Futurama, Episode 7.08: "Fun on a Bun"

Futurama is somewhat unique in the current animated TV landscape, in that it occasionally tries to aim for emotional payoffs.  (It's an avenue that really hasn't been touched, outside of the early seasons of Matt Groening's other series, The Simpsons.)  My go-to example (and most likely, yours as well) is the ending of "Jurassic Bark", a.k.a. the episode with Fry's dog, which is probably one of the bigger gut-punches in recent television memory. Others may talk about the ending of "The Luck of the Fryrish", the episode with Fry's brother and the lucky seven-leaf clover. But also of note is the way the show treats the Fry-Leela relationship with a sense of tenderness and sweetness.  It's not coincidental that the final episode of Futurama's original run, "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings", ended with a promising look at Fry and Leela's future. One of the first Comedy Central episodes, "The Late Philip J. Fry", memorably wrapped a Fry/Leela date inside of a fun time-travel plot, with unexpectedly touching results. And just a few weeks ago, when I reviewed "Zapp Dingbat", I forgot to mention the fleeting moment where Leela says to Fry, "You're getting there", when he mentions being potential marriage material.  This week's episode has a potentially classic Fry/Leela moment, wrapped around a twisty episode that ends in Neanderthals attacking Oktoberfest.

We start with the Planet Express group attending Oktoberfest, which, in the 31st century, has apparently become a classy and cultured festival... much to the disappointment of Fry, who just want to get drunk and perform the chicken dance.  Using beer spittoons, Fry does manager to get buzzed... to the extreme disapproval of Leela. Even Bender refuses to party... because he's suddenly decided to join the festival's sausage-making competition.  But, in order for Bender to win, he'll need to have an exotic specialty in order to compete with Elzar's 3000-year-old pork and other rarities. So, with help from a drunken Fry, Bender decides to unearth a wooly mammoth that's been trapped under ice in Germany for 30,000 years, and stashes the creature in a meat grinder.  All is well, and Bender appears to have the contest in his hand... until Leela finds some odd ingredients in her sausage: pieces of Fry's hair, jacket, and T-shirt. Mmmmmm.... unintentional cannibalism!

From there, the episode diverges into two threads. First, there's the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-esque riff, in which a guilt-filled Leela has all of her memories of Fry removed.  Surprisingly, Leela's part of the episode veers into sitcom-level humor, as her co-workers strive not to invoke any memories of Fry... which is pretty hard, considering that Planet Express' next job is a shipment of French fries that occurs every Friday.  (The sight gag of the failed escape pod trip had me laughing my butt off.)  Forgetting memories is an idea that could've been milked much more thoroughly than it is here... unfortunately, there's simply too much going on in this episode to allow Leela's plot to get enough focus.

Then, there's the real fate of Fry, in which he's frozen naked in ice and discovered by a community of Neanderthals living under a sky layer of ice. In a fun touch, Fry hits his forehead before being frozen, causing a bump that makes him look like a homo erectus... also allowing Fry to temporarily forget his memories. Fry's side of this week's episode is fun, because (1) Fry logically fits in as a fake Neanderthal, and (2) it allows for some amusing visual gags involving mammoths, giant sloths, sabretooth cats, and the like. It leads to Fry leading the Neanderthals to Oktoberfest via the ice hole that Fry and Bender created, in an attempt to reclaim what is rightfully theirs.

The ensuing battle is nothing short of bizarre and hilarious, with sausage judge Zapp Brannigan attacked by a catapulted sabretooth cat, wooly mammoths shooting beer at tanks, and Hermes being threatened by a giant sloth. Also worth mentioning: Bender's continuous attempt to get first place in the competition by having his competition killed. (Hey, it isn't easy trying to be the Abe Froman of Oktoberfest!)  But then comes the payoff of Fry and Leela fighting each other atop the Planet Express ship, without either recognizing the other at first... until Fry and Leela see each other's hair:

Leela: "Orange?"
Fry: "Purple?"

It's the type of delicate moment that Futurama can pull off when the story calls for it... and to be honest, these moments are best used sparingly so as to maximize their impact.  And so, their kiss reconnects Leela's memories and ushers the blood away from Fry's swollen head, returning things to normal.  And fortunately, the peaceful resolution of the battle leads to a good old-fashioned Oktobestfest for all involved... invoking another sweet scene where Leela wants to do the chicken dance with Fry. But Fry replies, "Just this once, I'm gonna let you embarrass me!" It's a touching capper to an episode that's too jam-packed for its own good.

Random notes:

• Fry is a loyal reader of Unfrozen Dude magazine.
• Be sure not to offend Countess Von Luftballon!
• During the shot of Fry's clothes being pulled into the meat grinder, his hair inexplicably turns black for a single frame. See if you can find it!
• Fry: "Kill all modern humans!" Bender: "Hey, this guy's alright!"
• "In recognition of your overwhelming victory... let's call it a draw!"
• Bender serving Zapp the ginormous rack of ribs was a nice node to The Flintstones... I hope.
• This week, the Futurama: Volume Seven DVD and Blu-ray release was moved up from December 18th to December 11th. Hooray!
• Next week: Bender searches for the meaning of life. Sheesh, and I thought this week was ambitious enough! ;-)