The half-hour opened with the Simpson family out at the mall. After a visit to Itchy and Scratchy's (sweaters, not the fun cartoon show), the clan stopped at a Build-a-Bear parody shop called Hug-n-Stuff. The show delivered some chuckle-worthy bits, including Ralph's exploding bear and Bart's discovery of a recordable hippo ("This guy could put Milhouse out of business.") But all this was just throwaway material in a story that was actually about the return and sudden death of Mona Simpson.
Homer's mother has appeared in several episodes, though in only two before this as a major character. In both of those appearances, and here, Glenn Close gave us the sweet voice of Mona Simpson. She's a perfect fit, able to convey a loving, motherly tone, while still convincing the audience she's a headstrong hippie activist. Storywise, Mona's return felt a bit uneven. As quickly as she was back in Homer's life, she was dead and gone. There was no time to build her character up again, which would have been helpful since she hasn't made a major appearance since 2003. Still, Homer's quiet realization of his mother's passing -- his tender "Mom?" -- did pull at the heartstrings.
The brief funeral for Mona was surprisingly funny. First there was the appearance of Seth and Munchie, hippies from Mona's past and The Simpsons episode "D'Oh in the Wind." But the big laugh came from Grampa, who, after talking about always wanting to dance on his dead ex-wife's grave and then admitting he didn't feel like dancing, left the room to the clicking sound of his at-the-ready tap shoes. Homer, meanwhile, was suffering from the guilt of being a jerk to his mom right before her death. But through a video will, Mona gave Homer a chance at redemption, asking him to climb to the highest point of Monument Park to spread her ashes. His trek to the top of the peak gave us a sentimental and smartly funny line from Homer: "Mom, we didn't know each other very well. If we did, you wouldn't have asked me to climb anything."
At that point, the story took an odd left turn, which could have been funny, but was ultimately a letdown. Mona's ashes were sucked into a missile guidance system, disrupting the rocket's launch. Homer was upset that his mother used him to pull one more stupid hippie protest. But after falling into the clutches of evil Mr. Burns, his viewpoint changed and he fought to prevent to rocket from launching. It all felt clunky and forced and wasn't all that funny. Any appearance by Mr. Burns has the potential to be classic, but here, even in a situation where he controlled a rocket packed with nuclear waste destined for the Amazon rainforest, Burns was wasted.
The Simpsons have done a better job with death -- funnier and with more emotion -- in past episodes. Bleeding Gums Murphy and Maude Flanders spring to mind. "Mona Leaves-a" didn't reach that sort of level, but aside from the clunky inclusion of a post-mortem raid against The Man, the episode wasn't without its humor and charm.