Recap / Futurama S 3 E 12 The Route Of All Evil

Disclaimer: Any resemblance to actual robots would be really cool

While suspended from boarding school, Professor Farnsworth's clone Cubert and Hermes' son Dwight start their own newspaper delivery company. Their fathers mock their efforts until the boys get enough capital to take over Planet Express. Meanwhile, Fry and Leela use Bender to bootleg beer, and treat the robot like a mom-to-be.

Tropes

• Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: Dwight believes that alcohol makes you stupid. Fry responds with, "No I'm...doesn't".
• Bait-and-Switch: After Cubert and Dwight bring in a wheelbarrow containing a mountain of money, both Farnsworth and Hermes can only gawk at their earnings as if they're impressed the kids did so well. Cue the next shot of the kids complaining they really didn't get impressed by that.
• Biting-the-Hand Humor: Dwight complains about being treated like a child when he and Cubert are almost old enough to find the FOX network infantile.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: Dwight, like his father, loses his manwich.
• Cardboard Box of Unemployment: When Hermes and Farnsworth got fired, the former carries one but not the latter.
• Cassandra Truth: In an attempt to distract Farnsworth and Hermes from his and Dwight's pranking the crew, Cubert tattles to them about Fry, Leela and Bender making bootleg beer inside Bender, who is technically company property. Not only does Farnsworth not believe them, but it backfires on them spectacularly.
  Farnsworth: Accusing gentle Bender of a misdeed? That's the last straw!
• Comically Missing the Point: While watching an episode of The Real World where a man on the sun is burning to death, Leela's only problem is that an apartment that big on the sun would be too expensive for someone like him to live in.
• A Day in the Limelight: The episode primarily focuses on Cubert and Dwight, and their rivalry with their fathers, Professor Farnsworth and Hermes.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Bender's beer escapade is played out like a pregnant woman expecting her first child.
• The Dog Bites Back: The main trio abandon Planet Express for Awesome Express after being given a better offer and show a greater enthusiasm working for Cubert and Dwight than they ever have for the Professor.
• Dumbass Has a Point: Combined with Armor-Piercing Question—after bottling Bender's beer, Dwight and Cubert come in and start complaining about him, Fry and Leela not delivering any of the papers and how they had to deliver all the papers themselves. Fry gets suspicious and says, "How were you guys able to deliver a million papers in an hour?"
• Horrible Judge of Character: Professor Farnsworth identifies Bender as "gentle Bender" when Dwight and Cubert claim he's being used to brew beer. Somewhat justified, since Farnsworth is senile, amoral, and frequently forgets who works for him to begin with.
• I Can't Hear You: When Zoidberg comes in while Cubert and Dwight are being yelled at by their parents.
  Zoidberg: What's going on? Is this "angry" yelling or "busted hearing aid" yelling?
  Hermes: I'm afraid it's both.
  Farnsworth: (Shouting) WHAT??
• I Resemble That Remark!:
  Dwight: I heard alcohol makes you stupid.
  Fry: No I'm... doesn't!^note Also a Throw It In!. Fry's line wasn't in the script; it's a blooper Billy West made when they were recording, but it fit Fry's character so perfectly they had to use it.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: Cubert accuses the crew of using Bender as a still for brewing beer. Bender immediately calls out "Lies! Lies and slander!", then burps out some suds. Regardless, Farnsworth still believes Bender.
• Jerkass: The Professor and Hermes, who kick their sons' business sign out of spite, slash their employees' wages when the company starts doing worse, and then file paperwork to reclassify them as slaves.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The Horrible Gelatinous Blob throws the Professor and Hermes' polite request to clear up any misunderstanding between their sons back in their faces and beats them up for good measure. Later, however, he visits them in the hospital to offer an apology of his own, citing stress from work as the reason he snapped and explaining that he wants to set a better example for his son.
• Legally Dead: Cubert inherits Planet Express because his father was declared dead.
  Professor Farnsworth: Tax dodge nothing! You take one nap in a ditch in the park and they start declaring you this and that!
• Mail-Order Novelty: Cubert and Dwight order a pedal-powered spacecraft out of the back of a comic book. The ad says "Allow four to six seconds for delivery."
• Mister Seahorse: Parodied. When Fry and Leela brew their beer inside Bender, his stomach swells up, and he spends much of the episode behaving like he's pregnant.
• Moving the Goalposts: When Awesome Express makes more money than Planet Express, Hermes, instead of being proud, points out that they don't have a building, a conference table, or a Zoidberg.
• Mundane Made Awesome: Hermes delivers the mail using a gatling gun.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: The Horrible Gelatinous Blob gives one to both the Professor and Hermes after they stand up for their sons when HGB abuses them even after the boys sincerely apologized for the damage they did. HGB's coup de grace is absorbing both fathers as their sons watch in horror.
• Not Really a Birth Scene: Bender's beer being bottled is scripted as a birth scene.
• Oh, Crap!: Dwight and Cubert get a pretty epic one when Leela takes a call from an angry customer who hasn't gotten their paper delivered in quite some time, and then the rest of the phones start ringing...
• Papa Wolf: The Professor and Hermes attempt to be this when Mr. Horrible Gelatinous Blob abuses Cubert and Dwight. They wind up in the hospital, but their sons are still proud of them for trying.
• Projectile Kiss: Prof. Farnsworth blows a kiss at Cubert when he starts his paper route. He tries evasive actions, but Farnsworth claims it's a cheek-seeking missile.
• Pun-Based Title: Based on the expression "The root of all evil" (which is from a Biblical quote about the love of money being the root of all evil, which is commonly misquoted as money being the root of all evil).
• Red Ones Go Faster: Cubert and Dwight paint the Planet Express ship red and add flame decals to make it go faster.
  Leela: And what's your scientific basis for thinking that?
  Cubert: I'm twelve.
• Rejected Apology: Mr. Horrible Gelatinous Blob initially refuses Dwight and Cubert's apology.
  Horrible Gelatinous Blob: You can shove your apology into the bottom of your one-way digestive system.
  Farnsworth: Now see here. We assured our sons that you'd accept their apology.
  Horrible Gelatinous Blob: Aww. Tell you what, I'll accept their apology when they kiss my ass! Which I don't have!
• Remember the New Guy?: Hermes and his wife, LaBarbara, are revealed to have a son named Dwight, who was never seen or mentioned prior to this episode but already seems to know the rest of the employees at Planet Express (or at least Fry, Bender and Leela). It could be somewhat justified in that Dwight was apparently off at boarding school, so he wasn't living at home prior to appearing in this episode.
• Repeating So the Audience Can Hear: Leela, when she gets a call from an annoyed Awesome Express customer.
  Leela: What's that? You haven't gotten your paper? In how long? [while shooting a Death Glare at a visibly panicked Dwight and Cubert]]
• Running Gag: Another manwich is victimized (one belonging to Dwight and not Hermes), this time by being compressed into a singularity.
• Shout-Out:
  • Some of the scenes of the boys delivering papers parody the classic arcade game Paperboy, especially the scene where they're chased by an Angry Guard Dog.
  • Said angry guard dog gets eaten by a space slug.
  • The Little Prince is one of the boys' customers.
  • As mentioned above under Horrible Judge of Character, the Professor refers to Bender as "gentle Bender," an obvious reference to the 1960's TV series Gentle Ben about a friendly black bear.
  • Fry, Leela, and Bender watch an episode of the MTV reality show The Real World set on the sun. Leela's complaint that the apartments the cast live in would cost a lot of money in real life is a common complaint about the show.
  • The "Mom's Moron Oil for Dumb Robots" sticker parody is made in the style of a Wacky Packages sticker.
• So Proud of You: A twisted version, at the end, when Dwight and Cubert come to their dads for help.
  Dwight: We just wanted you to be proud of us.
  Hermes: Proud of you? You ruined us with sleazy business practices, and a complete disregard for human decency! Of course we're proud of you.
  Farnsworth: Damn right we are!
• Start My Own: Cubert and Dwight's 'Awesome Express'.
• Threesome Subtext: Fry and Leela brew a beer inside of Bender, and the three of them behave like expectant parents to the ale swelling inside of Bender.
• Weaksauce Weakness: The Gelatinous Blobs are weak against salt. It doesn't kill them, but it does make them lose cohesion.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Bender is apparently considered Planet Express property, making the trio's beer-brewing a misuse of company property and therefore (technically) illegal.
• Would Hurt a Child: Bender enjoys the thought of Cubert and Dwight being beaten by their fathers. When they don't, he decides to do it himself.
  Bender: [sighs and pulls out a baseball bat] I guess if you want children beaten, you have to do it yourself.

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