The Luck of the Fryrish

This episode tends to be a favourite for many Futurama fans. I remember watching it for the first time, it was so sad and interesting to learn what happened in Fry's past. It's not the funniest episode of Futurama, but in my opinion, it's the most emotional episode next to Jurassic Bark.

The story is excellent. Having enough of bad luck, Fry goes to search his long lost lucky seven-leafed clover he left back in the 20th Century. He kept it in a safe at his house (which is underground) and reckons it's still there because he never told anyone where it was. Fry opens the safe and discovers it's not there, and he instantly assumes his brother Yancy stole it off him. He then discovers a statue outside the house named "Philip J Fry, first person on Mars" and he notices it's his brother and the clover on him. Fry accusses of Yancy stealing his dreams and fortune back in the past. Fry is determined to get the clover back from his brother's grave, only to discover on the tombstone that it was not his brother, but his nephew who his brother named after him "to carry on his spirit". After realising he was wrong about his brother the whole time, Fry starts to burst into tears. Bender gives him the clover, but Fry places it back into the grave, to show his respect to his long gone brother and nephew.

The ending is so touching that it will always bring a tear to your eye, no matter how many times you watch it. The "Don't You Forget About Me" song works so well at the end it makes it even more emotional. It's also an interesting episode to watch because it shows you flashbacks of Fry and Yancy's past and how they coped together. It also shows you alot of Fry's other past such as his birth and his parents. Yancy appears to be a meanie to Fry, but the ending shows you he's not and actually missed him the whole time he was gone. A very emotional episode, and one of the best. A 10/10 easily!

Almost straight after 'Parasites Lost' comes this, another incredible episode.

The plot is downright amazing. It manages to cram an insane amount of storyline into 22 minutes without feeling rushed at all. The way the story swaps back and forth between the past and the present (future) is just brilliant. Who'd have thought that a TV sitcom would ever feature such sophisticated non-linear narrative. And it is a sophisticated example because of the way that each scene in the past compliments the scenes in the future around it and the way it unfolds as one. Technical aspects aside, the storyline is full of emotion -and genuine emotion, not cheesy sitcom emotion. I was amazed at how touched I was when I first saw this because I just wasn't used to it. It handles subtle themes such as lonliness and unconditional love superbly and on top of that, we get to see a number of new locations for the show. All of which are richly detailed and interesting to look at -even the scenes set in the past.

It's not the funniest episode of Futurama ever, but it's certainly up there. Several moments are incredibly funny and the jokes never tread on the emotion -whilst the emotion never becomes overpowering. It's an insanely intricately balanced juggling act of comedy writing and they pull it off expertly.

The final moment is one of my favourite moments in Futurama history.

"The Luck of the Fryrish" is an interesting episode, seeing as it succeeds both in being one of the most emotional episode of Futurama (along with The Sting, Jurassic Bark and Lethal Inspection, I'd say), and still being really funny, adventurous, mystery-ish as well as giving the first insights into Fry's past, and reintroducing the sorrowful fact that was introduced in Space Pilot 3000, namely that Fry's entire family and his friends are dead, a theme throughout the story.

Wonderfully planned out and executed, the story is incredible. Fry's past is designed to be boring to set the premise for the series - that he wishes to get away and is thrown into a brand new life 1000 years later - and still the writers get a full story out of it. What amazes me is how much of a storyline it is for one episode, and it still doesn't feel rushed. We are introduced to the seven-leaf clover, meanwhile seeing flashbacks to Fry's brotherly relationship, and we understand that Yancy stole it from Fry after his disappearance, and then we get to the great finale, all in just 22 minutes. I think no-one can watch the ending without being touched, and I feel it speaks directly to everyone with a similar older brother (such as myself). I can definitely picture myself in Fry's position, and I've cried every time I've seen the episode so far, including just today.