Fry's flu--fatal for his future friends? Find out in this alliteration-free recap!
What's Fry Up To?
Sneezing, and it's making the rest of the Planet Express crew sick. As well as the rest of New York! We learn this episode that the common cold was eradicated centuries before and that Fry's reintroduction of the snot-based-plague could be devastating if it's allowed to spread. Also, we get flashbacks to 20th Century Fry's attempts to cultivate a cold in order to infect his pet guinea pig. Don't worry, he only did it so the guinea pig could get sent into space.
How was it?
Ehhhhh.
That's neither fair nor articulate. This wasn't a strong entry in the current season and it's doubly disappointing as a Fry Flashback episode, typically guaranteed to be the most heartfelt, sweet, and funny of any season in which they appear. We spend a lot of time with Fry attempting to put together his NASA Nerd Search experiment involving the affects of cosmic rays on a guinea pig (amusing!) while his father (and the rest of the Fry clan) trash talk him and put him down throughout the course of the episode. Apparently, Fry used to be ambitious--if still a little dumb--and his dad's constant needling and put-downs didn't really help. After a while, it stopped being funny hanging around with the Fry family patriarch and kind of became a drag.
Meanwhile, in the 31st century, there was some decent mileage gained from the crew's affliction with Fry's cold and the general chaos that descended upon the city once the infection spread beyond the walls of Planet Express (because one bending robot couldn't stand being cooped up and bored). All the content here was solid and funny enough--a lot of gross-out gags involving mucus and sweating if that's your thing.
But the episode ended up making me sick of Fry's dad more than anything else, a major bummer in what's been such a strong season so far.
Best bits?
- "Oh, I knew that offhand. I was just checking Facebook."
- The return of the Secret White House.
- Haha, real funny guys--no one ever cared enough to really give UPN its own satellite!
- I'm sure glad that pizza boy went back to law school.
Rating on the nostalgia-o-meter?
4/10
Not especially high. Attempts to tug at the heartstrings aside, Fry's dad is too much of an ogre throughout most of the episode, making his turn in the closing scene feel kind of unearned.
Futurama airs on Comedy Central on Thursdays at 10 P.M. EST.
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