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| "Oh.... my love... my darling..." |
"Ten times normal wage? I'll give those jerks what for!" - Bender, crossing the picket line... before taking the job. Ah, Bender - walks the walk, doesn't talk the talk.Airdate: February 11th, 2001
Written By: Eric Horsted
Plot: The Planet Express Ship crashes on takeoff. Leela's crash report deduces that the L-Unit was bent. That, plus several other "bent" objects leads suspicion to fall on Bender - which is confirmed by a videotape showing him "sleep-bending". Fired because of his addiction, Bender winds up taking a job bending at a company facing a strike. There, he meets Flexo - his yin body double - and Angleyne, a voluptuous Fembot who Bender takes a shine to, and who might be reciprocating his feelings. Thing is.... Angleyne and Flexo are caught out at dinner together. Bender, therefore, decides to impersonate Flexo, believing that she's truly in love with the bearded bot.
Review:
Bender is well known to the casual viewer (and pretty much everybody else) for his flamboyant lifestyle. He's an egoist, a thief, and a drunkard. It makes perfect sense for him to pick up women on a daily basis - which was seen in "Hell is Other Robots" as the act of rebellion against his religion. Here, though, Bender gets a taste of genuine love - or at least a crush. It's a cute little episode, albeit not close to the show's best.
To have Bender genuinely crush on somebody is an interesting idea. After all, this is Bender! I've talked in detail about how self-serving and narcissistic he is - he relies on emotional support while providing little in return. It's incredible how messed up he is. And we love him all the way - mainly because of just how funny the character is.
"Bendless Love" actually shows him head over heels for Angleyne. In some ways, it's like falling in love with a mirror image - Angleyne is a lazy lout who loves to skirt norms of society ("According to the Scab Handbook, that's extremely inappropriate behavior... and that's just the way I like it!") and also appears content with Bender's law-breaking. Perfect match, right?
Well, she was once married to Flexo - the antithesis of Bender in terms of personality. Apparently, she is still on very good terms with him. What was the impetus for their divorce? Nothing is confirmed, but it is implied that there was a lack of passion in the romance. While dating Bender, the two are head over heels with each other. However, it's while Bender impersonates Flexo that her love for the latter reignites, as demonstrated when Flexo is almost crushed to death by the unbendable girder. This suggests that her love for rule-breaking was just a way to release some untapped energy that she didn't get with Flexo. Or, alternatively, that she and Flexo are opposites, but that Angleyne has enough "humanity" that fuels a genuine love for Flexo. Opposites attract, eh?
Unfortunately, the character doesn't really do too much in the plot. I mean, Jan Hooks does a great job given the circumstances, but she's easily one of the more forgettable "one-off" characters this show has.
Most of the analysis in this episode goes to Bender. It's clear that he feels deeply for Angleyne. However, he's too emotionally immature to really comprehend any complexities in a romantic relationship. Once he realizes just how much Angleyne cares about Flexo, though, he shows a brief moment of apparent selflessness in his CPU, and lifts up/bends the unbendable beam. Was it to try and free Flexo out of the goodness of his heart, or just to prove himself to the fembot he loves? I'm going to go with the former, but the latter is not totally without reason (he calls Flexo a "jerk" once he and Angleyne get back together.)
Far as Flexo goes, eh, he made out well since his last meeting with the PlanEx crew. The reveal of his (past) relationship with Angleyne does make his arrest in "Lesser of Two Evils" a bit more tragic. Does he have to work with his ex-wife because the conviction on his record forced him to become a scab worker? It's actually a rather interesting theory.. Still, it does relight the fire in their once-dormant love. I must say, though, dude is quite forgiving of Bender, given that it was because of him that Flexo went to South American prison for a year.
The Mafia is also involved with this episode, supporting the strike. Their mention as "elected mobsters" does suggest that some elements of the Robot Community consider this their government, to protect their own interests, although it could just as likely be a joke i'm overanalyzing. Either way, they support a union that's striking for a relatively silly reason (getting "Casual Monday" in lieu of Friday"), and want to kill scabs. Why? They don't support the mafia in any way. These guys have a large amount of power. Thankfully, they're loudmouthed and pretty obviously mafia, so there is a lot of comedy that comes from them.
And, overall, I think that's all I can really say about this episode. It's a rather light, comic episode from this season. Unfortunately, when you get down to it, it's actually rather forgettable. It was tough to write this review, actually, simply because of how light this episode was in terms of impact.
To have Bender genuinely crush on somebody is an interesting idea. After all, this is Bender! I've talked in detail about how self-serving and narcissistic he is - he relies on emotional support while providing little in return. It's incredible how messed up he is. And we love him all the way - mainly because of just how funny the character is.
"Bendless Love" actually shows him head over heels for Angleyne. In some ways, it's like falling in love with a mirror image - Angleyne is a lazy lout who loves to skirt norms of society ("According to the Scab Handbook, that's extremely inappropriate behavior... and that's just the way I like it!") and also appears content with Bender's law-breaking. Perfect match, right?
Well, she was once married to Flexo - the antithesis of Bender in terms of personality. Apparently, she is still on very good terms with him. What was the impetus for their divorce? Nothing is confirmed, but it is implied that there was a lack of passion in the romance. While dating Bender, the two are head over heels with each other. However, it's while Bender impersonates Flexo that her love for the latter reignites, as demonstrated when Flexo is almost crushed to death by the unbendable girder. This suggests that her love for rule-breaking was just a way to release some untapped energy that she didn't get with Flexo. Or, alternatively, that she and Flexo are opposites, but that Angleyne has enough "humanity" that fuels a genuine love for Flexo. Opposites attract, eh?
Unfortunately, the character doesn't really do too much in the plot. I mean, Jan Hooks does a great job given the circumstances, but she's easily one of the more forgettable "one-off" characters this show has.
Most of the analysis in this episode goes to Bender. It's clear that he feels deeply for Angleyne. However, he's too emotionally immature to really comprehend any complexities in a romantic relationship. Once he realizes just how much Angleyne cares about Flexo, though, he shows a brief moment of apparent selflessness in his CPU, and lifts up/bends the unbendable beam. Was it to try and free Flexo out of the goodness of his heart, or just to prove himself to the fembot he loves? I'm going to go with the former, but the latter is not totally without reason (he calls Flexo a "jerk" once he and Angleyne get back together.)
Far as Flexo goes, eh, he made out well since his last meeting with the PlanEx crew. The reveal of his (past) relationship with Angleyne does make his arrest in "Lesser of Two Evils" a bit more tragic. Does he have to work with his ex-wife because the conviction on his record forced him to become a scab worker? It's actually a rather interesting theory.. Still, it does relight the fire in their once-dormant love. I must say, though, dude is quite forgiving of Bender, given that it was because of him that Flexo went to South American prison for a year.
The Mafia is also involved with this episode, supporting the strike. Their mention as "elected mobsters" does suggest that some elements of the Robot Community consider this their government, to protect their own interests, although it could just as likely be a joke i'm overanalyzing. Either way, they support a union that's striking for a relatively silly reason (getting "Casual Monday" in lieu of Friday"), and want to kill scabs. Why? They don't support the mafia in any way. These guys have a large amount of power. Thankfully, they're loudmouthed and pretty obviously mafia, so there is a lot of comedy that comes from them.
And, overall, I think that's all I can really say about this episode. It's a rather light, comic episode from this season. Unfortunately, when you get down to it, it's actually rather forgettable. It was tough to write this review, actually, simply because of how light this episode was in terms of impact.
Tidbits:
- We learn in this episode that Bender was built four years prior, as a fully-formed adult, and programmed with info from "Bending School". I'll just assume that he abandoned his plans to backpack across Europe and got more studies from "Bending State University". After all, this was before the light-fixture incident from "Space Pilot 3000" that made him more impulsive and reckless.
- There's a subplot revolving around Farnsworth having a fresh spin on life by... being forced to look upward because Bender over-bent him. It's actually pretty funny, especially when he's walking through a run-down neighborhood... all while smiling at how nice the day is. Fry is clearly uncomfortable, and the others quickly get irritated.
- Sal seems to take all these odd jobs, eh? Now, he's a factory foreman. He reminds me of Gil from The Simpsons. Only a bit funnier. Oh, he now adds "s" to the end of words, at least in this case.
- I did like the send-up to Ghost, especially the sound-alike to "Unchained Melody". That was a cute little touch.
- This episode also marks the reappearance of "The Hip Joint", the discotheque from "Love's Labours Lost In Space". This time, it was during "Robot Night". I guess that was to accommodate the whole "spare body parts such as beards fly into the sky" joke. Just a nitpick on my part.
- There is one definitive excellent aspect about this episode - John DiMaggio's voice acting. I mean, all of the voice actors are great, but DiMaggio had a tall order for this episode. Besides Bender and Flexo, he also voiced Joey Mousepad, Elzar, and Sal... all in this episode. How good was it? Annie winning good. Yes, this episode won an Annie. Kudos.
Wrap Up:
Favorite Scene: Tough one - no scene really stood out. Maybe, Bender's construction. "Precocious little scamp, ain't I?"
Best Character: The Mafia wins this as a trio, by default. They had quite a few great lines
Memorable Quote: "My slinky! My cuddly, little pet slinky!" - Zoidberg mourning the true victim of Bender's sleep-bending.
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| "I will remember you... will you remember me?" |
Verdict: 7. Personally, it's cute, but rather forgettable.
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