4x05 Leela's Homeworld

[8.5/10] It’s funny revisiting this, because I think of Futurama as a pretty straight comedy with the occasional tear-jerking moment spliced in, but this episode is more the opposite. It’s a fairly straight drama/mystery box setup with jokes mixed in. The jokes are good! Between Bender stomping the whale-shaped detritus from Free Willy 3 into the sewers or Fry’s premature reactions to the paper analyzer or the jabs at the poor leg-shaped mutant, there’s plenty of laughs to be had.

But man, this episode nicely sets up the mystery of who Leela’s parents are, Leela’s quest to figure out what’s going with the hooded figures in the sewer, and her own fragile emotional state from being an orphan, until sewing all three together in one heart-rending climax. Again, it’s not like there’s not jokes here, but the sewer society situation feels closer to the show’s Star Trek roots, and there’s the great sentimental character work that both reveals backstory and tugs at your heartstrings.

That final montage of Leela’s parents secretly being a part of her life is really affecting. I must have seen it dozens of times before, but something about it this time got to me. I think as I’ve grown older, I’m more attuned to what a show like Futurama is trying to do beyond just tell an exciting story and deliver some big laughs. There’s an emotional contingent that’s always been a part of the show, but seeing the way it’s threaded through the entire episode like this, only to climax in a beautiful reunion between Leela and her parents at a moment when they’d rather die than scar her with the truth about where she comes from, it really hit me, especially compounded with the scenes of how Leela truly was loved and had someone to “stroke her hair” even though she didn’t know it. It’s incredibly sweet and hopeful for an often wry and cynical show.

Overall, this is one of the all-timers for Futurama, with an episode that is certainly funny, but which proves the show had other modes that were just as worthwhile.