There are a multitude of problems with how the topic of COVID is handled. For example it had already been done by many other shows. Putting an original spin on a tired subject is never easy, as was proven by shows which parodied Donald Trump. It's the same case with COVID. Eventually it becomes difficult to come up with anything new to say about it. But hey, it's Futurama. Surely they if *anybody* would have a clever sci-fi variant on it?
Nope. Besides the virus being renamed Explovid-23 (And COVID-19 has apparently existed for 1000 years, which makes so little sense I don't know where to start) and everyone becoming angry after being infected, what you expect is exactly what you get. Commence the goofy Zoom call, the incorrect mask wearing, the conspiracy theories, the silly anti-vaxxers, the distrust in science, the constant coughing, the q-tip tests... You get the idea. Of course a few of these things would be necessarily to include given the subject matter, but when all you have all the basic tropes and nothing else, there exists no real purpose for this story to exist in the Futurama universe. Even the bitcoin episode from the same season felt less dated than this!
On top of that, the pacing is more sluggish than the slowest slugworms. The Hermes sideplot is especially horrible with this, with every sidequest being taken with no real humor to be found and a poor, uninspired use of Barbados Slim. I could comment on his recasting alone (Which is a new problem with the revival), but even if you look aside that his character has no purpose other than delivering exposition and furiously flirting with LaBarbara. I know that's been a running gag throughout the show, but somehow it was too over-the-top and irritating here. You could've had two jokes dedicated to it, that's it. Otherwise it's gonna start feeling like Bonnie and Joe's toxic marriage in Family Guy.
Wasting characters in general is one of the biggest issues. Wernstrom got very underutilized in the Comedy Central era, so seeing him return should've been a pleasure. But instead he shows up as a red herring, making you think he will play a major part in the plot only to never be seen again after the press conference. What the hell was the point of his appearance??? You can't play such a cruel trick and bring back a fan favorite just to have him do his schtick then fk off for the rest of the episode. They also do this with Nixon. And with Zapp. And with Leela's parents. That last one is particularly weird since they say at the start the new virus stems from the mutants living underground, yet they never come back to it at any point. This was a chance for two characters you don't see very often to get involved, but instead they choose to ignore it as if it never got brought up.
The characterization is not the best. Leela spends the entire thing behaving like a totally different person. Which would've been fine if the season hasn't struggled with writing her already. Leela can be a really cool and interesting character when they put their minds into it, but besides the premiere and Related To Items You've Viewed, I haven't found myself enjoying her a lot lately. Hopefully they move past this snag in her development soon, because I really don't want to see her becoming a blank slate which the writers can just throw stupid jokes on. Which speaking of that is exactly what happens with Amy as well. Making her a conspiracy theorist comes so out-of-left-field and exaggerates her personality from cute ditziness into straight-up moron. I hope they don't bring this side of her up again in the future, otherwise I might have to ask Bender to strangle the writers. Hermes, LaBarbara and Barbados are all bland at best and frustrating at worst. Zapp for the first time in the whole show didn't even make me chuckle.
Bender, bless his soul, is the only one who gave me a chuckle. Unfortunately he doesn't get used here much.
The ending tries to spread some sort of message about science, voodoo, religion or whatever the hell they were going for. It was so badly executed I was left with a dumbfounded look on my face once the credits rolled.
Nuturama is not a lost cause. I liked The Impossible Stream, Children Of A Lesser Bog and I Know What You Did Next Xmas, which even though they weren't perfect were still enjoyable. Please don't give us any more desperate attention hoing like "What if COVID, but it's the fuuuuture". You can do better. *We* deserve better.
Nope. Besides the virus being renamed Explovid-23 (And COVID-19 has apparently existed for 1000 years, which makes so little sense I don't know where to start) and everyone becoming angry after being infected, what you expect is exactly what you get. Commence the goofy Zoom call, the incorrect mask wearing, the conspiracy theories, the silly anti-vaxxers, the distrust in science, the constant coughing, the q-tip tests... You get the idea. Of course a few of these things would be necessarily to include given the subject matter, but when all you have all the basic tropes and nothing else, there exists no real purpose for this story to exist in the Futurama universe. Even the bitcoin episode from the same season felt less dated than this!
On top of that, the pacing is more sluggish than the slowest slugworms. The Hermes sideplot is especially horrible with this, with every sidequest being taken with no real humor to be found and a poor, uninspired use of Barbados Slim. I could comment on his recasting alone (Which is a new problem with the revival), but even if you look aside that his character has no purpose other than delivering exposition and furiously flirting with LaBarbara. I know that's been a running gag throughout the show, but somehow it was too over-the-top and irritating here. You could've had two jokes dedicated to it, that's it. Otherwise it's gonna start feeling like Bonnie and Joe's toxic marriage in Family Guy.
Wasting characters in general is one of the biggest issues. Wernstrom got very underutilized in the Comedy Central era, so seeing him return should've been a pleasure. But instead he shows up as a red herring, making you think he will play a major part in the plot only to never be seen again after the press conference. What the hell was the point of his appearance??? You can't play such a cruel trick and bring back a fan favorite just to have him do his schtick then fk off for the rest of the episode. They also do this with Nixon. And with Zapp. And with Leela's parents. That last one is particularly weird since they say at the start the new virus stems from the mutants living underground, yet they never come back to it at any point. This was a chance for two characters you don't see very often to get involved, but instead they choose to ignore it as if it never got brought up.
The characterization is not the best. Leela spends the entire thing behaving like a totally different person. Which would've been fine if the season hasn't struggled with writing her already. Leela can be a really cool and interesting character when they put their minds into it, but besides the premiere and Related To Items You've Viewed, I haven't found myself enjoying her a lot lately. Hopefully they move past this snag in her development soon, because I really don't want to see her becoming a blank slate which the writers can just throw stupid jokes on. Which speaking of that is exactly what happens with Amy as well. Making her a conspiracy theorist comes so out-of-left-field and exaggerates her personality from cute ditziness into straight-up moron. I hope they don't bring this side of her up again in the future, otherwise I might have to ask Bender to strangle the writers. Hermes, LaBarbara and Barbados are all bland at best and frustrating at worst. Zapp for the first time in the whole show didn't even make me chuckle.
Bender, bless his soul, is the only one who gave me a chuckle. Unfortunately he doesn't get used here much.
The ending tries to spread some sort of message about science, voodoo, religion or whatever the hell they were going for. It was so badly executed I was left with a dumbfounded look on my face once the credits rolled.
Nuturama is not a lost cause. I liked The Impossible Stream, Children Of A Lesser Bog and I Know What You Did Next Xmas, which even though they weren't perfect were still enjoyable. Please don't give us any more desperate attention hoing like "What if COVID, but it's the fuuuuture". You can do better. *We* deserve better.