This episode has been described as Futurama's return to glory post-revival, on the same emotional wavelength as Luck of the Fryish and Jurassic Bark. So I sat down, hoping to be swept away by effective character-driven storytelling.
I walked away unimpressed.
The story opens up showing Fry's tendency to be late on his dates with Leela. On her birthday, Fry assists Prof. Farnsworth (and Bender) in testing his one way Time Machine. An error during the test NOT caused by Fry ends up propelling them 1000 years into the future instead of the intended 1 min.
The episode focuses on our heroes trying to find ways back, whilst showing snippets of Leela's life and her attempt to cope with Fry's absence. Unbeknownst to her, he recorded a message for her, apologizing for his tardiness and reminding her of his love. Eventually getting hold of the message, she realizes her misunderstanding and leaves a message for him to find in the future, telling him she enjoyed their time together.
So what part didn't I like? Ignoring the obvious set-up, the contrived way in which they're lost in time, the way Leela copes (marrying Cubert) and her inexplicably knowing how and where to leave her message, what killed this ep (emotionally) was the Profs solution to loop time back around to the starting point, essentially resetting the universe.
What made the 2 aformentioned episodes so powerful was that they were ultimately moments in time that Fry could never get back. Here time is resetted, lessons aren't learned (or unlearned), and nothing of value is lost. Compare this to Fry realizing Yancy loved him all along, but never being able to reconcile with him, or never knowing that Seymour was waiting until death for his return.
TBH, if I hadn't read up on this episode, and they didn't rock that dramatic music so hard, it would have never registered that I was to take something away from it. Outside the spectacle of the universe rebirth, and the hilarious moment which resulted in them having to loop around a SECOND time, The Late Philip J. Fry was largely forgettable.
It felt like a very long Tale Of Interest that tried to be emotional, but came across as emotionally manipulative.
The Late Philip J. Fry
This episode has been described as Futurama's return to glory post-revival, on the same emotional wavelength as Luck of the Fryish and Jurassic Bark. So I sat down, hoping to be swept away by effective character-driven storytelling.
I walked away unimpressed.
The story opens up showing Fry's tendency to be late on his dates with Leela. On her birthday, Fry assists Prof. Farnsworth (and Bender) in testing his one way Time Machine. An error during the test NOT caused by Fry ends up propelling them 1000 years into the future instead of the intended 1 min.
The episode focuses on our heroes trying to find ways back, whilst showing snippets of Leela's life and her attempt to cope with Fry's absence. Unbeknownst to her, he recorded a message for her, apologizing for his tardiness and reminding her of his love. Eventually getting hold of the message, she realizes her misunderstanding and leaves a message for him to find in the future, telling him she enjoyed their time together.
So what part didn't I like? Ignoring the obvious set-up, the contrived way in which they're lost in time, the way Leela copes (marrying Cubert) and her inexplicably knowing how and where to leave her message, what killed this ep (emotionally) was the Profs solution to loop time back around to the starting point, essentially resetting the universe.
What made the 2 aformentioned episodes so powerful was that they were ultimately moments in time that Fry could never get back. Here time is resetted, lessons aren't learned (or unlearned), and nothing of value is lost. Compare this to Fry realizing Yancy loved him all along, but never being able to reconcile with him, or never knowing that Seymour was waiting until death for his return.
TBH, if I hadn't read up on this episode, and they didn't rock that dramatic music so hard, it would have never registered that I was to take something away from it. Outside the spectacle of the universe rebirth, and the hilarious moment which resulted in them having to loop around a SECOND time, The Late Philip J. Fry was largely forgettable.
It felt like a very long Tale Of Interest that tried to be emotional, but came across as emotionally manipulative.