Episode Title: “Calculon 2.0”
Writer: Lewis Morton
Director: Stephen Sandoval
The final batch of “Futurama” episodes have been a strange mixture of hilarity and mediocrity. “Calculon 2.0” edges closer to hilarity thanks to a strong first half of the episode and then nearly squanders away its good will by the end of the episode.
The problem is Calculon himself, who has always been a background character at best. Maurice LaMarche is a brilliant voice actor, but even he can’t make Calculon into someone worth caring about. And Calculon was never meant to have more than one dimension, although I would argue that he doesn’t even really have that.
This episode picks up one year after “The Thief of Baghead,” the episode in which Calculon committed suicide just to give his death scene performance the sense of realism it needed for him to be proclaimed the greatest actor ever. As far as animated stunts go, I think that Daffy Duck had better luck when he obliterated himself for a standing ovation.
In the present (3013), Fry and Bender hatch a plan to resurrect Calculon to get him back on “All My Circuits” so they can enjoy the show again. One trip to Robot Hell and a very Satanic ritual later, Calculon is back among the living. The ritual was the best part of the episode, as only Hermes called out the unscientific nature of the ceremony. “Rise from the dead in the name of Satan” was also the funniest line of the episode.
The first half of the episode is so enjoyable because it’s still largely about Fry and Bender, with the rest of the Planet Express crew providing supporting jokes. Once the focus shifts to Calculon, the episode begins to crash back to Earth. Essentially, Calculon is forced to realize that he has no discernable acting talent and his hamminess hasn’t been missed by anyone other than Fry and Bender.
In theory, it could have been great if the “Futurama” creative team had made us care about Calculon. The two scenes where Calculon showed humility and despair almost gave him dimension… it just wasn’t enough to offset what a huge ass he is. It would also be different if Calculon was an amazingly funny character. We don’t have to like him, we just want to laugh. But his antics weren’t very amusing.
Calculon’s one man show had some early comedic promise with the Hal 9000 reference, but it dragged on too long. That may have been the point, but it lost my interest as well. There was also a moment where I thought the episode was going into a Tootsie parody, but instead Calculon was briefly rehired on “All My Circuits” as an older, uglier version of himself… who was supposed to commit suicide quickly.
Even in the back half of the episode, some of the jokes land, like Calculon’s ignorance of second takes and his ultimate fate after finally delivering a good performance for a croad. As far as “Futurama” episodes go, this is slightly above average. But it also makes a strong argument that “Futurama” is stumbling towards the finish line when it should be closing out its run on a strong note.
