Rage Against the Vaccine
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| Season 8 episode Broadcast season 11 episode | |||||
| Rage Against the Vaccine | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | 147 | ||||
| Production number | 8ACV07 | ||||
| Written by | Cody Ziglar | ||||
| Directed by | Edmund Fong | ||||
| Title caption | Try unplugging it and plugging it back in. | ||||
| First air date | 4 September, 2023 [1] | ||||
| Broadcast number | S11E07 | ||||
| Title reference | Rage Against the Machine band and backlash against COVID-19 vaccines | ||||
| Opening cartoon | "Circus" by Ub Iwerks (1932) | ||||
| Special guest(s) | Bill Nye | ||||
| Additional | |||||
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| Season 8 | |||||
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"Rage Against the Vaccine" is the one hundred and forty-seventh episode of Futurama, the seventh of the eighth production season and the seventh of the eleventh broadcast season. It aired on 4 September, 2023 [1], on Hulu.
The Planet Express crew contends with the EXPLOVID-23 pandemic, and it ultimately may be up to Hermes to set things right.
Plot
Act I
After celebrating the triumph over COVID-19, the citizens of New New York are immediately faced with a new, anger-inducing pandemic: EXPLOVID-23. The virus, which originated in the mutant community, causes extreme rage and a mild cough.
The Planet Express crew, with the exception of Leela, tests negative for the virus using Professor Farnsworth's new "brain matter" swab test. The crew quarantines a furious Leela in the angry dome, and everyone begins working remotely using a new app called Gloom. However, Leela manages to punch Bender through the screen during a meeting, and the Professor declares the remote work trial a failure.
The crew returns to the office, wearing masks in various ways and practicing hygiene theater. Amy suggests the virus is a hoax, but Hermes proposes a different theory: the anger pandemic is actually a zombie-ism outbreak. No one believes him, so he decides to travel to New New Orleans to find a voodoo cure. His wife, LaBarbara, warns him against it, revealing that her father was a voodoo zombie, but Hermes goes anyway.
Act II
At Citihall, Mayor Poopenmeyer announces that Professor Farnsworth has created a vaccine for the EXPLOVID-23 pandemic. However, Farnsworth's rival, Dr. Wernstrom, immediately appears with his own superior vaccine, sparking a competition between the two scientists.
The press conference quickly devolves into a chaotic exchange of misinformation and dubious "side effects," with Farnsworth admitting his vaccine contains 5G chips for surveillance and Wernstrom revealing that his causes sterility and magnetism.
Meanwhile, on a train to New New Orleans, a frustrated Hermes attempts to travel in the business class, but the train is full of angry passengers and an unhelpful conductor. As the virus-induced rage escalates, a full-on brawl breaks out among the passengers, causing the train to crash. Hermes emerges from the wreckage in the middle of a Mardi Gras parade in New New Orleans, with his legs on backward from the crash. He re-twists his legs and, smelling gumbo, sets off on his mission to find a voodoo cure for the virus.
Act III
Hermes arrives in New New Orleans, a city still in the midst of a chaotic Mardi Gras celebration. He consults the Gypsy-bot at a voodoo shop who gives him a tarot reading with four bizarre options. He chooses the "Hanging Man," which leads him on a quest for gumbo at Elzar's restaurant. When that proves unhelpful, he chooses another card, "The Key of Bones," leading him to a cemetery.
Meanwhile, back at Planet Express, Amy shows Professor Farnsworth that the spread of anti-vaccine misinformation is tearing the city apart. The source of this misinformation is revealed to be the Omicronians, Lrrr and Ndnd, with the help of Jrrr, who are posting outlandish theories online to weaken humanity before they invade.
At the angry dome, a lovelorn Fry decides he can no longer be apart from Leela and joins her in quarantine. They kiss, and their shared anger and coughs reveal that Fry is now infected as well.
In the cemetery, Hermes meets Bonebot, a Cajun robot made of bones who has the literal "key of bones"—a key hidden inside a skull. Bonebot gives Hermes a ride on his fan boat through the bayou to the voodoo headquarters. Hermes, shivering with fear, uses the key to enter a shack on the water. Inside, he discovers the leader of the voodoo practitioners is none other than his arch-rival, Barbados Slim. As Slim reveals himself, Omicronian ships appear in the sky, ready for their invasion.
Act IV
As the Omicronian ships begin their attack on Earth, the planet's citizens are too divided by rage and misinformation to mount a proper defense. Hermes arrives at the Voodoo HQ, a surprisingly modern research center, and is shocked to discover that the leader of the voodoo practitioners is his old rival, Barbados Slim.
Their conversation is interrupted by LaBarbara, who has followed Hermes and reveals her past as a voodoo practitioner. Hermes is momentarily confused as to why his wife has a skeleton key to Slim's headquarters and a close relationship with the man, but they quickly get to work. Hermes explains his theory that the virus is a form of zombieism, and Slim and LaBarbara get to work creating a voodoo cure.
Meanwhile, on Earth, the Omicronians begin to show symptoms of the virus themselves. Lrrr and Ndnd start to argue and show anger towards each other, revealing that the virus has now spread to them and mutated. The Planet Express crew continues to devolve into anger and fighting.
Back at the Voodoo HQ, LaBarbara explains their plan to use a voodoo potion to trick the body into creating anti-jujus that will fight the virus. They test the cure on Hermes, who receives a shot through a voodoo doll replica of himself. The cure works, and Hermes feels only a "normal, easy-to-repress rage" when LaBarbara and Slim kiss.
The cure is a success, and Hermes, LaBarbara, and Slim return to Earth to distribute the voodoo vaccine. People line up, socially distanced and wearing masks, to receive their shot. The vaccine restores everyone to their normal selves, and even the Omicronians are cured, putting an end to their invasion. Bender's voodoo doll comes to life, signaling that the magic has worked, and the pandemic is finally over.
Production
The writer of record for this episode is Cody Ziglar.[2]
Reception
Additional information
Trivia
When Amy uses filters on Gloom, for a brief moment she wears the classic hair of Goku from Dragon Ball. It is well known that the writer of the episode is a huge fan of Akira Toriyama.
Allusions
- Inside Madame Robeaux's Voodoo Shop, a hanging voodoo doll has the appearance of a trøg from Disenchantment.
Continuity
- The Colonel and Umbriel appear, with the former mentioning the dugong from Macon having left Umbriel at the altar and stolen her dowry. ("The Deep South")
Quotes
Hermes: Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from science.
Alien Language Sightings
Time: 15:19
Location: Plaque on a tomb
Language: AL1
Translation: Human jerky
Goofs
Characters
- Last clone of Agnew
- Amy
- Debut: Bonebot
- Dr. Banjo
- Bender
- H.G. Blob
- Dr. Cahill (no lines)
- Scoop Chang
- Chaz (no lines)
- The Colonel
- Dwight
- Elzar
- Farnsworth
- Fry
- Debut: Gumbo-Tron
- Gypsy
- Hattie
- Hermes
- Jrrr
- Kif
- LaBarbara
- Leela
- Linda
- Lrrr
- Mayor's Secretary (no lines)
- Morbo
- Morris
- Munda
- Ndnd
- Mayor Poopenmeyer
- Richard Nixon's head
- NRA man
- Debut: Bill Nye the Science Head
- Petunia
- Randy
- Raoul (cameo, no lines)
- Sal
- Scruffy
- Barbados Slim
- Umbriel (no lines)
- Wernstrom
- Ron Whitey
- Zapp
- Zoidberg