Episode Title: “Stench and Stenchibility”
Writer: Eric Horsted
Director: Crystal Chesney-Thompson
We’ve nearly reached the finish line of “Futurama’s” final season. I’d be more unhappy about it if this season had been more consistently funny… and if I believed that “Futurama” was really going away for good. It could end next week, but I suspect that we haven’t seen the last of “Futurama” on TV. Whatever problems the show occasionally has, I still love the characters. And I’m not the only one.
On the face of it, making the penultimate episode about Zoidberg seems like a strange choice. But since next week’s finale is probably going to be Fry and Leela-centric, why not Zoidberg? Zoidberg doesn’t seem capable of having the really emotional moments that Fry and Leela can pull off. Zoidberg’s stories can only be played for laughs and that’s what “Stench and Stenchibility” does. It’s a love story all the way through, even in Bender’s subplot.
Full spoilers ahead for “Stench and Stenchibility!” You’ve been warned.
Right from the start, I figured that this might actually work out of Zoidberg. If “Futurama” is wrapping up, there’s no reason that everyone’s favorite crustacean doctor can’t find a little romantic happiness. The object of Zoidberg’s affection is a human woman named Marianne, as voiced by Emilia Clarke from “Game of Thrones.’ Between Clarke’s appearance and “Game of Tones” a few weeks back, it feels like “Futurama” is finally catching up with 2011 in terms cultural milestones.
There’s nothing wrong with Clarke’s performance as Marianne and she seems like a sweet girl. She just doesn’t have much life to her. Not in the way that Amy and Leela do. Marianne is there to be Zoidberg’s last, best hope for love… because even hideous alien women can’t handle his stench. Only the poor Marianne (who was born without a sense of smell) can stand to be around Zoidberg.
The whole “operation to restore a lost sense” angle is such a cliche that I’m surprised it took “Futurama” so long to get around to it. Although some of the jokes land, the story felt like it was just going through the motions to get us to the point where Zoidberg decides to perform the procedure even though he knows that it will end their relationship.
Happily, the operation sequence had the best jokes of the episode including Zoidberg’s unceremonious removal of Marianne’s nose and the scantily clad nurse Amy using a large swifter to get the sweat off of Zoidberg. Marianne’s follow-up scene with Zoidberg also worked well. Again, Marianne is very sweet and she doesn’t care what Zoidberg smells like. So it’s a happy ending for Zoidberg… Hurrah! Although Marianne’s subsequent appearance in the dump truck seemed to undercut that a bit. Even so, if “Futurama” comes back, it would be nice if Zoidberg and Marianne stay together and the writers actually give her more of a personality.
Meanwhile, Bender was obsessed with winning a tap contest that admittedly had no stakes. I have to say, I didn’t immediately get the reference until the evil little girl named Tonya bashed Bender’s leg to prevent him from competing. It was 19 years ago when the whole Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan thing happened, so it wasn’t exactly fresh in my mind.
Tonya was such a little monster that it was enjoyable to see her torment Bender. Bender also had some of his most evil moments of the season when describing his plans to torment Tonya; which made them even funnier. Even Bender’s attempts to dance on the young girl’s corpse (following a heart problem) backfires and saves her life, earning Bender some unjust recognition as a hero.
But the thing is, Tonya and Bender were made for each other. They are both so unbelievably evil, that they make the perfect team of con artists by the end of the episode. They still hate each other, but they have chemistry. That was unexpectedly funny.
On the whole, this episode hovered slightly below average by “Futurama’s” standards, with Bender and Tonya’s antics pushing it back up to a higher level. At no point was the episode ever “bad,” but I do hope that the finale closes the series out on a stronger note.
