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3ACV02: Parasites Lost
First UK airing: Sky One, 8:30pm, 28-1-01
"I had a great time today. The
flowers, the puddle, the way you hurt that guy..."
Yay! History's repeating itself! After an episode
that concluded a production block in a very feeble manner, the
first new show of the next block is an absolutely corker. Character-
rather than plot-led, unpredictable, giving screen time to everyone
and very, very funny. Plus Amy got more than three lines for
the first time in ages.
And it's finally out in the open. Fry loves Leela!
(G'uh.) And now she knows it! And she feels the same way about
him! Of course, by the end of the episode everything was back
to normal (or worse), but since Futurama
is actually willing to pay attention to continuity when it wants
to (everything from Scruffy through owls to Fry and Amy's past
relationship got mentioned), I'd be willing to bet this'll come
up again. All well and good in my book -- the more character
comedy there is, the less chance there is of clunkers like 'The
Cryonic Woman' taking up space.
So what was it that made 'Parasites Lost' so much
better than 'Cryonic'? Easy. 'Parasites Lost' had heart (and
I mean more than in the literal sense), with the comedy coming
from the characters as much as the situation, whereas 'Cryonic'
was just a mechanical procession of gags. If you've got a reason
to get involved with the people, then you can have as much CGI
as you want. (George Lucas, listen up!)
The whole Fantastic Voyage spoof was superb, and it
even addressed the most scientifically ludicrous part of that
film -- where does all the mass go when you shrink the ship?
(Pity Deep Space Nine didn't bother doing that...) And while
Zoidberg's bit with the sperm was easily the most gut-bustingly
funny moment of the whole show, I would still have liked to see
his microdroid being digested by an antibody up in the turret
bubble, like Donald Pleasance, just for the hell of it.
On top of that, it was the most 'shippy episode ever
(even more so than 'Put Your Head On My Shoulders'), with Fry
and Leela actually together! For real! Without coercion! Or the
'what if' machine! I definitely wasn't expecting that. I was
expecting something to go wrong, since Fry and Leela becoming
an item would mean a serious change to the series format
-- not that it would be impossible to do, but extremely unlikely
-- but I certainly didn't guess that Fry would lop a chunk off
his hand-eye coordination node with a sword. And the ending was
kind of sad, in a way that you don't often get in sitcoms. Don't
give up, Fry! Rupert Murdoch's granted you at least another 32
chances to try again!
Oddly, tonight's episode was actually scheduled to
be 3ACV03, 'A Tale Of Two Santas', not that I'm complaining.
However, I do have a complaint -- either somebody's toying
with my mind... or the theme music is getting slower by the week.
Quick, somebody give that composer some Class-A drugs!
Rating: 
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