Futurama Episode 3 begins with Robot Santa, and the carnage he caused on New New York City. The Planet Express crew are cleaning up the damage in the building, when Hermes announces that everyone is on unpaid leave because there’s nothing to do. Leela invites Fry to visit her parents, which Fry rejects. Fry announces that New Years is the anniversary of when he met Leela, and he is going to throw her a surprise party.
Everyone heads South of the Bordersphere to get some illegal fireworks, and Fry does some things like getting a cryogenic chamber, and other little things to throw the best surprise party. The surprise is a complete failure, because Fry forgot to water Leela’s plant, and the pair begin to have their lover’s quarrel. With Fry worrying they aren’t soulmates, Hermes and Farnsworth tell Fry about the AI powered dating apps, that could identify a person’s perfect match, but that they were banned because of some mishaps with the system. The actual system is said to be alive in a magic mirror of sorts, and Fry finds it to test it out.
When he uses it, Leela ends up being his soulmate, but when Leela walks by, her soulmate isn’t Fry, but a guy named Branch Woodsman. Fry and Bender go to find Branch Woodsman, and Fry confronts Branch, who turns out to be the Chief Arborist of Central Park, who winds up having to help Fry escape from a creeping willow tree, and they eventually work together, to remove the invasive creeping willow species. Fry saves Branch, and they wind up at the hospital. Leela comes in to make sure Fry is okay, and of course winds up encountering Branch in the process. After a mishap, Fry winds up in a coma for a month. When he wakes up, Amy informs him about Leela being with Branch, and Fry and Bender go to talk to Branch. After talking with him, Fry is back at the Planet Express, and Leela comes in, and Fry tells her she can move on. Leela tells him that Branch is a good friend, but not her soulmate, and that he was, and always will be her soulmate.
This was another good episode in the list. It was funny, and honestly one of the best ones as of yet. This one was also nice because it touches on the subject of the love between Leela and Fry again, and how it’s not going anywhere, even if some app tries to say so.
Rating 7.9/10