[7.7/10] It’s amazing to me how fully formed Futurama is this early. All the characters are recognizable, to where when you do an episode focused on Bender changing and going out of character, it still totally works.
The first act is probably the weakest, with the Beastie Boys material being perfectly entertaining concert riffs, but nothing that really jumps out at you. By the same token, the Bender as junkie stuff is funny enough, but not outstanding or anything. (Though the sequence where he first trips out is creative and well done.)
But it's the second act, after Bender finds religion, that things really pick up. It perfectly captures the way that you want to be supportive of previously neer do well friends who find something wholesome to occupy their time, but then you get annoyed at their new, button-down presence. Jokes about Bender's "exceedingly long, un-air-conditioned baptism ceremony" are great, as is Bender's new goodie-goodie persona, where he hugs Fry and says "you're my friend" in a loving but kind of creepy tone. It's well-observed, very funny stuff (along with Fry and Leela tempting him with sleaze).
The third act capitalizes on that, with Bender being dragged to Robot Hell. It's always a boon to cast Dan Castellaneta in just about anything, and he hams it up delightfully as the Robot Devil. The "Levels of Hell" song has clever and amusing lyrics, and the "Devil Went Down to Georgia" homage and great, angel-tinged escape are all fun comic set pieces.
Overall, a fun, Bender-filled way to close out the show's first season, that brings the laughs and the well-observed character-based stuff early on in the show's run.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2017-06-10T18:11:04Z
[7.7/10] It’s amazing to me how fully formed Futurama is this early. All the characters are recognizable, to where when you do an episode focused on Bender changing and going out of character, it still totally works.
The first act is probably the weakest, with the Beastie Boys material being perfectly entertaining concert riffs, but nothing that really jumps out at you. By the same token, the Bender as junkie stuff is funny enough, but not outstanding or anything. (Though the sequence where he first trips out is creative and well done.)
But it's the second act, after Bender finds religion, that things really pick up. It perfectly captures the way that you want to be supportive of previously neer do well friends who find something wholesome to occupy their time, but then you get annoyed at their new, button-down presence. Jokes about Bender's "exceedingly long, un-air-conditioned baptism ceremony" are great, as is Bender's new goodie-goodie persona, where he hugs Fry and says "you're my friend" in a loving but kind of creepy tone. It's well-observed, very funny stuff (along with Fry and Leela tempting him with sleaze).
The third act capitalizes on that, with Bender being dragged to Robot Hell. It's always a boon to cast Dan Castellaneta in just about anything, and he hams it up delightfully as the Robot Devil. The "Levels of Hell" song has clever and amusing lyrics, and the "Devil Went Down to Georgia" homage and great, angel-tinged escape are all fun comic set pieces.
Overall, a fun, Bender-filled way to close out the show's first season, that brings the laughs and the well-observed character-based stuff early on in the show's run.