Dr. Zoidberg? I LOVE that guy! Hooray for him! Hooray for Zoidberg!

I had completely planned to do a review for Futurama this week, but I had a previous engagement — I had to go see some foreign movie called The Deadly Hellos Part, Too. It was weird as hell, but at least Maggie Smith was in it. Keith was nice enough to fill in for me on the review, but when I finally saw the episode, I was sad I didn’t get to write about it.

It’s not like it’s the most emotional episode of the season or even the summer episodes. And I’d even say it wasn’t the most laugh out loud funny episode of the season, either. No, my one reason for discussing this episode … Zoidberg is awesome!

OK, Zoidberg is normally pretty awesome in a “so cute and sad and unloved” way, but Zoidberg totally kicks some possibly shiny metal ass while risking his life to save who he thinks is Bender. Granted, he didn’t start off trying to save anyone; he was just jealous of Francis/Clamps and his amazing hand abilities around the office. Still, the good stinky doctor was the only person to figure out that was something fishy about the new guy that looks exactly like one of the mobsters out to kill Bender. We’re talking about the same stinky doctor who once interrogated anteaters about a murder while the killer continued to kill from the next room, so Zoidberg’s suspicions are pretty impressive in context.

More than that, the battle between Clamps and Zoidy at the end was much more impressive than you would expect. I actually gasped when Zoidberg’s head started to literally crack from the pressure, only to cheer when his fighting dorsal fin popped up and he went into bad-ass mode. When Clamps refers to him as an all-you-can-eat lobster dinner, Zoidberg even gets a very Schwartzenegger one-liner, “That offer was for a limited time only.” BAM!

And sure, the robot he’s protecting isn’t actually Bender, and the non-Bender ends up dying anyway, but Zoidberg was legitimately heroic here! Probably the most surprising thing about all this is how little Zoidberg-bashing there is in the episode. The closest we get is Fry telling him to stop fighting because he doesn’t want “Francis” to get hurt. Usually we get the crew kicking him emotionally and/or physically. The episode ends with Bender almost evoking Zoidberg’s rage by daring to cut the pizza instead of him. The crew goes silent and lets Zoidberg have his way. Lesson learned — don’t mess with Zoidberg’s one talent. He will cut you like a fish!

And whatever you do, don’t call Zoidberg “slick” … “My name isn’t Slick. It’s Zoidberg. JOHN ****ING ZOIDBERG!”

Photo Credit: Comedy Central