Despite addressing her absence and changing whereabouts a few times, it took The Simpsons 33 seasons to finally explain how Homer lost track of his mother. In its many years on the air, the long-running animated series has only offered a little insight into Homer’s relationship with his mother, Mona Simpson. She first appeared in The Simpsons season 7 and periodically cropped up later in the series, before eventually becoming one of the very few characters killed off on The Simpsons.
However, despite establishing that Mona was never happy with Homer’s father, The Simpsons never explained how Homer lost contact with her. The show did mention that Grandpa told Homer his mother was dead at a young age, but a Simpsons season 33 episode retconned this and explained how Homer almost reunited with Mona in his teens. Surprisingly, it was his closeness with Grandpa that led Homer to miss out on reconnecting with his mother.
The Simpsons season 33, episode 9 “Mothers and Other Strangers,” showed a flashback of a teenage Homer trying to track down Mona and succeeding very briefly, but his decision to help Abe out of a jam instead of following his mom meant he gave up the chance to catch up with her. Although the revelation is a sweet Simpsons moment, it is undercut by Abe telling Homer he made the wrong decision by coming back to help his struggling father. While the trio was being pursued by FBI agents through a ravine, Homer turned around to help Grandpa after he became caught between two rocks, rather than continuing to pursue Mona. This explanation is the first time that The Simpsons has depicted Homer choosing Abe over his mother rather than simply being separated without a choice in the matter.
It is perhaps not a surprising origin story for Homer’s separation from his mother since the character has consistently stuck up for Grandpa over the years. However, the Simpsons season 33 episode did also retcon some vital canon from the series while explaining how Homer and his mother ended up so distanced. Although Mona Simpson appeared on The Simpsons numerous times before being killed off, the episode sees Homer and Grandpa claim that they have not seen her since Bart’s birth. It is an odd claim and one that flies in the face of numerous classic Simpsons plots without adding much to the episode’s explanation of Homer’s abandonment by his mother.
Although hearing that Homer has not seen his mother in almost a decade is tragic, it is contradicted by the numerous Simpsons episodes wherein she arrives in Springfield and interacts with the family. Like the death of Maude Flanders, this Simpsons mistake seems unnecessary and serves mostly to complicate the show’s messy chronology, and was not necessary to make the story of Homer being left behind by his mother effective. The crux of The Simpsons season 33 episode is explaining that, in the heel of the hunt, Homer chose to stick with Grandpa over Mona, a decision that is both true to his character and poignant as well.