Not Based On the Novel by James Fenimore Cooper
As Valentine's Day approaches, Fry and Amy start dating after discovering that they think the same way about "stuff and junk". However, Fry soon feels things are moving too fast, and plans to break up with Amy during their picnic on Europa. Things get complicated when Dr. Zoidberg crashes their car during the date, severing Fry's head. Fry must spend the next few days with his head transplanted onto Amy's shoulder while Dr. Zoidberg fixes his body.
Meanwhile, Bender uses the upcoming holiday to get rich quick by starting a blind dating service after getting fined for breaking anti-pimping laws.
Tropes present:
- All Planets Are Earthlike: Done for laughs, when Mercury, with its oceans of lead, is habitable enough to drive across, provided you keep the cover up.
- Blatant Lies: Victor and Malfunctioning Eddie aren't happy that Amy keeps offering higher prices for their cars. Not happy at all.
- Brick Joke: Bender's malfunctioning ass is brought up at the beginning of the episode and comes back at the very end.
- Can't Live Without You: After Fry is critically injured in a car crash, his head is attached to Amy's body to make sure he survives until his body is healed.
- Comically Missing the Point:
- As they're driving across Mercury, Fry and Amy both do things that increases the likelihood of getting them stranded.
- After having broken up with Amy, Fry thinks he's back in the game. Amy points out that while his head's on her body, he's likely only going to attract one kind of woman. It takes Fry a moment to realize what she means.
- Description Cut: Bender starts thinking of his first scheme, something supposedly cunning and devious. Cut to him standing in front of a judge (with Leela and two hooker-botsnote ) being fined $500 and time served for attempted pimping.
- Do You Want to Haggle?: Amy haggles with a salesman over the price of the Beta Romeo. She actually offers to pay so much, the robot manager explodes from joy.Leela: OK, the sticker says 55,000 but we'll only go as high as say-
Amy: 60,000!
[Leela sighs]
Victor: Oh, I will have to ask my manager.
[he walks into Malfunctioning Eddie's office]
Leela: Amy, you don't go up from the sticker price!
Amy: I thought it was an auction.
[through the office window, we see Victor say something to Eddie. Eddie smiles and they both dance with Joy. Victor comes back out again]
Victor: He is not too happy.
Amy: I'm sorry. 80,000?
[Eddie's head explodes] - Extreme Omnivore: Zoidberg eats all of the food from the picnic basket, and then the basket.
- Failed a Spot Check:
- Fry doesn't notice his head is attached to Amy's body until Zoidberg points it out.
- Zapp clearly doesn't realize his date is a cross-dresser.
- Fake-Out Fade-Out:Fry: Listen, Leela. Thanks for rescuing me last night.
Leela: Anytime. I actually enjoyed hanging out with you.
Bender: Yep, everything worked out great thanks to good old Bender.
Leela: Come on! It's not like you intentionally set us up with bad dates so we'd spend Valentine's Day together.
Bender: Didn't I, Leela? Didn't I? (winks)
(heart iris out, then back in)
Leela: No, you didn't! You just rounded up a bunch of stiffs at the bus station and pocketed all our money. - Fanservice: Amy (with Fry's head) in lingerie before the date.
- Fascinating Eyebrow: Victor does one of these when Amy mentions she's rich. He then shoves it back down.
- Friends with Benefits: Fry and Amy, for a short time. They actually like it better without the "benefits" part.
- Get-Rich-Quick Scheme: Bender uses the upcoming holiday to make money by starting a blind dating service (after his foray into pimping gets him busted due to anti-pimping laws). Both Fry and Leela end up using it.
- Honest John's Dealership: Malfunctioning Eddie's, although ironically, he's in even worse shape than the stuff he's selling.
- I'm Standing Right Here: Leela and Bender have this conversation while Zoidberg is sitting right between them:Leela: Bender, romance isn't about money.Bender: Oh, so it's just coincidence that Zoidberg here is desperately poor and miserably lonely? Puh-leeze.Leela: For your information, it's because he's hideous.Zoidberg: [slumps down sadly]
- Incredibly Lame Fun: Leela manages to save Fry from having to witness Amy having sex with her date by getting him talking about investment banking, which kills Amy's mood.
- Innocent Innuendo: When the recovery truck worker arrives on Mercury, he finds Amy's car windows steamed up. Instead of having sex, however, Fry and Amy are merely playing cards. While they're getting towed they decide to have sex.
- Insane Proprietor: Malfunctioning Eddie, the robotic car dealer. In a later episode ("Insane in the Mainframe"), it turns out that Malfunctioning Eddie's explosions are considered a mental illness, and he is committed to the HAL Institute for Insane Robots.
- Insane Troll Logic: Fry, once he starts getting tired of Amy, such as thinking she wants him for his money, or as a trophy husband.
- Joke of the Butt: Bender has shock-absorbing bumpers installed to prevent "catastrophic butt failure", but isn't happy that the bumpers make him look like he has big blue buttocks. He demands that the mechanic undo this upgrade, which the mechanic obliges, but not without warning Bender that this increases the risk of Bender's ass eventually exploding.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Bender conned a bunch of people with a scam dating service and pocketed their money, freely admitting it when called out by Leela. Then he inadvertently touches Fry's surgery scar while patting him on the back, which makes Fry involuntarily kick him right on the ass. This both makes his ass explode completely, and probably burns up all the ill-gotten money he was keeping in his chest.
- Losing Your Head: With Fry. Not the usual heads in jars, which is strange when you think about it, since Zoidberg could've probably removed Fry's head from Amy's body when they got back to Earth and simply put it in a jar (unless the head-in-jar technology is only reserved for celebrities and other important people of the past); due to the accident being on another world, it may have just been easier to keep the grafted head on a living body to avoid further trauma; Hermes gets his head in a jar at the very beginning of "Bender's Big Score", and he's not particularly famous or important compared to Nixon, Leonard Nimoy, etc.
- Man, I Feel Like a Woman: Lampshaded when Fry has his head put back on his own body after spending several days on Amy's, he immediately gropes his own chest only to disappointedly say, "Aww."
- Meaningful Name: When Malfunctioning Eddie says he's malfunctioning badly, he isn't kidding.
- Mistaken for Gay: Apparently common with Fry, who would really like it to stop. The Ford ThunderCougarFalconBird salesman uses averting this as a technique for selling his car.
- No Guy Wants to Be Chased: Implied: Fry initially returns Amy's affection, but soon starts to feel like the relationship is moving too fast and plans to break up with her.
- Overly Narrow Superlative: "Well, if it isn't my favourite head on Amy's body!"
- Sexy Discretion Shot: Double Subverted. After Amy's car runs out of gas on Mercury, she and Fry talk a bit, then look at each other seductively. Hours later (judging by the sunset), a tow driver wipes some condensation off the glass of Amy's car, revealing them... playing cards inside. Then, while the car is being towed:Amy: So while they're towing us, want to do it?Fry: Yeah! (they start making out, then duck out of view)
- Ship Sinking: Fry and Amy are set up as a couple, but Fry eventually feels like the relationship is moving too fast and breaks up with her. By the end of the episode, they both decide they're Better as Friends.
- Shipper on Deck: Bender set up Fry and Leela with bad dates, and winked when Leela asked if he did that so they would be together for Valentine's Day. He didn't intend to, he was just being cheap by just rounding their dates up at the bus station.
- Shout-Out: One model of car at Malfunctioning Eddie's is the Plymouth V'ger.
- Smart Ball: Well, Medical Knowledge Ball. Zoidberg is able to attach Fry's head to Amy's shoulder and preserve the rest of his body for future reattachment.
- Wait for Your Date: Amy tells her Valentine's date that she needs another 20 minutes to finish getting ready even though, as Fry points out, she only needed to put her dress on to be finished. Amy admits that the point is to make the guy wait for her.
- Your Head Asplode: Malfunctioning Eddie's head explodes from sheer joy.
