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1ACV07: My Three Suns
First UK airing: Sky One, 8:00pm, 2-11-99
"Up yours, bimbo!"
Finally, Fry gets an episode that does him justice.
Even though he's ostensibly the lead character (see who gets
first billing in the credits if you don't believe me), since
the pilot he hasn't had much in the way of deep moments. He might
not be capable of having much in the way of deep moments,
but you know what I mean. Although this makes two Fry shows in
a row, 'Suns' is a lot more satisfying than 'A Fishful Of Dollars'.
'My Three Suns' was structured like a lot of classic
Simpsons (or Seinfeld, or Frasier) episodes, with a seemingly
unrelated opening section that actually leads inexorably into
the main plot. Bender's dream of being a chef turned into a trip
into the seamier side of NNYC to buy a slug, which led to Leela
having to protect Fry and him resenting it, and the slug made
Fry thirsty, which made him drink the Emperor, which... This
kind of intricate structure is hard to write, which is why you
don't see it on too many shows, but it can produce some of the
most satisfying comedy because the jokes arise naturally from
the escalating situation.
Both Amy and Zoidberg benefitted from getting away
from the PE office (does the crew pack formal wear for every
mission on the offchance that one of them might be crowned Emperor
of an alien planet?) and the whole concept of a liquid race was
pretty imaginative, as well as making for some good gags like
Amy inadvertently feeling somebody up or "The veneer is
starting to peel!" But the episode was really about Fry,
and his discovery -- to his surprise -- that he does have genuine
feelings after all. Until this, he probably believed himself
what he told Leela about guys in 1ACV03.
A thought that occurred to me about Leela was that
even though she's the only member of the PE crew who has the
potential to make something of their life (except maybe Amy,
but then she does have a rich family to fall back on), she most
likely never will -- because she's now permanently tied herself
to Fry and the rest, forming her very own dysfunctional family.
Since that's something she never had before, she'll probably
stick with it and try to make it work rather than running the
risk of being alone again. How she'd respond to realising that
she's now the Planet Express 'mother' remains to be seen, though
-- but I'd expect it to be similar to the way she reacted to
sleeping with Zapp Brannigan...
Another thought -- in the Observations for 1ACV04
I pointed out that Leela had a photo of somebody (who we couldn't
see) by her bed. This episode, Leela just so happens to
find a nice big portrait shot of Fry to stick to her punchbag.
Hmmm... surely not...
Rating: 
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