This is a fun episode of Futurama. Would be a great one to annotate, the references and jokes are so impacted. But the ep still has time enough to hit a plaintive, sincere note about Leelas experiment in having what she thinks is a normal adolescence by actually going thru the reboot with her parents. However, the ending is .,. just .,. weird. Someone more up on gargoyles could perhaps help illuminate the whole story being there, but here goes. IMDB says Pazuzu, the gargoyle shares the name of the being that possessed Regan in the Exorcist, is supposedly an allusion to a Mesopotamian King of Spirits. However, since the gargoyle is a pet, this is a name bestowed upon him by the Professor. Heck, the being might resist being called a gargoyle--it is a fun word but it is ugly too, ugly enough you can tell that the original coiners meant rude things with it. And this is mildly relevant since in the final sequence the being now free is talking to their child. The being actually never talks back to the Professor or the other characters. But they do talk to their child. Dramatically and comically it makes sense: the professor is a brat, so speaking back would lower the being, but the gap also allows further riffs on not to put too fine a point on it, the Professors impotence, itself sealed by the fact the being prevents the Professor from the horror of nonbeing, about which he has been emoting about in the episode. The being never even interacts with the other characters--no quips at Zoidbergs expense or admiration of Leelas martial arts skills. Instead, they have been along for the ride as it were, as fold out of the exterior of the Ship at the last moment to save the Professor from the whirlpool to (I am wondering if part of why gargoyles are so stereotypically hideous is an intention to make the observer look away? There is an art to being overlooked. ) Did the being subtly adjust the events in order to get to the final moment and the bargaining opportunity it presents? After all, it was looking like the reverse of the reversal would be a snap; who would have predicted the reaction of the mitochondria. (And stubbornly misinformed English majors (me in this instance) still assume mitochondria have something to do with tesseracts and multiverses --call it the LEngle effect--which for sure Futurama writers not above) when the being speaks to their child, they say this is the story how they got their liberty. Oh and that they will be back. Then the eyes of being and child light up, just a bit Cylon-y, and the show ends. For all I know, they do come back, as I havent seen them all.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 03:33:03 +0000
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