Good news everyone! Welcome to The Beat’s weekly coverage of the new season of Futurama. Our own Avery Kaplan reviews the first six episodes. These reviews will provide in-depth coverage of each episode each week. So let’s get ready to see what this season brings each week.
There is a certain point, futurama spiritual predecessor The Simpsons A shadow of its heyday. People write episodes that are probably too comfortable to write The Simpsons. Between last season (which admittedly had some great episodes) and this season premiere, futurama It seems to be at this point now. This does not mean futurama Unable to watch, but the show’s best days may be behind it.
Heading to Mexico (X sounds cool)
The Season 12 premiere returns to the show’s normal track; parodying current events in the show’s far-future world. In this case, the character falls into the NFT scam. Bender realizes that he can make money from them, from “Bender’s concept,” and then is shocked to discover that he no longer owns his concept. Of course, he traveled to Mexico to find his roots.
This episode’s Bender plot is the weakest, despite the guest voice Danny Trejo Bender’s cousin Dobrando did his best. If anyone could voice Bend’s non-union Mexican, it would be Trejo. While “Deadly Inspection” is one of the show’s best episodes, the idea of Bender’s Mexican heritage has always been funnier as a verbal joke than a visual one. Sure, it’s fun to meet Bender’s family (he has an abuelita!), but the mix-and-match jokes about ancient Latin American culture are less fun.
The story of commenting on NFT is relatively successful. Kubert, Dwight, Amy and Keefe’s children repeatedly explained the nature of NFT to adults. The more they explained, the funnier things got, especially since the voices repeated themselves in equal measure boredom and annoyance. Adults never learn. The crew of the Planet Express attempt to recapture Bender’s concept through a heist. Heists certainly go horribly wrong in a way that only happens in futurama.
Future programs are stuck in the past
Commenting on an episode of NFTs seems outdated, especially when the market crashed about two years ago. That’s not to say NFT jokes aren’t funny. However, last season of 1010001 turned its cryptocurrency plot into an inspired Western-themed episode. It doesn’t help that the last line explicitly states what the episode has already explained.
This comes back to futurama As a show that’s happy with its legacy. This episode was good, but there was a sense that the show’s creators were going through the motions. The joke about the giant ancient robot emperor seems to be recycled rather than something different. Comments on NFTs, while interesting, come across as lazy. It’s okay to call NFTs stupid, but the show satirizes modern culture in a funnier, more pointed way.
final verdict
Still a little less futurama The episodes are better than most of the best episodes of sci-fi series. Only in this show can one find jokes involving the Inca counting system and angry fish. The jokes in this show are still funny. Just for a show that is often considered superior to its sister show at this point The Simpsons, futurama It looks like it’s slipping into the comfort of the series as it ages.
new episodes futurama It airs Monday on Hulu.
Follow The Beat’s coverage this season here.
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