From Hell’s heart he stabs at thee, Planet Express crew. Futurama Season 12, episode 3 was written by David A. Goodman (“Where No Fan Has Gone Before”) and directed by Edmund Fong. Opening gag: “*Product sold by weight, not quality.”
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Turanga Leela (Katey Sagal) records a captain’s diary for stardate: the 63rd Anniversary of Lrr (Maurice LaMarche) and Ndnd (Tress MacNeille). PlanEx has been hired to cater the vow renewal ceremony event on Omicron Persei 8. Leela receives nominal status updates from Hubert Farnsworth (Billy West), chef Bender Rodriguez (John DiMaggio), and John Zoidberg (West). Hermes Conrad (Phil LaMarr) protects the cake from Zoidberg.
Futurama Recap, “The Temp”
But Leela can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong. A stranger puts his hand on Leela’s shoulder and reassures her. He’s wearing Fry’s clothes, but he’s not Fry, he’s Frank (David Herman). However, the whole PlanEx crew seems to accept that Frank is Fry, even Amy Wong (Lauren Tom).
The PlanEx ship arrives at OP8. Soon, the crew is serving as catering staff for the Omincronican party guests. This includes Frank. The lovers take the stage under the eye of the deity Jvvv (literally; the disembodied eye is hovering above them). Lrr and Ndnd soon fall to arguing with one another.
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Nevertheless, the vow renewal concludes. Soon, Lrr and Ndnd are dancing “The Horta.” An Omicronian guest asks a nearby Horta to dance with her, but it can’t dance. After a few more violent Omicronian versions of familiar wedding traditions, Lrr and Ndnd kiss, offending Farnsworth.
Later, the PlanEx ship returns to the PlanEx building on Earth. As the crew unloads the ship, Bender and the others continue to believe Frank is Fry. But Frank is much more competent and consistent than any Fry we’ve ever known. Who could he be?
Amazon Women in the Mood
A flashback to twenty-three years earlier returns us to the events immediately following Season 3’s “Amazon Women in the Mood” (which aired twenty-three years ago, in 2001). As devoted fans will recall, at the conclusion of this episode, the real Fry (West) had sustained serious Snu-Snu related injuries. As Zoidberg removes his pelvic cast (and eats it), Fry asks for some time off for a vacation to Amazonia. This is approved by Farnsworth and Hermes. As Fry departs, they conspire to hire a temp to fill in for Fry in the meantime.
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At the B-Minus Temp Agency, Farnsworth and Hermes are greeted by the Horrible Gelatinous Blob (LaMarche). The HGB introduces several potential temps, all sealed up in bags hanging from a motorized rail, like dry cleaning. Hearing that Farnsworth and Hermes are hoping for an incompetent temp to fill the vacancy left by Fry, HGB suggests Frank. HGB unwarps him and tells him he’ll be working at PlanEx for two weeks.
Hermes forgets Frank’s name multiple times as he introduces him to the PlanEx crew. It seems that people forget Frank when he leaves the room, if not earlier. When Frank learns he’ll be traveling during deliveries rather than staying in the hanger hidden between boxes, he’s ecstatic. A montage shows Frank as a member of the PlanEx, relishing varied tasks associated with the job of “delivery boy.”
23 Years Ago
Two weeks after he started at PlanEx, Frank whistles as he places a bouquet of flowers on the conference room table. When he leaves to get his frittata out of the oven, Leela complains about his “toxic positivity.” Even Zoidberg thinks he’s pathetic. Frank is impressed that everyone remembers Fry even though he’s not there. Leela suggests they make Frank’s last day a good one.
Soon the PlanEx ship lands outside the New New York Public Liberry. Inside, the place is deserted, save for some owls and Librarian Ben Beeler (Herman) at the reference desk (“Axe Me Anything”). All 2.6 million liberry books have been damaged by water. But Beeler isn’t too concerned, as no one has checked out a book since 2029.
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Filled with the books, the PlanEx ship travels through space. They’re headed to Dalton B, a small planet in the Barnes and Nobula, where they’ll drop off the books. The ship lands amid the piles of books, which are being consumed by one-eyed, one-horned Flying Purple Paper Eaters (FPPEs). With all the books removed from the PlanEx ship, the crew boards the ship and departs. However, they accidentally leave Frank behind in the process.
The PlanEx ship returns to the hangar just before Fry returns from his vacation. But because Frank is so forgettable, Fry’s return makes the rest of the crew completely forget about Frank. On Dalton B, Frank assures himself that the crew will return soon.
Meanwhile, in the Present
Twenty-three years later, the PlanEx crew prepares for the vow renewal ceremony we saw earlier in the episode. Fry is overworked and exhausted. The idea of Fry taking some time off is floated. Hermes says they’ll need someone to fill in for Fry if he takes off. Leela says they didn’t get anyone last time. But then the crew realizes: they did get someone last time. And then they left him on Dalton B.
On the way to the ceremony, the PlanEx ship stops on Dalton B. They locate Frank, who has subsisted on books in the intervening decades. Hermes and Farnsworth show Frank to the PlanEx ship locker room, offering him Fry’s unused soap and toothpaste. But Frank also helps himself to some of Fry’s clothes.
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Frank heads to the bridge in Fry’s clothes and addresses the crew as “co-workers.” He asks if they’re ready to leave. Leela says they just need to wait for Fry. But Frank says he is Fry, and his pupils engage in a weird rotation. After a pause, the PlanEx crew accepts Frank as Fry and the ship takes off. On the surface of Dalton B, Fry is horrified to be left behind.
Back at the PlanEx building, Frank suggests he and Leela enjoy an evening of TV dinners and shows together. But Leela makes an excuse about going over to her parents’ again for dinner. Frank accepts Zoidberg’s offer of “Fulu and Chill” instead. At dinner, Turanga Munda (MacNeille) and Turanga Morris (Herman) question why Leela has spent so much time with them in the sewers. Leela confirms she loves Fry, but also that she’ll stay another week.
The Space Seed from Dalton B
Around the PlanEx conference table, Hermes asks if anyone else has noticed anything weird lately. Leela says she was just saying as much to her parents. Frank arrives and shares some four-dimensional pretzels. The crew asks Frank if he’s noticed anything strange. Evidence includes increased productivity, increased use of soap in the men’s locker room and a decrease in body odor.
Farnsworth pinpoints the date of the vow renewal ceremony six weeks earlier as the point at which things changed. Leela consults the ship logs and realizes they made an unscheduled stop at Dalton B on the way to the ceremony. However none of them recall this visit. Frank tries to convince them to drop it. But Hermes recalls dropping off the liberry books on Dalton B two decades earlier. The PlanEx crew once again remembers the temp from twenty-three years earlier. They agree to return to Dalton B to investigate.
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They arrive on Dalton B and Frank tries to make them leave. But then a ragged Fry appears. He says he’s Fry. But Frank’s pupils keep doing the weird thing, convincing the PlanEx crew Frank is Fry. Leela senses a familiar dopiness. But Frank increases the hypnosis. However, Fry has photos of himself with everyone in the crew. Leela remembers he’s Fry and embraces him.
Amy asks who Frank is, if Fry is Fry. Frank reveals he’s the temp they stranded for twenty-three years. One of the two readable books he scavenged, The Art of Klang Foo, taught him an ancient mind-control technique. Everyone’s inability to remember who Frank really is allowed him to take Fry’s place using Klang Foo.
The Wrath of Frank
Fry asks why Frank would want to take his place. Frank says working at PlanEx was the only time he was happy. While Frank hoped to return to this life, he’s also got a backup plan. He’s going to strand the crew just as they stranded him. The PlanEx ship takes off, but Frank immediately crashes back into the planet’s surface.
He falls out of the ship and turns to “plan c”: killing everybody with a laser gun. Bender outlines a convoluted plan to bake a chili powder-filled “grenade” and throw it at Frank. Farnsworth suggests they could make it to the ship’s galley through the engines. The PlanEx crew makes it to the galley! But as Bender lays his grabber on the chili powder, he realizes he’s forgotten why they needed it. Likewise, no one remembers why the ship is sideways. Farnsworth says it’s time to go.
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Outside the ship, Frank swats away a FPPE. He shouts in surprise as the ship takes off and leaves him again.
Back on Earth, the PlanEx ship returns to the hangar. Hermes and Farnsworth ask Fry if he’s going to take a vacation. Fry says he just had six weeks off. Farnsworth thought he was present but is happy to dock Fry’s pay. Leela and Fry agree everything feels right. Fry asks if Leela wants to go home and have dinner. But when a FPPE emerges from Fry’s beard, Leela says she thinks she’ll have dinner at her parents tonight.
Futurama Season 12 streams on Mondays on Hulu.
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