Proposition Infinity

Possibly the best so far of the sixth season, Proposition Infinity follows in the vein of classic Futurama, with critisism on current issues set in the 31st century. With a number of lovable background characters and geeky references and jokes throughout the episode, the show is right back where it left television in the fourth season.

Unfortunately Maurice LaMarch seem a bit off as Kif, but it can only be expected after the hiatus, and it doesn't really disturb the episode. The Kif and Amy relationship being torn apart and reunited in the same episode seems like an impossible task, but the writers manage perfectly fine, even including a sweet ending that tells that even though the couple might have their differences they will always be eachother's soul mates. Though one thing that disturbs me is Bender's reasoning for choosing Amy, the only apparant reason being sex, which still wouldn't explain proposing to her, and the only making up for this is the final scenes when he leaves her after realising she wants a monogomous relationship. What annoys me is how easy the writers could have made a throw-away joke about wanting her money in case of a divorce, or even including Bender wanting to legalize robosexual marriage for the soul purpose that he can't, like a child who wants the other childrens' toys for no apparant reason other than jealousy.

All in all, Proposition Infinity is a good episode with the heart and the humour of classic Futurama. Managing to cram in sex jokes followed by Star Trek references followed by a motorcycle ride into the sunset has always made great television, and that's exactly what this episode does.

So last week's episode felt a bit out of place, parodying future versions of current technology, and many felt that it didn't feel like Futurama. Well, good news everyone! Proposition Infinity is more like the original ones, focusing on the future setting, and giving out plenty of jokes, though there are still some which don't work (I thought Hermes' Circusities was way too random and out of place to be worth more than a chuckle at least).

Many of the best lines and moments in this episode came from the main characters, but even the minor ones had some pretty good moments. Preacherbot, Roberto, and the Hyper-Chicken were pretty funny, and the only thing I felt was a slight letdown was the ending, again this time seemingly rushed and resolved very quickly. Farnsworth's explanations about the robosexual relationship incident he had was a little far-fetched in my opinion, but I thought it was a nice change that Kif splitted up with Amy for a while, though some might be disturbed by the Bender and Amy relationship.

Overall, Futurama has proven it can still provide the old humour we loved in its original run as proven by many jokes in this episode. It's just when will we see an episode where everything is done correctly in the way we loved? Well, Proposition Infinity was funny most of the time like a classic Futurama episode, and these cases they got to the point. It's not perfect, but a step in the right direction. so we can only expect the average quality of episodes to go up, and hopefully not down.

Proposition Infinity signals the return of "Classic 72" Futurama humor.

The scene that truly made me feel like Futurama "was back" was when Bender was listing all the types of marriage allowed on Earth. You had your recent call-back (Fanny), your geeky reference ("Let That Be Your Battlefield" black-and-white aliens), your not-so-highly-regarded episode call-back (Michelle and Pauly Shore), popular peripheral character (HGB), and finally the purely random character that sets up a joke soon enough (the ghost). This was a true "Original 72" form scheme, and the Star Trek reference was truly one of the geekiest moments of the new run.

The plot sped along at a nice pace, finally getting out of the long-form style of the films and back to episodic format. All the character interaction made sense as well. Amy's always had that bad girl edge to her, so her attraction to bad boys has both been known for a while and is understandable for her character. This episode also makes a return of good ole fashioned whorish Amy, which is only a good thing.

Bender's character seems odd until the final scene when he realizes marriage to Amy means monogamy. In true Bender fashion, he ditches that idea immediately. When has Bender been fully committed to monogamy in the past? Sure, it wasn't his usual scheming self, but he still made sense.

The Professor's doubling back from previous opinions (against robosexuality in "I Dated A Robot", for it in "Rebirth", and now against it here) seems odd. The Professor is usually the kinkiest and farthest from sexual norms of the entire crew, so his initial disdain for their robosexuality seems to just be degrading him to the stock senile old man character. His then final role reversal at the end makes sense for his character because that position make sense for him, but it still irks me.

The episode also featured quality lines from Hermes and Zoidberg. Of note are Hermes' "We're talkin' 'bout a lot of things!" and the exchange between the two of (paraphrasing): Hermes: It shouldn't be nobody's business what goes on in private between two consenting adults. Zoidberg: Or one!

However, it did feature some loose-end plots. Circusitis, while funny, was just left there and wasn't referenced ever again. The visit it Planet Tornadus was likewise. It wasn't referenced before or after, although a hilarious scene. It's only purpose was to set up the reveal of Bender/Amy to the crew, but that could've been done anywhere, or their mission could've been better set-up in the grand scheme of the episode.

Takei's appearance also had some good lines, but it's always a disappointment to me when a guest is relegated to being a minor background B-character when his appearance is tooted about in the press. I always enjoy whenever a guest can appear either as an original character or himself in a deprecating manner; at least this appearance was basically the latter. Much more akin to Beck than to Pamela Anderson. Takei's a good sport, and his appearance is definitely relevant given the episode's theme.

By far, the most 'classic Futurama' episode up until this point in season 6. Whilst I preferred 'Rebirth' considerably, 'Proposition Infinity' could fit into season 3 or 4 easily which is something I can't say about 'Rebirth', despite liking it a lot. It would be one of the weaker episodes of the season, granted, but wahay! Futurama's back to average classic episode standard which is great! If they keep moving upwards in quality like this, this could be a great season. The pacing wasn't off in this one and there were plenty of background gags and more importantly: some nice nerd humour (there's a fantastic Star Trek sight gag for anyone who cares). I do still have some problems with this episode though. My biggest problem being the characterisation. There's nothing as bad as Leela in In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela, but I don't buy Bender falling for Amy, I don't buy Amy getting over Kif so quickly, and I don't buy Kif having the balls to split up with Amy -plus their break up and getting back together is incredibly rushed, serving no purpose other than to allow this particular episode's story to happen without messing with continuity. The episode's resolution is also somewhat rushed and pulled from nowhere, but it's not as bad as it could have been.

All in all, 'Proposition Infinity' is a very funny episode and sits as an average episode in the show's overall canon -which means it's very good television. The episode was written by Mike Rowe whose previous writing credit is for 'Bend Her', one of the show's worst episodes -so at very least, 'Proposition Infinity' is a huge improvement over Mike's last episode. Hopefully writers will continue to produce their best work yet and Ken Keeler's contribution this time round will be incredible. There's still plenty of time for season 6 to wow us and I'm a lot more hopeful than I was last week.

"Proposition Infinity" attempts to address a contemporary issue (gay marriage) by reframing it in a Futurama-specific context, but it runs into two problems. The smaller problem is that robot-human relations were already considered taboo in "I Dated A Robot" (due to the absence of a procreation act), and it's not explained why so many of our characters have suddenly changed their mind on the subject. The bigger problem is that the opposition (principally represented by Prof. Farnsworth) is portrayed as a completely unconvincing and ineffectual strawman, weakening any true sense of tension in the episode.

The episode begins with Bender vandalizing the streets of New New York, Aqua Teen Hunger Force-style. He quickly lands in jail and asks Amy to bail him out while Amy is having an argument with Kif. Amy and Kif post Bender's bail, and Kif decides to break up with Amy after she flirts with one too many criminals at the jail. Amy and Bender later get into an argument while going out for drinks, which naturally leads to them hopping into bed together. While Fry and Leela support Bender and Amy's new relationship, Amy's parents, Preacherbot and Farnsworth condemn the new arrangement. We end up with a hilarious scene from Preacherbot's "re-education" camp, a bland scene where Amy's parents express their disappointment, and a completely ineffectual and uninspired campaign by Farnsworth to vote down Amy and Bender's "Proposition Infinity" to legalize robosexual marriage. Indeed, the entire third act completely pales in comparison to the Space Pope's propaganda video from "I Dated A Robot", and there's not much else in "Proposition Infinity" that makes the episode worth coming back to.