Futurama: "Near-Death Wish" Review

Warning: Full spoilers from the episode to follow.

At this point in the series, Futurama is somewhat renowned for its familial installments, exploring the background of even the most inconsequential characters. This week, however, we finally met the ancient couple responsible for Professor Farnsworth, thanks to the prying Fry (and the ever knowledgable Zoidberg).

Of course, as we all know, the only place an old geezer could possibly be after reaching the age of 160 is the Near-Death Star. Hence, we paid another visit to the 31 century's answer to retirement homes. While it was fun to see some of the facility's virtual reality features, the best part of this sequence had to be Leela's Matrix-inspired explanation for human battery power. Even better was the payoff, with Farnsworth's parents fueling their getaway vehicle.

Unfortunately, this was around the time the episode became much less engaging. A dull montage with Fry and a tedious yarn from the Professor really put a halt on some of the fun. Although it was necessary for the story to work, it felt like a squandered opportunity to separate the Professor from his parents for nearly the entirety of the episode.

To its credit, Futurama had thus far been doing a pretty good job this season of tying up all loose ends in its stories and circling back around to make ends meet with the narratives. This week, though, it was a little more contrived than usual. The "twist" at the end about the Professor being the older brother seemed like an odd way to conclude the arc, especially with Bender's additional aside regarding Floyd.

In general, the Professor's backstory came off as out of place and unnecessary. We've known for pretty much the whole series that he's a certifiable nutcase; we didn't need to know that he was actually admitted to a mental institution.

Overall, while it was indeed interesting to see more of Fry's extended family, the actual content here wasn't as entertaining as it could have been. Moreover, this didn't really feel like much of an episode at all. In fact, the most enjoyable aspect was the added context for the Near-Death Star (and the voice talent of Estelle Harris). Matrix jabs aside, there wasn't all that much here to tell a satisfying story.

Max Nicholson is a writer for IGN, and he desperately seeks your approval. Show him some love on Twitter and IGN.

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