Episode Title: “Meanwhile”
Writer: Ken Keeler
Director: Peter Avanzino
Welcome to the end of “Futurama.”
Although the end will always be relative with this series. It’s been ten years since “Futurama” was canceled by Fox before its improbable resurrection on Comedy Central. Who is to say that it won’t live again? It’s not like the characters have to visibly age in the years in-between. Permanent aging is only for those of us in the real world.
It’s oddly fitting that the major problem of “Meanwhile” is created by Fry’s misguided suicide attempt. Fry assumes that Leela has rejected him, so he casts himself off of the Vampire State Building and prepares to die. It’s a dark turn, but Fry has some history with that. He accidentally met Bender in a Suicide Booth back in the pilot episode. And in the classic episode, “The Late Philip J. Fry,” Fry was content to let go of his life and accept his fate after realizing that he would never be reunited with Leela.
Fry’s brush with death (or multiple deaths) is averted thanks to the Professor’s newest invention; which rewinds time ten seconds. Like most of the Professor’s creations, the time button is just the MacGuffin used to set the story in motion and make things more complicated for our heroes. But it was a particularly effective MacGuffin.
There are full spoilers ahead. Go ahead and skip this review if you didn’t catch the last episode of “Futurama” or else Scruffy will have back problems.
The most important thing about “Meanwhile” is that it’s funny throughout the entire episode and it’s got the heart that “Futurama” does so well. The opening minutes had an inspired callback to the second episode of the series, as Fry, Bender and Leela return to the site of their first delivery: the Lunar Park on the Moon.
The throwaway gags of the Moonface guy bitterly referring to his five years in art school and Bender’s corn dog taunts were particularly hilarious. And Leela’s accident actually seemed like it could have been fatal. if not for some well place balloons.
But the incident deeply affects Fry, who resolves to finally marry Leela because he can’t live without her. Fry’s pep talk with Bender was the perfect encapsulation of their friendship. Bender acted as if he couldn’t care less that Fry was getting married. But once he was alone, Bender showed genuine emotion about Fry’s big step. Bender even teamed up with Fry in an amusing jewelry store theft. I loved that the superhero jewellery clerk kept crushing coal into diamonds before Fry and Bender rewound time.
The Vampire State Building was another rewarding joke, especially when the vampire janitor dramatically left Fry alone to clean up a spill. Fry’s subsequent suicide attempt came when he failed to realize that his watch was no longer in sync with actual time and that Leela hadn’t rejected him. But that ultimately didn’t stop Fry from becoming street pizza.
Fry’s first few deaths were suitably horrific, but then they became comical as Leela and the Planet Express crew became accustomed to them. Miraculously, only the Professor is seemingly killed during the rescue attempt that saves Fry… and breaks the universe.
Once Fry and Leela are alone in a moment that will never end, “Meanwhile” takes on an oddly joyous tone as they resolve to live as man and wife. Fry and Leela assemble their surviving friends and family for their wedding before going on a lifetime of adventures together that leaves them both old and grey.
“Futurama’ could have come to a close with old Fry and Leela at the end of their lives and it would have still been a happy ending. Instead, the Professor reappears and reveals that he can fix the time button and prevent it from ever causing Fry and Leela to be trapped in the time loop. Of course, that means that their happy ending will be negated and they won’t even remember what happened.
But think of it this way: Fry had already decided to marry Leela before either of them knew about the time button. Maybe the diamond engagement ring wouldn’t have been as large and maybe Leela would still briefly lose a hand, but I don’t doubt that Fry and Leela would still get married. It would have been nice to end the series without seeing their wedding retconned away by time travel.
And yet the ending just feels right. The Professor’s offer opens the door to more adventures down the line and both Fry and Leela accept the idea that they will go through life together at least one more time. Really, what could be happier than that? It’s the best of both worlds.
I suspected that this episode would be great when the opening message was “Avenge Us.” “Meanwhile” delivered everything we could have hoped for in a “Futurama” series finale. If this is the end, I can live with it. I’m happy with what we were able to see. I’m happy that we had this fantastic animated series, even if there were some occasional creative stumbles along the way.
“Futurama” was special. It was a unique show that defied death more than once. Try not to look too surprised if “Futurama” pulls off another miracle return somewhere down the line.
