Rate/Review "Mona Leaves-a" (KABF12)

[simpsonfan4510]

Ok i really liked this episode but i agree with The mayor of Albuquerque why kill homers mother on mothers day?

The Flaws

*Why was homer being such a jerk to his mom?
* The moe with the key gag was really stupid
* The homer killing all the bears in the build a bear place was stupid because it clearly shows bart PRESSING the button. So why were all the bears going off at once?
* the knife in the head gag.... we all saw that coming...

BUT IT HAD SOME EXCELLENT GAGS TOO!!

*ralph putting the stuffing in the bear LMAO!!!
*"thats were the food sleeps"
*itchy and scratchy the sweater company
*homer and marge climbing up the mountain. lots of good stuff there

Why could homer escape with using just the defender? it clearly shows the guards having guns!

4 out of 5

[chagopian]

Ok i really liked this episode but i agree with The mayor of Albuquerque why kill homers mother on mothers day?

The Flaws

*Why was homer being such a jerk to his mom?
* The moe with the key gag was really stupid
* The homer killing all the bears in the build a bear place was stupid because it clearly shows bart PRESSING the button. So why were all the bears going off at once?
* the knife in the head gag.... we all saw that coming...

BUT IT HAD SOME EXCELLENT GAGS TOO!!

*ralph putting the stuffing in the bear LMAO!!!
*"thats were the food sleeps"
*itchy and scratchy the sweater company
*homer and marge climbing up the mountain. lots of good stuff there

Why could homer escape with using just the defender? it clearly shows the guards having guns!

4 out of 5

they were all high. And I love that knife in the head joke, it happened too quickly for me to see it coming.

[The "Urban" Lenny]

Compared to the last two shitty episodes, I thought this episode was pretty good. I'll admit that it is nowhere near the classic that Mother Simpson was, but unlike the previous two episodes it didn't really have any cringe worthy jokes. 3.5/5 (voted 3/5)

[Yngon]

Great episode

[Ramier Wolfcastle]

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/05/12...survivors/3722

Any Given Sundance was only the least-watched Simpsons episode for a week. Mona Leaves-a only drew 6.02 million viewers.

On the flip side, The Simpsons got the highest ratings out of all the shows that aired on Fox last night. King of the Hill only got 4.99 million, and Family Guy (a repeat of Stewie Kills Lois) only got 5.81 million

So this may or may not be the end, as the other shows suffered as well.

[Ryan]

If I'm not mistaken, Survivor had its season finale last night which drew big ratings. Which leads me to my second point: people still watch that show?!!!...

[HappyPalooza]

I'm going out on a limb and saying maybe because it was Mother's Day. Moms typically watch reality shows, hence the ratings.

[Semaj]

Maybe they can just say this whole damn episode was dream sequence (couldn't be any more contrived!) and bring Mona back for the REAL character ending episode she deserved.

Worked for Dallas.

[Cyn]

4/5

[StupidHippo]

a disappointment
2.5 rounded down

[Dark Homer]

Horrible episode. The only difference between this episode and a scully episode is that mona's death wasn't crazy and over-the-top. Doing marge for 21 years is clearly taking its toll on kavner's voice, as evidenced by her question to the build-a-bear guy (I forget what the question was). please end show soon

[HappyPalooza]

-what is with animation writers and their constant dislike of Scrubs?!

I guess it's cuz it ain't funny.

[D'ohmer]

IGN said that Round Springfield and Alone Again, Natura Didly were funnier and had more emotion.

[lionelhutz123]

Enjoyed the callback jokes and plotlines, but only since they weren't insulting me by pretending they were "new ideas"
Many decent jokes for a change.
Even Ralph's moment wasn't too cringe-worthy for once.

however:
Killing his mom off on Mother's Day? a new low for the show.

it wasn't mothers day

[lionelhutz123]

I guess it's cuz it ain't funny.

are you joking, scrubs is an amazingly funny show.

[burnin']

terrible. only laugh was at the scrubs line. 2/5

[Sexy Beast]

I cant believe Mona's dead I kept waiting for her to come back

[lionelhutz123]

("spoilers for people who are trying to catch up on scrubs!!!") Sorry about the double post above, and for this one now, but I have to give the simpsons credit for the scrubs joke. It makes it 10x funnier since last Thursday scrubs had their season finale which showed dr. Kelso working in the hospital as "com" even though a few episodes prior he had quit. Thats mainly because NBC premeired the episode out of order. Also laverne died in season 6 but the actor returned for season 7 as laverne's twin. So the simpsons were quick on noticing that and although I'm a big fan of scrubs, I'm glad that they made a joke about it. Haha wow now that I think of it, alot of characters appear and disappear on scrubs.

[sung]

it wasn't mothers day

I thought it was...? At least it was better than showing Stewie killing his own mother like what FG did

[TriforceBun]

I think he meant that it wasn't Mother's Day in the actual show.

I'll level with you on this one. The whole time Mona was alive in the first act, the tension between Homer and her was poorly written and poorly done. When Homer found her dead on the sofa, it was the only time in came close to something like the end of "Lisa on Ice", Marge's speech in the movie, or "Mother Simpson" itself. After bad funeral and urn jokes, I really didn't care for Homer's issue because it was so tried and contrived, as well as (again) poorly written. Then, when it had something pretty good going (Homer climbing up the mountain for his mother's wishes, even bypassing Lisa AND Marge!), it dissolved into a horrific Scully twist with the missile operation. The ending montage was nice and sweet, but anyone could've made that, put it on YouTube after the episode and I would have called it the same. In other words, it worked because it was a good idea. Homer fighting his mom's "last hippie battle" was not. And it totally killed the emotion, which Al Jean and company were seemingly flashing subliminal messages on screen say "FEEL BAD. NOW CRY!", and I didn't feel that nearly at all. Therefore, forced emotion...

I dunno, maybe I need to rewatch it or something, because I felt the emotional weight of the story was somewhat subdued. I mean, from the end of the first act through about half of the second act, it felt more melancholy than heartrending. I thought the funeral jokes were actually pretty good, besides (it was mainly Grampa's tap-dancing joke, which I thought was amusing and in-character). Definitely don't remember any gags with the urn itself, which was a relief to me...I kept waiting for something tacky to happen, like the ashes getting switched or spilled or peed on or something.

I think that's one of the reasons I really liked it--I kept waiting for some horribly tacky moment (as the show has certainly had its share of them, even regarding death) that never came. In fact, when Homer first approached Mona with the cinder block, for one horrifying moment I was worried the writers would make him accidentally kill her. Considering Maude's death, it wouldn't be too far of a stretch. It's commonly mentioned that you shouldn't mark an episode high just because it doesn't desecrate the cast's dignity, but I have to admit that it was a big relief to me, to see how they handled it. And while it was a little light on the Homer/Mona interaction, the characterization was nice, the animation was nice, the storyline was well-paced (and worked for me, personally), and...well, I've come to accept that we probably aren't ever going to see a truly deep character study again. That's why I haven't given an episode an actual 5/5 since around season 14 or 15 (and might not again. As much as I liked this one, it's no higher than a 4.5 for me).

[Mindy Simmons]

Another thought: Its heavily implied that Mona knew what would happen at 3pm at the park. Is it possible that she was responsible for her own death as well? (Or does Burns just do this every day at 3?) It would explain why the cause of death was not explored at all. Despite several attempts, no Simpsons character has actually successfully committed suicide, and you'd think something like that would be out of place on the show. Also it wouldn't make much sense in context, as it would contradict everything she said about wanting to finally be a mother to Homer. Maybe her death was purposely made vague to keep us guessing.

[lionelhutz123]

I thought it was...? At least it was better than showing Stewie killing his own mother like what FG did

Yesterday in real life was mothers day, not on the episode. I'm just saying years from now it won't matter that it was aired on mothers day. The so-called insensitivity" won't be an issue.

[The Governor]

That's the 2nd time you've mentioned Mr Bergstrom and unicorns in this thread. You seem to be a creative person. Why don't you go write a script for it instead of directing your inexplicable cynicism and rage at those who actually enjoy The Simpsons.

I don't have to "do better" in order to have an opinion. Or, do you excel at everything you are unhappy with? BTW, I even wrote a (parody) in regards to the current state of the show:

http://www.nohomers.net/showthread.p...ht=parody+song

In fact, why are you even here? You've already made it known countless times that you think the show is dead. What can be said about the mind of someone who comes back week after week to check the pulse of a corpse? (Unless you know something that we don't...)

It's called "hopless optimimism". And what I call