Futurama: "Law and Oracle" Review

One might think that an episode as crowded as "Law and Oracle" would fail more than it succeeds but, overall, it came together quite nicely. Still, the Tron and Avatar references felt a little shoe-horned in considering that the episode that was already mostly about Police Academy and Minority Report. (auth note: I don't think I've ever written a sentence as strange as that last one in a review before)

Also, what hope do Avatar jokes have if Tron jokes are already old? But consider this: this episode was written in 2010, pre-Tron Legacy. And the voices were recorded last summer. So this nod to Tron was really more of a nod to the original Tron (with maybe a bit of anticipation for Legacy). "That's a violation of the law of Lorentz Invariance, baby," said smooth-talkin' officer URL right before he and his new cop partner Fry raced off to bust a speedster - Grid-style!

The allure of "non-stop promotions and a free hot rod" was too much for Fry as he headed off to join the police department as a way to feel important. And possibly attract the attention of Leela, who likes a man in uniform. While in training, he meets the Sound Effects 5000 bot - a cyber-version of Police Academy's Michael Winslow. But even the SFX 5K admits that he's not that impressive because he's a robot who can make a lot of sounds very easily. The gags come fast and furious as Fry aces his training and gets paired with URL, who's still mourning the loss of his partner Smitty who was just days away from retirement. "He took an early retirement," URL moaned.

But it's when Fry gets transferred to the Future Murder Division, complete with a fluid-immersed oracle bot named Pickles, that the episode picks up. Red balls are "murder." Polka-dot pink balls mean "clown slaughter." ("It happens more than you think!") After last week's "Ghosts in the Machines" I wasn't really willing to jump back into a big "test of Fry and Bender's friendship" story so quickly, but the second half of this one had some clever ideas and some nifty twists, including a double-cross from Pickles himself.

I enjoyed Fry's gruff female Captain who was able to be the most masculine person in the room by boasting about her femininity. "Guys like this really bust my uterus!" she complained. Also, when she tells you she has to go drop a big one, she means a baby. "That's a beautiful bathroom baby," URL told her with his velvet voice. The brief side-story involving Bender and Leela delivering a package to the dangerous 3D planet of Pandora was a bit of a bore, but it was over before it began.

Also, it's worth noting here that Scruffy is, apparently, a resurrected zombie. "Life n' death're a seamless continuum," he grumbled while he mopped.

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