The Simpsons: 15 BEST Golden Age Episodes

15. Mother Simpson

Not many episodes of The Simpsons tend to end with a still frame of reflection, and that piece of iconic imagery alone supersedes a lot of other extravagant, exceptional and evocative episodes, but the twenty-something minutes that precede it are sheer heart-wrenching magnificence, as Homer meets his long lost, estranged mother in a masterclass of storytelling.

Glenn Close takes up the mantle of Mona Simpson for the first time in the series - which she would go on to reprise a handful of times until the character's death - imbuing professionalism in droves as she does so. Mona appears to Homer after he fakes his own death, which leads to an ironic reflection of what he was told to believe about his mother growing up.

Once she comes back into the fray, Homer is elated at the prospect of having a relationship with the mother that left him - for extremely selfish reasons - back in the 1960s, until a local old foe (guess who) happens to recognise her from all those years before.

Mona is forced to leave her family once again to evade arrest, leaving Homer pondering an existential crisis as a moment he didn't know he spent his life waiting for had hastily materialised.

All of this makes Mother Simpson a really emotional episode that stands out on multiple merits.