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Recap / Futurama S 1 E 3 "I, Roommate"

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When everyone becomes sick of his disgusting habits around the Planet Express office, Fry moves in with Bender, whose closet sized apartment is too small for a 20-something slacker and his Robot Buddy. Fry and Bender find a new, roomy apartment, but when Bender's antenna begins wreaking havoc on the building's satellite TV, Fry must choose between his new home and his metallic pal.


Tropes

  • Alien Geometries: One of the apartments Fry looks at is a parody of M.C. Escher's print "Relativity". He rejects it on the grounds that he doesn't want to pay for dimensions he'll never use.
  • Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Bender wants to discuss Fry's living arrangements, but gets distracted by All My Circuits.
  • Bait-and-Switch Comment: After Fry eats the professor's mummy. "This is an outrage! I was going to eat that mummy!".
  • Banana Peel: Fry eats a tiny banana from Leela's all-fruit tree, then drops it on the floor. Amy then slips on it.
  • Beard of Sorrow: After Fry kicks him out Bender "grows" a beard of rust during his not-drinking binge.
  • Black Is Bigger in Bed: The cop robot (voiced as a stereotypical black man) disparages Bender's antenna with "Huh. You call that an antenna?" after an episode comparing robot antennae to dicks.
  • Brick Joke: After complaining about Fry eating a mummy of his, the Professor buys him another one (teriyaki-style) as a housewarming gift.
    • Also, Amy slips on the mini banana peel that Fry throws on the ground when she enters his apartment; when she leaves, she slips on it again.
  • Cardboard Box Home: Discussed. After being kicked out, Fry asks Bender if refrigerators still come in boxes in the 31st Century. Bender answers yes, "but the rents are outrageous."
  • Characterization Marches On: Bender's almost an Extreme Doormat here, missing his Jerkass tendencies (or Token Evil Teammate status) common to later episodes.
  • Chekhov's Gag: While checking out the apartment of the late Dr. Mbutu, Bender complains that it is not "cozy". Fry shows him a closet that's as small as his old apartment, which satisfies him. When Fry moves back into Bender's old apartment at the end of the episode, he brings a plant with him, and Bender tells him that he has a window in his closet to help give it enough light, but Fry is more impressed that the closet itself is as large as a real apartment.
    Fry: Bender, why don't I just live in here?
    Bender: In a closet? Ohh, humans... (drinks his beer)
  • Comically Missing the Point: Hermes notes that the office has been a pigsty for a month and that Fry has been there for a month… so he’s putting him in charge of finding the source of the mess.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: Bender's reaction to having his antenna cut off is like that of a human about to be neutered, especially since he calls it "Little Bender".
  • Double Don't Know:
    Amy: Do you think Calculon's evil twin will ever walk again?
    Hermes: I don't know, Amy. I just don't know.
  • Drowning My Sorrows: Bender stops drinking while depressed, which makes him act like he's incredibly drunk.
  • Drunken Montage: Inverted—Bender needs alcohol to function, so when he spends a night not drinking, he's assaulted on all sides by increasingly tame neon images.
    • No liquor license
    • Public Library
    • Bible Study 2Nite
    • Boring Geology Lecture
    • Water Fountain
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: Bender's antennae is established as having an adverse effect on satellite waves, interfering with them in such a way that the TV in Fry's new apartment doesn't function correctly. This never comes up again, even in episodes where Bender interacts with other TVs and satellites, and only functions as a catalyst to justify Fry moving into Bender's apartment.note 
  • Foreshadowing: Bender choosing to live in the closet at the new apartment sets up the reveal at the end of the episode.
  • Friendless Background: Bender claims to have this.
    Bender: Y'know, Fry, of all the friends I've had, you're the first.
  • House-Hunting Montage: Fry and Bender go through one looking for a new apartment. The last one appeared perfect... except it was technically in New Jersey.
  • Human Pet: When Fry expresses concern that he'll be imposing on Bender by moving into his apartment, Bender quips, "I've always wanted a pet."
  • I, Noun: The episode title.
  • I Was Having Such a Nice Dream: "I was having the most wonderful dream! I think you were in it."
  • I'm a Humanitarian: The Professor bought an old mummy from Zuban 5, and then finds Fry has mistaken it for jerky.
    The Professor: By God, this is an outrage! I was going to eat that mummy!
  • Innocently Insensitive: Fry throughout the episode, from his cluelessness about how he's driving his coworkers up the wall to his blithe encouragement of Bender's plan to chop off his antenna, unaware that this is the robot equivalent of self-castration.
    Leela: Fry, sometimes in close quarters people do inconsiderate things without realizing it.
  • Kill All Humans: Alas, it's just Bender's wonderful dream.
  • Lost Food Grievance: Farnsworth gets set off by Fry eating an alien mummy after mistaking it for jerky...because he wanted to eat it.
  • Lower-Class Lout: After Bender and Fry move into Dr. Mbutu's apartment, we're treated to a montage of them destroying his fine art and furniture, replacing it with garbage, pin-up girls, and bean bag chairs (made by stomping 18th century French furniture into rubbish in a garbage bag).
  • Missing the Good Stuff: Interference from Bender's antenna interrupts All My Circuits just as Calculon is about to give a big revelation. The signal comes back just as Calculon is about to repeat it, but then it goes out again.
  • Mundane Utility: Fry uses the Planet Express ship's engines to blow dry his hair.
    Leela: Fry, what were you thinking? You're getting a huge dose of radiation!
    Fry: And great lift.
  • Newhart Phone Call:
    Farnsworth: Oh, how awful. Did he at least die painlessly? *Beat* To shreds, you say? Tsk tsk tsk. Well, how's his wife holding up? *beat* To shreds, you say? Very well, then.
  • Nitpicky About Living Arrangements: Fry finds a perfect apartment, with just one little catch...
    Fry: Well, I give up. What's the catch?
    Suspiciously fantastic apartment salesman: Oh, no catch. Although we are technically in New Jersey.
    (Smash Cut to Fry moping back at Planet Express.)
    Fry: Not one place even remotely livable!
  • Non-Residential Residence: Fry takes up living in the Planet Express Building. It's to the annoyance of his co-workers, who have to deal with him sleeping on the conference table at work and using the ship to blow-dry his hair, and they are quick to kick him out.
  • Parrot Expo-WHAT?: During Fry's first night at Bender's apartment, he wakes Bender up to ask him where the bathroom is:
    Bender: Bathwhat?
    Fry: Bathroom.
    Bender: Whatroom?
    Fry: Bathroom!
    Bender: Whatwhat?
    Fry: Ah, nevermind.
  • Percussive Maintenance: When Bender's antenna scrambles the signal for the first time, Fry hits the TV just as Bender steps out for a moment. As the signal returns, Fry gives Fonzie's "Ayyy" thumbs up.
  • Rage Against the Reflection: A sober Bender winds up lying in an alley in a puddle of his own bodily fluids (mostly oil). He sees his reflection in the puddle, and, predictably, smacks it.
  • "Shaggy Dog" Story: When Bender reveals that his apartment has a closet, it's the size of a normal human apartment, meaning that Fry's searches for a new apartment were unnecessary.
  • Ship Tease: This is the first episode to bring up the possibility of Fry and Leela becoming a couple. When Leela suggests for Fry to find a new place to live after he spent a night in Bender's cramped apartment, Fry takes a shot and asks if she was talking about an invitation to her apartment.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Simpleton Voice: The landlord at the underwater apartment is one of many people with a lower-class New York/New Jersey accent.
  • Soap Within a Show: This episode marks the debut of All My Circuits.
  • Take That!: To New Jersey:
    Fry: Well, I give up. What's the catch?
    Suspiciously fantastic apartment salesman: Oh, no catch. Although we are technically in New Jersey.
    (Smash Cut to Fry moping back at Planet Express.)
    Fry: Not one place even remotely livable!
  • Token Human: The sole human in the main cast of robot soap opera All My Circuits, who does "the usual stuff—he laughs, he learns, he loves." Fry finds this pretty boring.

 
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Fry and Bender move out

At Leela's insistence, Fry and Bender find a new home. The first is attacked by a squid, the second is a nightmare to navigate, and the third is in Jersey.

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5 (17 votes)

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Main / HouseHuntingMontage

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