Futurama Season 13 Review: More of the Same, and That’s Okay

Good news, everyone — Futurama applies its tried-and-true comedic formula for Season 13 and doesn’t do much with it, but that’s okay. When you’ve been on (and off) the air for 26 years, you find what works and you stick to it. Well, at least when it comes to adult animated comedies.

Futurama Season 13

For this reviewer, Seasons 11 and 12 (the first of the revival years) weren’t quite up to par; however, Season 13, for the most part, feels like a return to form — that aforementioned tried and true formula. Like any Futurama season, though, you’ll find a few hits and a few near-misses (or, rather, a few tepid entries that might not get the rewatch treatment). 

What Futurama Season 13 does well is provide a mixture of clever social commentary, creative episodic narratives, and corny “dad joke” gags. And not every outing has something to say. The writers deliver a nice amalgam of real-world commentary and silly comedy. 

Futurama Season 13 Episode 2, “The World Is Hot Enough,” deftly tackles climate change, presenting a hilarious dichotomy between climate change deniers and those who trust in science.

It’s also a biting depiction of the state of our politics — the far right’s dismissal of real data as fearmongering while they actually fearmonger by peddling disinformation. The episode even gets self-referential; Professor Farnsworth mentions “a cartoon that makes science funny.” 

Bite My Shiny Metal…

Most of the main characters get the spotlight in at least the A or B plot of any given episode, except for Amy. She deserves better. Bender’s fear of numbers in episode four, “The Numberland Gap,” which he overcomes with the aid of Danica McKellar, is pretty funny.

So is Professor Farnsworth forming a science cult in episode six, “Wicked Human.” The series transforms the ichthys (or “Jesus fish”) symbol into a rocket ship. As a ’90s/2000s kid who was forced to go to church twice a week, this is simultaneously hysterical and triggering. As for the supposed Rapture? Just some aliens fishing for humans. Futurama fires on all cylinders with this episode, from its premise and its jabs at organized religion to its narrative execution. 

Episode seven, “Murderoni,” offers up a Trump-type character with Fishy Joe, and his supporters emit major MAGA vibes. It also ties into Fry’s origins as we learn that the old Panucci’s Pizza from the 1990s is underneath a modern-day pizza joint. The B-plot eclipses the A-plot, though, as Hermes and Dwight explore the Central Bureaucracy. It’s an intricately layered, delightful secondary story. 

Splatters and Holes 

“Crab Splatter” sees Leela and Zoidberg become adoptive siblings as her parents adopt, ahem, a grown Decapodian. Leela’s trauma regarding her parents giving her up is touched on here.

Eventually, though, the two learn they’re distantly related and grow closer as family. It’s a touching, sweet episode (although not on the heart-stomping level of, say, “Jurassic Bark”). 

The season finale, “The White Hole,” gets timey-wimey, showcasing plenty of silliness, a yogurt monster, and clone-related shenanigans. Our Planet Express crew spends 10 million years traveling through space, frozen, to watch the birth of a universe. However, their clones decide to reject their programming and take their place, with our heroes returning to Earth, having not witnessed this universe’s birth. 

It feels on brand that the gang would miss something as substantial as a universe coming into being. They’re messy as all get-out. Chaos follows them everywhere they go. However, it sure makes for some entertaining TV. 

Futurama Season 13 isn’t groundbreaking or revelatory, nor does it do anything other shows haven’t already done. That said, it’s still a blast and a half, and easily the best installment of the revival thus far. In a world of uncertainty and terror, sometimes, all we need is consistency in our comedy.

And that, everyone, is definitely good news. 

Stray Observations: 

• Robot Devil working in health insurance makes all the sense in the world. 
• Tall Bender walking through the packed theater with his date in “Destroy Tall Monsters” feels like a nod to Mystery Science Theater 3000. 
• I never thought I’d see the heads of Bill Nye and Richard Nixon fight in the Year of Our Lord 3025, but here we are. 
• Scruffy and his mop would be soulmates. 
• Unlike Bender, I have a fear of a lack of numbers in my bank account. 
• “Better C’awl Hyper-Chicken” is a spin-off I’d pay tens and tens of dollars to watch. 
• I want Bender as my screen addiction sponsor. 
• Let Amy be bisexual, you cowards! 

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What did you think of this season of Futurama? Share your thoughts in the comments below, and don’t forget to leave your own rating!

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Futurama Season 13 is now streaming on Hulu.

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