Planet Espresso

Ah, *Futurama*... back from the cryogenic tube once again, and boy, do they know how to bring back the hits! This new episode, where Bender is being used as an oven to make coffee? **Chef's kiss**. It's peak Bender behavior, folks. The metal scoundrel we all love has always had a flair for combining laziness with complete disregard for basic human (or robot) decency, and turning himself into a literal coffee oven just for a laugh is so *him*. It's like he woke up and said, "You know what, flesh bags? I'm your new favorite appliance!"

But honestly, here's where the episode could've gone from great to legendary: *Flexo.* I mean, come on! This is the perfect scenario for his "near-identical-but-slightly-evil" counterpart to show up. Imagine Flexo trying to out-Bender Bender, maybe making cappuccinos or something. The banter alone would have been priceless! It would have turned the episode from "good background TV" to "I have to pause this because I'm laughing so hard" status.

In short, it's classic *Futurama*. A little chaotic, a little heartwarming, and a whole lot of "what the hell did I just watch?". It's just missing a smidge of that Flexo flair. 10/10.

Well well well.. looks like we have a true futurama classic right here! It truly felt like we were back in the glory days of futurama!

Hermes gets the chance to be the star of the episode and man is it always great to see him get the main focus!

We get to see a tad bit of his childhood and how it ties in to the plot which wasn't overly done but enough to understand,

To see the planet express turn into a coffee shop was hilarious and the rest of the crew treat fry as the only employee then all go on a strike just hit right at home 🤣

The whole story of how coffee came to earth or rather the entire galaxy was pretty great, and felt like a true futurama story from beginning to end!

All the characters were great and we got to see a ton of side characters we all have come to love! These last few episodes have been great and personally futurama is looking up and up now!

I don't know what other people are going to think about this episode, but I thought it was great. They packed so much into 23 minutes, I thought it was going to be a two part episode or hour long special but they managed to wrap it all up well. Without giving any spoilers, the episode covers some backstory of a main character, and coffee. Lots of coffee. The final shot was incredible, and a great way to end the episode. I also loved how they didn't lean super hard into the emotional aspect, but played with it. Well done Futurama writers! A true return to form. This season is pretty solid so far! I have a feeling some fans might not agree, but as a lifelong Futurama fan I'm very happy with the direction the shows going in.

A while back, Terry Gilliam was asked about doing a new season of Monty Python's Flying Circus. He said it was highly unlikely, and they didn't want to do it. But, if they did, they'd go about it in a very specific way. They'd start by making the worst episodes possible, the absolute worst they could imagine, and they'd keep going until the viewership dropped to almost nothing. When only two guys somewhere in Minnesota were still watching, they'd finally make the best episode of the entire show. But no one would see it except those two guys, and when they tried to tell everyone it was great, no one would believe them.

That's exactly how I feel about Futurama right now. The last season was underwhelming at best, and this new one? Honestly, it's almost unwatchable. The NFT episode was so excruciatingly bland, it felt like a lifeless husk.

But then, they dropped Planet Espresso, and it's brilliant. It's Futurama at its absolute best-the humor is sharp, the story is on point, and there's the perfect balance between jokes and more serious moments. Everything comes together into one coherent, hilarious episode that feels like proper Futurama.

What really makes it shine are the small, subtle jokes-the ones that usually fall flat these days. In Planet Espresso, they finally work again. It's the tiny details and quick gags that bring everything together, making the episode flow naturally and keeping it consistently funny from start to finish.

If you've written off the show because of how bad it's been lately, I get it. But do yourself a favor: watch Planet Espresso with no expectations. It might just remind you why you loved Futurama in the first place.

From the 2001: A Space Odyssey references, to directorial choices focusing on minor details, this episode really felt like their was a lot of love and care into this.

But did it work? Kinda. Hermes episodes are few but often very strong, so adding some emotional heft to his story was a good move.

Hermes didn't get his cathartic ending with his dying father, which is a relatable thing, but this is Futurama - we got some Sci Fi shenanigans to do!

And that's where it fell down a bit, aliens and coffee wasn't as funny or clever as it could have been. And again has a very abrupt ending, which I'm not sure why that's becoming a habit.