Reviews of the Bosch

A story inspired by Larry Niven’s Ringworld series and yet it still gets named after the work of a more prominent genre legend. It is a cool thing to see manifested in Futurama anyways though, especially given how few adaptations of that story and concept have actually made their way out of literature. It is a reminder of how nerdy the writing staff on this show is, who in the early days often mined the more obscure avenues of science-fiction as much as the iconic ones. It comes here in the context of a story that is also interesting if perhaps not very original. We’ve seen a few times now on the show the evolution of a civilization out of something mundane – "Parasites Lost" , "Godfellas" , "A Clockwork Origin" -the last of which this episode has the most in common with given it is another case of one of the Professor’s experiments evolving an entire world and civilization. "Lords of the Ring" doesn’t compare to any of those, a story more conv...

Now here is an episode that really doesn’t waste a moment. I really like when Futurama decides to explore a corner of its universe that is relatively untapped. Space pirates are an established element, even if just on a couple occasions ( “Godfellas” most notably), but “Our Flag Means Medical Coverage” now gives them greater attention and a funny and interesting context. Of course it is also an episode about one of the regular structures of the series, D.O.O.P, and some interrogation of its own practices and leadership in a curious if thinly explored political conflict. A nice dichotomy to present alongside some enjoyable new worldbuilding. It begins with D.O.O.P President Glab marking a controversial new allegiance with the dictatorial Vampire Empire by delivering to them a grand gemguliam crystal piano. Zapp Brannigan and Kif are of course assigned with its transport while Fry and Bender have been hired to make the actual delivery. But D.O.O.P’s Admirella is suspicious of the whole...

And here I thought an episode with this title was going to be a play on the Netflix show Beef . Futurama is back once again and to be honest I would have assumed for the last time. Season eleven was the final season of the renewal that Hulu gave it back in 2023 and there had been no word since then of anything after. But at Comic-Con this year it was revealed that the show will be getting a twelfth season, though suspiciously in the form of three multi-episode length specials, which sounds a little bit like the direct-to-video movies from 2007 to 2009 that ultimately formed the show’s fifth season but at the time functioned in part like a last hurrah. The fact that only one additional season has been greenlit rather than two leads me to believe both Hulu and Futurama see these specials as the end -possibly allowing the show a little more time and grace for its next series finale. Granted, this season’s finale is titled “Final Ending: The Last Conclusion”, so it is a bit rich that the ...

Not counting the broadcast season breaks during the Comedy Central run (and the status of “Overclockwise” as the real season six finale over “Reincarnation”), “The White Hole” may be the first season finale of Futurama since “The 30% Iron Chef” more than twenty years ago that does not feel like it was written as a potential series finale. Sure it is pretty grand in scope, but largely uses that canvas for jokes, rather than the notes of sincerity or profundity. Also it lacks that focus on Fry and Leela, which has long been a staple of closing episodes. There is something a little refreshing there, that the writers know they have at least one more season to produce and so don’t feel the obligation to put a lot of weight into this one, though it still has a bit of an air of that in places. Written by series veteran Patric M. Verrone, the central tenet of the episode is a White Hole that suddenly appears over Earth and a voice from within beckoning representatives from this universe to ent...

I kind of wonder if writer David A. Goodman, or whoever actually conceived this episode, got the idea from the movie   Pig . Certainly the relationship that develops between Bender and his little pig Jambone feels reminiscent. “The Trouble with Truffles” is a pretty decent outing for most of its run -though the ending is quite slap-dash in a way that really doesn’t work. But it does well with its new concept and plot, a far better one for Bender than he has gotten in a while. Given he starts the episode underneath Fry and Leela as they’re making out, that alone is something. Though he tells them to get lost he winds up crashing their date anyways at a new and very exclusive Elzar restaurant where despite uncertainty at the expense (“it’s market price” says Elzar), they have some truffles with their food and the experience is orgasmic. But as always, truffles are a delicacy, and Fry is faced with a bill somewhere in the thousands that is kindly but suspiciously paid off by the Robot...

This season has had a few decent episodes so far, either in terms of their premise or jokes, in spite of some lapses in construction or presentation. Admittedly, I have assessed them a little bit on a curve. They’ve been on the better end of the metric of the Hulu episodes, but don’t compare to the median of the show’s overall quality. But I’m glad to say that “Crab Splatter” at last does -the first unambiguously good episode this season. Written by Shirin Najafi, it features a character pairing that I can’t remember ever appearing before -Leela and Dr. Zoidberg; though the episode actually begins with Amy and Kif and a meteor striking their apartment building, destroying the home of the Johnson family below them. Embedded with crystals, Amy takes the meteorite to the Professor, who determines it is an ancient specimen from Decapod 10. They return it to that planet where anthropologist Dr. Judith explains its origin within the evolutionary history of the Decapodians -planetary debris f...

I would not have expected the “Pizzagate” episode of this season of Futurama  to be the one I was most amused by, but at this stage in the show I’m very happy to be surprised. As far as direct analogues to real world culture and politics go, this is a subject I would expect the show to do better with than the pandemic or “cancel culture” -I feel like the writers actually understand its absurdity and could find a way to extrapolate on it in a warped Futurama  way. The result isn’t so bold as I would like, and it gets tangled a bit in bureaucracy, but that is perfectly okay when the humour is there. “Murderoni” actually starts in a place that seems irrelevant to the main plot but ultimately won’t be: Hermes sending Dwight off for his first day in the Young Bureaucrats Club, which Dwight proceeds to ditch immediately after getting on the bus. None the wiser, Hermes takes the gang out for pizza, to Blek and Blazucchi’s (which has relocated from its former residence across the stre...

If any episode should feature an appearance from Dr. Bongo! Wasted opportunity. Especially since "Wicked Human" is kind of a sequel to "A Clockwork Origin" once again pitting Professor Farnsworth and his resolute adherence to science against religious faith. In the earlier episode it was around the idea of creationism, here it is much more specifically focused on the end-times, the rapture.  And Futurama  feels a little bit late to that topic, if only because several of its adult animation peers, including American Dad!  and The Simpsons , have done takes on that theme years ago. But this show's unique context opens the potential for a unique interpretation ; and to some degree that is what  eventually  happens here, if it unfolds in a fairly mediocre way. That starts with the episode opening on the Professor attempting to fine-tune his oft-seen smelloscope by inventing a Naser (nasal laser), and needing crystals to power it he goes to get them from a fair ...