Monsters of Television

“What do cats need with that much yarn and cobalt?”

After two very strong episodes (well, one very strong episode in “The Late Philip J. Fry” and the last few minutes of “Lethal Inspection” added the necessary punch to ramp up an otherwise decent episode), it would appear that Futurama had requisitioned its groove back. As a result, so much rested on “The Darn Katz!” to deliver on the momentum of the last two episodes.

While the episode doesn’t have the poignancy the previous two episodes had, “The Darn Katz” does deliver on the laughs and continues the season’s excellent, outside the box pairings that end up generating much of the humor that isn’t generated by jokes about cats and academia, two things near and dear to my heart.

“Lethal Inspection” paired Hermes and Bender together, an odd and frankly surprising pairing (Hermes rarely has the spotlight), but the episode clicked because of the pairing. It was a chance to see two characters who rarely interact have the chance to dominate an episode in great ways. With “That Darn Katz,” the episode pairs Amy and Nibbler together, and while that pairing may seem nonsensical, the thrust of the episode, that cuteness is hypnotizing, makes it work since Amy and Nibbler are generally considered the cutest characters on the show.

While I would’ve liked more humor between the two of them, comments on Nibbler and Amy working together and the supposed oddness of it or something of the like, they carry the episode very well. Part of the charm of the pairing is that these are two underrated cute characters (“If I have to get cute, this is going to get ugly!”) saving the world with Smith & Wesson and Consolidated Head Melter. They’re not seen as competent because of their cuteness, but Amy is about to get her PhD in Applies Physics and Nibbler, well, has done his best to save the universe multiple times. It’s only natural that they’d be able to save the world.

The remainder of the episode is spent lampooning cats and academia. The idea of cats as aliens who arrived in Egypt (hence the worship) isn’t novel, but it’s still funny, and the cat home world (“Where chickensalmon run free!”) is what I suspect my cats dream of when they sleep all day. And all night. The episode encouraged the culture of cuteness that surrounds cats, both in the two cats dancing together (SO. ADORABLE.) or the cat cancan celebration. And while I wish the episode had the chance to incorporate standing cat, the humor was lovingly done while still being a bit of a “Take that!” to cats (and their owners) (For the record, I don’t talk to my cats like that.).

Meanwhile, the academia jokes hit a little to close to home. As someone preparing to work on his thesis, the last thing I needed to be reminded of (though I’m reminded of it every day) is the absurdity of academic life. While I’ll supply the quotes in a hail of bullets, just know that it was painfully accurate, though it didn’t make it any less funny.

FINAL THOUGHTS

• Disappointed that Leela and Fry apparently aren’t together now (or so I infer from her comment).
• “You called my idea a barf bag and then stole it?!?” “Welcome to academia.”
• “He proved that 50 years ago, and he’s been coasting on it ever since!”
• “The horse says, ‘Doctorate denied.'”
• “You can’t simply know something by assembling a committee of words! That’s it! I’ll assemble your committee!”