Futurama 11×04 and 11×05 Review: ‘Parasites Regained’ and ‘Related to Items You’ve Viewed’

Parodies abound in the fourth and fifth episodes of the futuristic sitcom, “Parasites Regained” and “Related to Items You’ve Viewed”.

I was provided with advanced digital screeners for Futurama season 11. The opinions I have shared are my own.

I wrote in my review of the first episode that this season of Futurama seems as though the show never left. This momentum continues in the fourth and fifth episodes as they each take on a property to make fun of.

In episode 4, “Parasites Regained”, Nibbler (voiced by the legendary Frank Welker) becomes a smart friend to Leela (Katey Sagal). They go to movies, play games, and have deep conversations. Unfortunately, he turns ill. He’s got worms, and the only way to fix it is to have the crew shrink down to fight the parasites that have infested Nibbler’s litter box. The litter contains precious sand from his home world and ends up having special powers.

There are sand worms, a prophecy of a messiah, and Kyle MacLachlan even voices one of the dung beetles they encounter in this ode to Dune. The jokes are great – including the messiah being called the Quiznos Cadillac and Nibbler getting the cone of shame.

They take on Amazon and AI in episode 5, “Related to Items You’ve Viewed”, when Leela movies in with Fry (Billy West) and Bender. In realizing the apartment is less than furnished, they go on an ordering spree from “Momizon” (yes, there’s a reference to “Momizon Primo” as well as a smart device called “Invasa”). But oh no – thanks to fast free shipping, Momizon is doing a better job at delivery than Planet Express and driving them out of business.

They have a delivery to the moon, where the Momizon warehouse is. In fact, it’s getting bigger and employing robots as the staff. Bender, who isn’t happy with being the third wheel with Fry and Leela, ends up moving into the Momizon warehouse and working there. The warehouse ends up expanding to overwhelming proportions, and Bender realizes the job isn’t what it’s all cracked up to be.

There’s plenty about the ‘predictability’ of the company to know what you want to order, and how it just wants to be so big it takes over the world. But it feels slightly off-message considering Hulu is part of Disney which isn’t that much better in terms of wanting to own everything.

Futurama airs Mondays, and more information can be found on Hulu’s website.

Author: Angie Fiedler Sutton

Angie Fiedler Sutton is a writer, podcaster, and all-round fangirl geek. She has been published in Den of Geek, Stage Directions, LA Weekly, The Mary Sue, and others.

She also produces her own podcast, Contents May Vary, where she interviews geeky people about geeky things. You can see all her work (and social media channels) at angiefsutton.com.

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