by Bob Teoh
The Planet Express Crew attends Oktoberfest, where Fry finds out that the festival has transformed from its beer-slugging counterpart to a sophisticated “celebration of German culture.” Not willing to give up his inner party animal, Fry acts as a one-man party, chugging beer and doing the chicken dance as the others watch in shock. Leela confronts Fry about his primitive behavior and breaks up with him. A depressed Fry then joins Bender on his quest to find frozen mammoth meat, which he plans to use to enter the festival’s sausage contest.
When the two finds the frozen mammoth and begin making sausages, Fry accidentally falls in the grinder and is presumed to be dead. Distraught and guilty over his death, Leela erases his existence from her memory. It is revealed, however, that Fry escaped from the grinder and fell into the ice, where he is trapped for a week. An underground Neanderthal civilization, which has been isolated for tens of thousands of years because the homo sapiens were “mean,” finds Fry and takes him in as one of their own.
Fry suffers from amnesia and is convinced that he is one of the Neanderthals. He leads them to rise up against the homo sapiens in a vicious attack. Though technologically inferior, the cavemen are able to gain an edge over their opponents. During the chaos, Fry and Leela regain their memory and make amends, which prompts the Neanderthals to make peace with the humans, giving new meaning to Oktoberfest.
For a very misleading title to everything Bender says, this episode is definitely reminiscent of the show at its prime. While not the most touching moment of the Fry-Leela romance, I really enjoyed how the two learned to accept each other’s flaws and differences, making their relationship a lot stronger than it seemed at the start of the season. Also, with his antics and one-liners, Bender acts as a very eye-catching supporting character in this very strong episode.
Bob Teoh is a staff writer. Email him at entertainment@nyunews.com.
