Rate and Review: "Free Will Hunting"

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

Bender searches for the meaning of life after learning robots lack freedom of choice. Discuss!

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

Despite some cool callbacks and the solid visual gag of having Leela just blatantly being in bed with Fry I actually thought this one was rather boring and meandered for too long. Halfway through the unfunny Bender college experience I was thinking to myself what are they getting at here? And then it just kinda ended. Not even the Lawyer Chicken was really good here. I dunno this one was a huge step down from the last two for me. 2/5.

[irvine_11]

Umm.. wow. I had high hopes for this one, but this blew my expectations away. I actually cared for Bender's situation here and I enjoyed seeing the return of Chapek 9. The jokes were hilarious and in the true Futurama spirit, in the sense that they were clever, unexpected and kept my laughing all the way through. A definite 5/5 (A) and the best of the season!

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

My opinions on Futurama rarely tend to be in the norm anyway. Much of this was like the later part of El Viaje Misterioso to me, alright but not really all that great. I just couldn't sympathize with Bender at all and felt much of his time went on forever, especially that scene with the Professor at the end, and his involvement in all of it with Mom felt like a lazy retread...which normally shouldn't bother me considering I genuinely still enjoy modern Simpsons...but I just didn't care for, or about, any of it here.

[cloneasaurus]

my main problem here was the ending, which was really rushed and didn't really answer anything... but other than that, i enjoyed this one a lot more than the previous ones this season. bender is the funniest character in the show and the plot was actually very interesting, got me thinking about free will. but as i said, the ending was terrible. it should have been an extended episode, even just by 10 minutes or something. slightly generous 4/5

[ManiacalRoboKiller]

I'm giving this a 3/5...It felt very disjointed and it felt like the writers didn't know exactly where to go with the plot. It also dragged on in the middle with hardly any jokes. If it weren't for the professor and his funny lines and that one Zoidberg line it would've gotten a 1/5 from me. Shame as this one was written by David X. Cohen.

[Flimpson Tide]

Wow, I was expecting NHC to be giving this fives all around. I'd probably vote four, personally. It actually took me a few minutes to even understand the ending. I suppose it's a change to the show that really just reinforces status quo, like pretending Snowball V is Snowball II or Fat Tony's brother being Fat Tony now. We never knew until this episode that robots didn't have free will, so it never occurred to us, and I'm pretty sure Bender's made tons of decisions over the course of the series. Or they'll just forget about Bender's new free will completely, like they evidently did with Clamps' death or they will with Bender going to prison.

[moneychair2003]

This episode depended on the philosophical idea that free will and pre-determined programming were different which I disagree with. It wouldn't stop reminding me of the character "Griffin" in "Men in Black 3". Overall, it was very good, but the ending was too abrupt and confusing. Why did Bender want to go to jail?

[Comicshow MolemanBob]

This episode depended on the philosophical idea that free will and pre-determined programming were different which I disagree with. It wouldn't stop reminding me of the character "Griffin" in "Men in Black 3". Overall, it was very good, but the ending was too abrupt and confusing. Why did Bender want to go to jail?

Because he now had free will which meant he could be prosecuted for the crimes he committed and not be found innocent for his lack of free will...

[D DEBBS]

Another M-E-H ep...another episode with naked Leela.

[irvine_11]

Another M-E-H ep...another episode with naked Leela.

Why do neither of those statements surprise me?

[Dobbie]

Everything is MEH.

I think it's because a bit of female nudity offends her!

[Shaunbadia]

I found this to be a fairly solid and enjoyable episode, and over all a good Bender story. The beginning was a tad confusing at first but I got a laugh when I figured out that they had essentially crammed a mini-episode plot into less than five minutes with the reveal that it all took place in the span of a day.

My only small gripe with the episode is that the robot planet's inhabitants hate humans again....plus the return of the robot elders seemed a bit hacky. Also, I didn't care for Bender reducing himself to....well, not exactly sexual prostitution...but you know what I mean.

However, this episode did contain some pretty funny bits throughout, The best of which, IMO was Bender trying to rob the girl scouts. Something about the crazed look on his face made it funnier than it should have been. Plus Bender's time as a monk was a great buildup to the sudden ditching of it.

Other standout moments included:
Dean Suspendington
"Eh, I could take it or leave it....I guess I'll take it"
"I'll take the big purple dinosaur please...on the face."
Bender dismissing Amy's "Human's may not have free will" argument
The Professor's "Impossible/Inconceivable" rant
Professor taking pity on Bender (This seems to be a small running gag that I very much enjoy)
Fry using Leela's "Oh Lord" line
Fry and Leela in bed together (My guess is that the writers figured they owe us for the Professor/Zoidberg thing in "The Prisoner of Benda")
Leela with her hair down twice
The door smashing Leela into the wall
Bender using those kindergarten toys
Mom's chair
The hologram of the Professor running until he made it through the door
Mom comforting Bender
The sinister delivery of the line "Hand it over" (Well done John DiMaggigo )
"Thanks to you I went on a soul searching journey...I HATE THOSE!"
Bender shooting the Professor followed by the image of him in the body cast groaning
The sudden celebration of Bender's guilty verdict.

Oh, also a side note. Anyone else find it a bit odd that Leela still wears her wrist thingy even when she's in bed?

And another thing, does anyone else think that the revelation of Bender having no free will kinda takes away from those moments where he did something good?

At any rate, I'm giving "Free Will Hunting" a 4.5/5 (The only reason I'm deducting half a point is for the retcon with the robot homeworld once again hating humans with no explained reason).

[irvine_11]

At any rate, I'm giving "Free Will Hunting" a 4.5/5 (The only reason I'm deducting half a point is for the retcon with the robot homeworld once again hating humans with no explained reason).

Well, considering that this episode takes place 12 years after Fear of a Bot Planet, they could have easily found a new reason for hating humans in that time.

[Shaunbadia]

Well, considering that this episode takes place 12 years after Fear of a Bot Planet, they could have easily found a new reason for hating humans in that time.

I'm not saying that they couldn't have, but it would have been nice to get even a quick explanation.

[Dark Homer]

I liked it a lot, I liked the super-fast sequence of bender making bad choices and ending up in court, loved the reveal that robots have no free will (and that the hyperchicken can be a good lawyer sometimes) and how it sorta flies in the face of those stupid star trek episodes where they argue androids/holograms are people too...

I am consistently impressed by the beautiful, grandiose sequences that they've been doing a lot these past couple seasons, every scene of Bender in the robot monastery just totally blew me away, such great direction

I don't really care for the last minute though... durr ok you have free will now, and bender shooting the professor was too dark for me (I know it was to prove a point, but still)

[Jims]

Didn't really care for this one much.

The episode got on my nerves from the very get-go with Bender being Mr. Gee-Look-At-All-The-DECISIONS-I'm-Making. They really wanted to make it clear what the episode was going to be about, so they felt like they had to whack us with a wooden hammer after every line. It reminded me a little of the Professor's sudden and exaggerated sexism in Neutopia.

Most of it was the really quick pacing in the episode, though. Just seemed like they tried to cram so much crap into the show that it barely had any room to breathe. It was nice to see the robot planet again, but they could have definitely cut a lot of his wandering around. And I didn't really get the need to make thaaaaat many bad choices in Act 1. It seemed like you just had to get Bender into court (which is easy to do considering the character) and then do the legal thing.

This is definitely an episode I need to re-watch.

[Semaj]

This episode has the same basic problem that the new episodes have had, where they zoom thru so much in only one episode. Many episodes like this have enough material for a two-part story.

I'd question the logic behind robots' free will in this episode, but since robot continuity has already been inconsistent throughout the series, my head would hurt if I tried.

3.0/5

[Charlie]

I'm not saying that they couldn't have, but it would have been nice to get even a quick explanation.

Speaking of explanations, the biggest thing that bothered me about re-introducing Chapek 9 was Leela explaining it, which was obviously for the benefit of viewers that might not have seen (or remember) the first season. I'm not a "new Futurama" basher by any means, I'm still a huge fan of the show, but I honestly feel like "old Futurama" wouldn't have had Leela explaining that the robots hate humans and will kill them on sight. Sure, new viewers might take a little while to understand (or mightn't at all unless they watch Fear of a Bot Planet), but it was part of the "old" show's spirit by throwing in previous episode callbacks without making it so obvious. At the very least I feel like the exchange could have been written a bit better, but the fact that this is all I really have to complain about shows that I think it was a pretty strong episode overall.

[The Angry Animated Comedy Nerd]

Easily an 4/5.

No in depth reviews needed, b/c this show rocks.

[Flimpson Tide]

I saw that episode the robot planet came from maybe once, so I really would have been lost if Leela didn't offer the explanation. It took maybe 10 seconds.

[Dark Homer]

every other scene in season 1 is someone explaining something to fry, i don't know where "old futurama would never explain things" is coming from

[Alex_Of_Darkness]

Probably the worst episode of the season for me. The idea in general was good but it was badly exploited and I was bored during this episode. I give a 2,25/5 to it => 2 in the poll.

[Dark Homer]

you really think this was worse than the nature documentary one?

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

I actually have this one below the nature one too now that I read this...that doesn't seem right though...I must've been too lenient on the nature one.