When the episode synopsis for this one was leaked, I was legitimately excited for it as it took the time skip and used it to play with a plot thread that was left untouched. Kif and Amy's lovechild. Or, more accurately, their brood of hybrid alien human tadpole folk.
Boy did they... certainly remember that plotpoint. But they did actually nothing else of value with it. As soon as the whole lore of how their zany tadpole rituals work, they completely drop the ball with fumbled conflict after fumbled conflict.
Oh no! Amy's parents disapprove! Ok, they'll just piss off for the rest of the episode. No need to explore the ongoing struggle finding acceptance from Amy's family!
Oh darn! The weird alien midwife has declared that Leelah is the bog children's new mother! Oh, wait, nevermind, she just recends that in the most plain as saltine crackers resolution by just saying "actually, nah. Amy, you're the mom, lol"
All the characters are so whittled down to like not even their flanderized archetypes. It just comes off as a super derivative trope of a hard working parent being completely snubbed by her kids because of the 'cool parent' with the prediticable conflict of Leelah failing to keep up with the responsibilities of being a parent to 3 incredibly generic alien kids!
And oh yeah, I guess Bender is making incredibly sticky candy for his B plot? I wonder if this is what Bender will be reduced to? A zany quirky B plot generator and not the debaucherous sleezebag with a weird little soft spot tucked deep underneath his shiny metal ass.
In even weaker news, Zapp is barely present and is really only used for his aloofness. But not to contribute to any conflict that could easily built between him and Kif's constant differences, but more to just spew out a dumb line here and there. It really seems like a majority of the supporting cast is getting this treatment- Being relegated to being a hollow running gag that contributes effectively nothing else to the plot.
I'm disappointed to say that this is so far my favorite plot point as it actually has a solid premise beyond the overtly meta premier and the utterly trash Cryptocurrency gold rush episode. This episode is just.. Painfully ok. I hope to see better from this revival.
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