Line #37 Recap/FuturamaS2E19TheCryonicWoman


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thecryonicwoman.png]]
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3	''[[CouchGag Not a Substitute for Human Interaction]]''
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5	After Fry and Bender get fired for hooking the Planet Express building to the ship and flying all around the world (along with Leela, who should have stopped them), they get jobs at Applied Cryogenics (at least Fry and Bender do. Leela gets a job as a pizza delivery girl), where Fry discovers that his girlfriend Michelle froze herself as well.
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7	!!Tropes:
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9	* AllTakeAndNoGive: Michelle has been on both sides of this equation. Her ex-husband used her to pay for law school and dumped her as soon as he graduated. In the future, Michelle makes unreasonable demands of Fry starting from knowing he fits in and she doesn't, culminating in forcing Fry to fight for power in the supposed 40th century tribe they're stuck with.
10	* AscendedExtra: Michelle first appeared as a throwaway character illustrating how sucky Fry's life was in the 20th century. Now she's the focus of an episode.
11	* BadJobWorseUniform: Leela as a pizza delivery girl with her degrading pizza hat.
12	* BedsheetGhost: Bender wears this with a white sheet over his head to scare Fry and Michelle while they were kissing.
13	* BilingualBonus: When the children's mother picks them up, she says they have to go to Hebrew school. Right before the death rolling, Butch's girlfriend counts in Hebrew.
14	* BloodSport: Deathrolling. "It's just like skateboarding, except half the time somebody dies."
15	-->'''Fry:''' [[TakeThat Oh, so it's a little safer than skateboarding]].
16	* BookEnds: The pilot introduces Michelle by having her drive past Fry in a cab with someone else. The episode ends with her doing the same thing.
17	* {{Bowdlerization}}: After the Norway terrorist attacks in 2011, some versions of this episode are re-animated so that the chip on the dismembered arm Bender uses is from a chainsaw juggler instead of the Prime Minister of Norway. Netflix used to have the original "Prime Minister of Norway" take, but when they added the last half of the series (from "2-D Blacktop" to "Meanwhile"), they changed it to the edited "Chainsaw Juggler" version.
18	* ChallengingTheChief: Encouraged by Michelle, Fry challenges the kid chief.
19	* ContinuityNod:
20	** The plot starts because Leela tied down the ship with the unbreakable diamond filament, from "[[Recap/FuturamaS2E12TheDeepSouth The Deep South]]".
21	** Leela held onto the career chips from "[[Recap/FuturamaS1E1SpacePilot3000 Space Pilot 3000]]" and uses them to at least get Fry a job at Applied Cryonics, after she summarizes the events of that episode.
22	* CueTheFallingObject: When Bender and Fry return from their joy ride, they look into the angry faces of their crew mates. Then the wall behind them topples.
23	* DistinctionWithoutADifference: Fry, on describing his and Michelle's restarted relationship.
24	-->'''Fry:''' Before, she was demanding and possessive. Now, she wants me to do things, and stay with her all the time.
25	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Michelle claims that Fry's parents were so indifferent to his disappearance that they thought a police search would be a "waste of tax-payers money." Later episodes like "[[Recap/FuturamaS3E4TheLuckOfTheFryrish Luck of the Fryrish]]", "[[Recap/FuturamaS6E24ColdWarriors Cold Warriors]]", and "[[Recap/FuturamaS7E23GameOfTones Game of Tones]]", would show that all Fry's relatives cared for him deeply despite their oddness and seeming jerkishness.
26	** Perhaps Michelle lied (or at least exaggerated) to [[ManipulativeBitch scam Fry into going along with her]]?
27	* EasilyForgiven: By the end of the episode, the Professor takes the trio back in, because he's forgotten why he fired them in the first place. [[SubvertedTrope Then Bender reminds him]].
28	* ExactWords:
29	** The Professor angrily declares he should fire Fry, Leela, and Bender after what they did, but he's not cold-hearted enough. He then immediately turns to Hermes, who ''is'' cold-hearted enough.
30	** Michelle tells Fry they should go to the year 4000 and not regret it. On waking up in the apparent wasteland of the 41st century, Fry informs her he doesn't regret it, but he does "rue and lament" it.
31	* FakedRipVanWinkle: Fry and Michelle think they stayed frozen until an apocalyptic 41st century, but are just in 31st century Los Angeles.
32	* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Michelle does not handle the 31st century well at all, which leads to an observation of how well Fry handled the 31st century but did not fit into the 20th century.
33	* {{Foreshadowing}}: At one point, the camera pans toward, and briefly focuses on, a sign that says "Highway On-Ramp," which is a clue as to the true nature of the "future." This is a reference to the "Freeway Entrance" signs that are posted at on-ramps in California.
34	* FreakOut: Michelle has a few of these concerning the weird things of New New York. And inverted when she meets Zoidberg, since ''he's'' the one that freaks out.
35	* GuiltByAssociationGag: Leela gets fired along with Fry and Bender when they take the Planet Express ship (along with the building) out for a joyride. The Professor justified this by saying she left the key in the ignition.
36	* HellishLA: It turns out that Fry and Michelle didn't wake up in a post-apocalyptic wasteland -- that's just what Los Angeles is like in the 31st century.
37	* HeroOfAnotherStory: Amy, Hermes and Zoidberg's adventure in the fantasy planet (where everyone's fantasies come to life) goes completely unseen. All we hear about it is that it was "great" (Amy), "organized" (Hermes) and that it let Zoidberg live life as a grandmother.
38	* IgnoredEpiphany: You'd think after Michelle was used and discarded by her boyfriend she would've learned a little more empathy when it comes to how she treats Fry. She instead forces him to make sacrifice after sacrifice until he finally has enough and calls her out on how she almost ruined his life (which she ignores).
39	* InspirationalInsult: Michelle tries to motivate Fry by saying "My mother said you'd never amount to anything, now get out there and prove her wrong!"; Fry's response is a very hurt "Beth said that?"
40	* ItsAllAboutMe: Michelle makes it clear she hasn't changed at all since she dumped Fry, with their relationship consisting of her making bigger and bigger demands of Fry while doing practically nothing for him in return.
41	* JerkassHasAPoint: The Professor lumping Leela in with Fry and Bender for destroying their building does appear to be spreading the blame a bit too far, but he correct to point out the whole thing would never have happened if Leela hadn't left the keys in the ship's ignition. It is basic vehicle security to keep keys on you or in a safe place whenever they aren't needed, and definitely not where anyone can get access to them, including a pair of reckless idiots like Bender and Fry. Leela even casually admits how she left the keys on the ship, so she her negligence does warrant punishment.
42	* LampshadeHanging: When Leela brings up the career chips, Fry has completely forgotten them, because the concept had completely fallen by the wayside right after the pilot.
43	* LaserGuidedKarma: It's shown Michelle treating Fry like crap in the past came back to bite her when her new boyfriend basically used her to pay his way through law school and then dumped her on graduation day. Michelle's then cryogenically frozen only to discover the 31st Century terrifies her, and she sticks out like a sore thumb specifically because she ''did'' fit in during the 20th Century.
44	* MonumentalDamage: Fry and Bender joyride across the world with the Planet Express ship hitting the Leaning Tower of Pisa upright then knocked down completely with the Planet Express building being tethered behind the ship. The building also crashes through the Great Wall of China.
45	* MundaneUtility: Fry uses a cryonic chamber as a freezer for his drinks.
46	* MythologyGag: Fry and Michelle are seen taking a ride on a hovering scooter similar to one that Fry and Leela were seen riding in promotional material for the series.
47	* NegativeContinuity: Leela tells Bender not to beg for money because they're "not veterans" even though they fought for Earth in combat in [[Recap/FuturamaS1E12WhenAliensAttack "When Aliens Attack"]] and [[Recap/FuturamaS2E17WarIsTheHWord "War is the H-Word"]].
48	* NotSoRemote: Fry mistakes contemporary Los Angeles for a post-apocalyptic wasteland left in the wake of New New York.
49	* NotWhereTheyThought: Not only do Fry and Michelle think they've gone a millennium forward in time when they haven't, they also think they're still in New New York (or [[AfterTheEnd what's left of it]]), when actually they're in LA.
50	* OvershadowedByAwesome: Parodied, as one the trio are fired, [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Zoidberg]] rejoices that he will now be the popular one. Sure enough, everyone starts taking an interest in Zoidberg.
51	* ParentalNeglect: Fry mentions that his parents took him out of school in order to save taxpayers' money, while Michelle claims that they called off the search for him for the same reason.
52	* PopCulturePunEpisodeTitle: The episode title is a pun on ''Series/TheBionicWoman''.
53	* ResetButton: {{Subverted\|Trope}} ([[DoubleSubversion doubly-so]] if you count the SnapBack in the following episode). Fry asks for his job back, and while the Professor briefly considers giving it back to him, not even remembering why he was fired to begin with, Bender jogs his memory. Cue the episode ending with Farnsworth telling Fry to get lost and dropping him through a TrapDoor.
54	* SequelEpisode: The episode is essentially a sequel to the pilot episode (showing how far Fry's come, reminding us of what his life was like before he was frozen and showing how someone might suffer for being a FishOutOfTemporalWater in his situation). They even pointed this out in the DVD commentary.
55	* ShoutOut: Before unfreezing Pauly Shore, Fry declines to unfreeze Music/WeirdAlYankovic, who is seen wearing his "Eat It" costume. Al has yet to appear on the series.
56	* StupidestThingIveEverHeard: Fry about his own suggestion on how to get hold of money after they have been fired.
57	-->"Well, what do you suggest? A daring daylight robbery of Fort Knox on elephant back? That's the dumbest thing I ever heard."
58	* TakeThat: Fry asks his friends how they ended up in the PostApocalyptic hellhole; they tell him that it's just modern-day UsefulNotes/LosAngeles. He keeps describing how awful it was, and the others keep saying "That's because it's Los Angeles"; eventually Bender [[HangingALampshade lampshades]] it by saying, "He just won't stop with the social commentary."
59	* TeenageWasteland: Subverted. Fry thinks this is the case with the kids who capture him and Michelle... until their mothers come to pick them up for Hebrew school.
60	* TiltingTowerOfPisa: During Fry's and Bender's joyride, the Planet Express ship collides with the Tower, tilting it into a normal upright position, pissing off the locals. Then the Planet Express ''building'', which the ship is dragging behind it, collides with the now-upright Tower, tilting it the other way. Finally, the Tower falls over on a crowd of onlookers who'd gathered to gawk at its new tilt.
61	* TrapDoor: The Professor has one to dispose of Fry in the last scene.
62	* UngratefulBitch: Fry does everything Michelle asks him to, such as sacrificing his life in the 31st Century so they can be in a time where ''she'' is comfortable, and all she does is demand more before coldly ditching him once again.

Context Recap / FuturamaS2E19TheCryonicWoman