed andjust stares at her urn, which
is very not Homer, which is.
We're always fascinates me withcharacters is when they act the
opposite of how they usuallyact, you know, something's
happened and he buys, earn parPolish at the quickie Mart.
(28:44):
So he's definitelycaring for the earn.
And then we get the wholesituation with him, dumping
the ashes into the missilesilo, which turns out.
To be owned by Mr.
Burns.
It was his rocket that he wasusing to dispose of nuclear
waste in order to send it intoAmazon reinforce, which is kind
(29:07):
of an aha moment for Homer.
Um, because he's a littleupset about how she wanted him
to spread the ashes about howshe kind of manipulate them a
little bit, but then he kindof realizes in that moment,
the importance of what she wasdoing and what it meant to her.
And I think that'skind of when he sort of
(29:28):
reconciles it a little bit
Shaun (29:31):
and I feel like also she, in part of her video
will said that she's passingon her, her sense of like
protests and everything to Lisa.
But I think it's, she'spassing it along the
Homer to just so key.
Kind of more for closure becausethat way he can understand her
(29:51):
motivations earlier in life.
And so he can understandmore why she had to leave.
If he can turn around,be like, oh wait, I
need to do what's right.
And get that justifiedanger and everything.
That can maybe help himto understand why he
grew up the way he did.
Sari (30:08):
Yeah.
And he goes, andhe fights for it.
Like he gets in a fight.
He has that like contraptionwith a chain around a brick
that he just like whips around.
Shaun (30:18):
He's like, what am I going to do with these?
Sari (30:22):
And, um, and he parachutes out of the facility
after it blows up and stuff.
Like she leaves him that and,and she leaves him her sweetness
too, because she even ends thewill by saying here's a bunch
of footage of animal bloopersto get you to feel better,
which is just so specificallyHomer and also so sweet.
(30:46):
A Homer says when he comesback with her ashes, now I'll
just add some water to theseashes and bring her back to.
Oh, God, it's so sad, butit's also, but he's used
Shaun (30:59):
to her leaving and faking your death and coming back and
Sari (31:04):
it's, he's ready for that, that cycle that happened again.
And it's just not going to, and
Shaun (31:11):
one thing I thought of too, because.
She had to plan ahead withknowing the three o'clock
being up on the mountain,getting it into a video
will and everything.
When she broke into thehouse to make that pie, she
had to know she was dying.
Ah, that's true.
And then that just makesit hurt that much more
(31:33):
one Homer wouldn't forgive
Sari (31:34):
her.
Yeah, because she knewthat was her last shot.
And, and for her to just sortof sit in front of the fire
to think she probably knewthat was going to be the last
thing she saw that she wasjust gonna, she wasn't watching
TV or doing something stupid.
She was probably justruminating on her life.
Yeah.
(31:54):
Yeah.
Shaun (31:56):
But she couldn't tell him that she was
dying because then he would
Sari (31:59):
have freaked out and upset.
Oh God, that's hard.
Um, as much as, as much as like,I almost don't like her death
scene and when I saw it, I wasalmost like, that's it like,
it's not gonna, it's not sad.
It's not super sad or anything.
It's very sudden.
But then the end of theepisode, they show the
(32:19):
montage and it's got momentsfrom earlier episodes,
as well as newer moments.
Um, showing her being a goodmother to Homer, both as a kid.
And then those few momentsshe gets when he's an adult.
And then it ends with Homerdemanding more sugar in a
cereal, he's saying more sugar.
And she says, no.
(32:40):
And then she saysyour sweet enough.
And I think that showsthat that's where he gets
her, his sweetness from.
And that's when I startedcrying and it worked.
It was great.
It was a good conclusion.
And.
Yeah,
Shaun (32:56):
but yeah, I like, like we were saying, I think
Homer does have a hard timeaccepting her death, but I
think it's something thatthere's been so much back and
forth and like, you know, shecomes back and then she gets
arrested again because oftechnicality and everything
with the national parks.
And it's, I almost feel likethe cycle has to end for Homer
(33:18):
and I don't know as much as.
My first reactions werewhen she had them going up
and you find out it's likefor another motivation of,
you know, saving the worldand doing another protest.
At first, I also thought, likeI wrote down manipulation, like,
(33:39):
like even in her debt, she'susing her death to manipulate
the family into doing stuff.
But I really think that it'simportant for the family to
understand her motivations andwhy she was doing things that.
For Homer to be able to getthat sense of right and wrong
and to finally understandwhy she's doing what she did.
(34:00):
I think that was the bestway for her to go out.
And I don't know, we seeher come up a few more
times throughout the seriesand will, who knows what
part might sear again andflashbacks in the future.
But I feel like that kind ofhelps solidify a good memory
of her Homer's mind becausegoing into this episode,
(34:20):
he was very sour about.
Abandoning him andwasn't trusting ever.
And I just feel like that wasa good way to kind of push that
all aside and to make it beall good memories and no, no.
It's something where Iknow she's a lot of these
(34:40):
episodes that we want.
She's only like in a thirdof them and stuff like that,
but I'm really glad thatthroughout the years, they've
decided to go into Monash.
So you can learn moreabout homework because
Sari (34:49):
she's a big part of his characterization.
Shaun (34:53):
And she's a big part of Abe too.
And sheep, I feel like shehas a lot to do with his
grumpiness and anger that wesee throughout the years too.
But.
You know, it's just, it kind ofcloses the circle on that whole
family dynamic that even thoughit's may not be completely
functional and good all thetime, at least we understand
(35:13):
where it's coming from.
Sari (35:15):
Yeah.
With that.
I also want to shout out Glennclose for voicing the character.
It's kind of interesting becauseshe's a pretty big actress
and she came on to do everysingle one of these episodes.
I think there's just acouple there's a couple of
times she showed up likepre mother Simpson that she
was voiced by someone else.
(35:35):
But other than that, shecame for every one of these,
um, these voices for her.
So that's pretty cool.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Shaun (35:45):
Yeah, I like that.
Consistency.
You know, you hope thatthe people who do those
voices are fans and comingin just to have that little
part in the continuity.
Definitely.
Sari (35:59):
I guess this is also a good time to shout out our
Patriots eight Timothy Burleson.
Shaun (36:04):
Yes.
Yes.
The great Timothy,
Sari (36:06):
the great Timothy Timothy.
You
Shaun (36:11):
just imagine in the future, when we have.
Five patrons.
You could say I was the first.
We
Sari (36:17):
could have tens of patrons tens, but on that note
as well, check out our Patrionpatrion.com/simpson sibs.
We've got bonus episodes.
We've got, I'm sending apainting to Timothy and it, I
need to work on it some more,but I'm going to have it to you.
By the end of the month, youget extra crap, extra crap.
(36:41):
Last time we did.
At the, well, it wasa couple of times ago.
We did an episode where weactually recorded a video of
us recording the episodes.
So you get to see thewhole thing, which we
need to do that again.
But that was fun and
Shaun (36:53):
intimidating.
Oh, you're
Sari (36:54):
you're, you're not usually on camera.
I have another YouTubechannel, so I'm like,
I'm on a camera in Sean.
No, Eva's no,
Shaun (37:02):
no Eva's
Sari (37:04):
glide even.
So this was our secondcharacter study.
Our other one wason trauma core.
You want to go backand check that out?
Our next episode is season 12,episode 18 trilogy of error.
I'm looking forward tothis one because of the
one with the multiplestorylines happening at once.
And I love it.
(37:25):
Yeah, definitely a listen.
No, that's not whatI'm supposed to say.
Watch the episode you listen.
Yeah.
To get that full experience.
Yeah.
Until next time.
Happy new year, everybody.
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