Homer and His Dead Mother

[vovat]

I don't know that last night's Simpsons worked so well as a stand-alone episode, but it was a decent final chapter in the saga of Homer's mother. Unless I'm missing something, though, I'm not sure how Mona knew her final wish would work out. It's not like she knew when she would die, or specified a date for Homer to drop the ashes. What, does Mr. Burns launch a missile at 3:00 every day? The action sequence near the end was a little odd, but bringing back Homer's cement-block weapon from the beginning of the episode was a nice touch.

No new Family Guy last night, but we did get a new American Dad, which I enjoyed. Stan's song about Oliver North was definitely the best part, but there were other amusing parts as well.

Finally, before I post this, I have to say that I think people who object to Stephen King's April comments about literacy and the military by saying that most soldiers ARE educated are missing the point. Well, I suppose I don't know for sure what King's point was, but here's how I see it. Yes, a lot of our military is educated, but I think most of these people actually believe in what they're doing. That doesn't mean there aren't also a lot of poor and uneducated Americans who join the military because they don't feel they have any other choice, and to acknowledge this issue is hardly an insult to the Armed Forces. Now, I DO take some issue with King's statement that the literate and educated "can walk into a job later on," but nobody else seems to care about that part.

Comments

[bec-87rb.livejournal.com]

King suffers from being a Boomer - he keeps in his mind the Vietnam War, because it was the big conflict of his youth. Back then there was a draft, and the educated kids got a pass, while the poor and less well educated had to go fight. This was a real departure from say, WWII, when the draft was dipping more evenly into each social strata. I'll bet King just wasn't thinking when he said it.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

That could be. I think it's still pretty common for uneducated people to join the military because they don't feel they have other options, but it was even more true during Vietnam.

I'll bet King just wasn't thinking when he said it.

I'm sometimes inclined to think that most people aren't thinking when they say most things. {g} But regardless of how accurate King's statement was, it seems like a real stretch to see it as an insult to the military.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Now, I DO take some issue with King's statement that the literate and educated "can walk into a job later on," but nobody else seems to care about that part.

HAH seriously!

Also, I like what the person above me said about King having Viet Nam in the back of his mind-- that's an interesting and likely theory.

Incidentally, all the military guys I know are BIG readers... curiously enough, mostly of military history and related fiction!

[annarama.livejournal.com]

i think Mona probably planned her own death; maybe took pills? because the way Homer found her seemed like it was premeditated. but yeah, i thought it was fake and that she really was alive and maybe she'd be at the top of the mountain to meet him. i was also a bit shocked by the action sequence near the end...

[revme.livejournal.com]

That would make sense, but, boy, wouldn't that be awfully cruel to Homer? Like, way beyond standard Jerkass Homer levels, even. I mean, jeez. Wow. I guess an argument could be made that she thought Homer was serious/wouldn't change his mind about wanting her to leave, but... still. That's... a pretty drastic step. So, yeah -- I'm thinking either way, it's not really the best -- either it doesn't quite make sense, or it's jaw-droppingly cruel and pointless.

I did really like the Schoolhouse Rock/Ollie North song. Which was probably also a pretty elegant way of explaining the situation for those who no longer remember Iran Contra.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I suppose it's also possible that Mona knew she was going to die soon anyway, and came to the Simpsons' house to make her peace with Homer and plan her final protest. But if that's the case, we're right back to the jerkass thing, since she didn't tell anyone she was hovering on the edge of death.

I remember when the Iran-Contra hearings were constantly on TV, but I had no idea what they were actually about back then.