Mother Simpson

"Mother Simpson" is the eighth episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 19, 1995. After faking his own death to get a day off work, Homer reunites with his mother Mona, whom he thought had died over two decades prior. It was directed by David Silverman and was the first episode to be written by Richard Appel. Glenn Close makes her first of eleven guest appearances as Homer's mother. This episode is dedicated to the memory of Jackie Banks, who died on 4 November 1995. Plot After learning that Mr. Burns wants his employees to clean litter from a highway maintained by his company on a Saturday, Homer fakes his own death using a dummy to avoid it. When Marge discovers his scheme the next day, she makes Homer go to the Springfield Hall of Records to explain he is not dead. He argues with a clerk who claims that Homer's mother is still alive, although he thinks she died while he was young. Homer visits what he thinks is her grave, only to find that it belongs to Walt Whitman. After falling into a grave that had been dug for him, Homer is approached by a woman who chastises him for falling into her son's grave. Homer recognizes her as his mother Mona, and they share an emotional reunion. Lisa soon bonds with her paternal grandmother, but notices Mona runs inside the house when a police car drives by. Suspicious, Lisa shares her concerns with Bart, who raided Mona's purse and found several driver's licenses with different names. Marge and Homer wonder why Mona left her son and never returned for 26 years. The family confronts Mona, who reveals the truth about her past. In 1969, Mona joined a group of hippies to protest a germ warfare laboratory owned by Mr. Burns, which was preparing to poison everyone in Springfield. The group detonated an "antibiotic bomb" inside the lab, killing all the germs (smallpox, diphtheria, typhoid, "rocking pneumonia" and "boogie-woogie influenza"). Mr. Burns was trampled by the hippies while attempting to stop them. When Mona went back to help Burns, she was recognized as one of the perpetrators, forcing her to leave Homer and his father Abe and go into hiding. After learning that he never received any of the weekly care packages his mother sent, Homer goes to post office to claim them, taking Mona with him. While they are there, Burns recognizes Mona and calls the FBI, who track her to the Simpsons home.