History Recap / FuturamaS4E2LeelasHomeworld

-->'''Leela:''' hey, the lake didn't mutate me. What is going on here?

Leela is sad because she has no idea where she came from after receiving an award from the orphanarium. But when Bender's sewer-dumping service attracts the ire of the mutants, she finds that the secret to her origin may be closer than she thinks...

** After Leela dives into the lake, it looks like she emerges with a purple octopus for a head. Then she pulls it off and it turns out she’s just fine; the octopus was just stuck there and is just as confused.
** Fry has the Professor analyze the letter from Leela's parents which is translated in what appears to be an alien language. It turns out that even analyzed, the letter was just gibberish; what got Fry to realise Leela's parents were mutants was that the toilet paper used is the same as that used in the sewers.

* DramaticIrony: The audience learns about Leela's parents at the end of act 1.

* FingertipDrugAnalysis: One of the ways Hermes figures out that the Professor's new glow-in-the-dark nose maker is producing toxic waste. Though in his words, the toxic waste is more of an aftertaste to the main flavor of figgy pudding.

* GreenwashedVillainy: Bender opens an industrial waste disposal business. It dumps the toxic waste into New New York's sewer system, annoying the mutants who live down there.

* OhCrap: Bender does this at first until he realises that as a robot, he doesn't have DNA, so the lake won't mutate him. He swiftly resumes it when the mutants state they're going to beat him up afterwards.

* SeriesContinuityError: Despite the Cookieville Minimum Security Orphanarium being renamed to "Bender B. Rodriquez Orphanarium" in "[[Recap/FuturamaS3E9TheCyberHouseRules The Cyber House Rules]]", in this episode, the orphanarium reverted back to its original name with no explanation.
** Then again, this is Bender we're talking about; is it that hard to imagine he did something in the intervening time that prompted the orphanage to sever all official ties to him?

* WasOnceAMan: Leela takes a plunge into the mutagenic lake, fully expecting it to mutate her, she emerges with what appears to be an octopus head, only for her to immediately turn out to be fine, just confused.

* WhamShot: Leela is wondering if her parents are looking down on her from some distant planet. The camera pans upward to the night sky... then quickly pans down again, past Leela & Fry, to settle on a man and a woman with purple hair and one eye identical to Leela's ''looking up at her from a sewer grate''.

* MurderArsonAndJaywalking:
-->'''Leela''': Bender, stop that! First of all, the sewer mutants will be mad, and second, everything else that's horribly wrong with what you're doing!

-->'''Bender''': What did I do to deserve ''this''?!
* NeverTrustATitle: The title of the episode implies we'll learn about Leela's alien heritage. While we do learn about her parents, [[BaitAndSwitch they aren't aliens]] -- "Leela's Homeworld" was EarthAllAlong.

* SameContentDifferentRating: In the United Kingdom, ''Futurama'' is usually rated PG or 12, depending on how strong the violence, offensive language, sexual content, criminal behavior, and overall adult content is in the episode. This episode, however, was rated U (which means the content is suitable for all audiences), despite some threatening/dubious content, like Fry and Leela talking about spankings, Bender dumping toxic waste in the sewers, the mutants attacking Fry, Leela, and Bender, Leela freaking out over the hooded strangers possibly being her parents' murderers and prepping to shoot them point blank, and the tear-jerker ending where Leela discovers that the hooded strangers whom Leela thought killed her parents are her parents and the three tearfully reunite, followed by the montage showing that Leela's parents were always with her, even if they couldn't show their face above ground.

* TakeThat: Leela, on finding the aforementioned shrine, asks if she's an "even more boring version of Film/TheTrumanShow."

* WhamShot: Leela is wondering if her parents are looking down on her from some distant planet. The camera pans upward to the night sky...then quickly pans down again, past Leela & Fry, to settle on a man and a woman with purple hair and one eye identical to Leela's ''looking up at her from a sewer grate''.

-->'''Fry:''' Isn't that the machine that makes noses?
-->'''The Professor:''' It can do other things! Why shouldn't it?!

* BaitAndSwitch: After Leela dives into the lake, it looks like she emerges with a purple octopus for a head. Then she pulls it off and it turns out she’s just fine; the octopus was just stuck there and is just as confused.