I Second that Emotion

"I Second That Emotion" is the fourteenth episode of Futurama, the first of the second production season and the fifth of the second broadcast season. It aired 21 November, 1999 on FOX. After flushing Nibbler down the toilet, Bender is forced an empathy chip on. An expedition for Nibbler leaves them through the sewers and into the monster that is El Chupanibre.

Act I: "How could you flush Nibbler down the toilet!"
After Nibbler breaks a fang biting Bender's shiny metal ass, the vet speculates that Nibbler may be 5 years old, so they throw him a birthday party. Bender, jealous of the attention Nibbler is getting, bakes an amazing cake, which Nibbler eats before anyone can see it. In anger, Bender flushes Nibbler down the toilet.

Act II: "There's mutants down there!"
Leela is inconsolable, and everyone sees that Bender is completely incapable of understanding empathy, so the Professor equips him with an Empathy Chip, "allowing" (i.e. forcing) Bender to feel all of Leela's emotions as she feels them--and not just sadness, but happiness, anger, jealousy and fear. Unable to bear the pain (and fed up with feeling the emotions), Bender flushes himself down the toilet to go hunt for Nibbler. In spite of the urban legends about a race of hideous mutants who live there, Fry and Leela enter the sewers to search for Bender. After finding him they realise they are lost, and while trying to find a way out they run into the dreaded sewer mutants.

Act III: "Aren't you supposed to be eating our brains?"
The Mutants turn out to be harmless and take them to their city, telling the legend of a dreaded monster known as El Chupanibre. Leela begins to wonder if Nibbler is the monster, so the mutants, not wanting to take any chances, use her as bait to capture the monster. Nibbler soon appears, but the monsters confirm that he is not the monster--in fact the real El Chupanibre, a huge, vicious, drooling monster, is right behind him. Bender attempts to fight it off, but Leela's fear and sense of concern for Nibbler's safety hinders him. In order to defeat the monster, Bender convinces Leela to act heartless and self-centered, this giving him the capacity to knock him into the giant toilet and flush him into the sub-sewer. Back at the Planet Express building, the Professor removes the empathy chip and sees that it was actually damaged, apparently indicating Bender's emotions were real, only to correct himself as it was running at three times the capacity. Bender has learned nothing and leaves, but Leela claims that she herself has learned from him and leaves the room with a curt "So long, jerkwads!"

Trivia

 * Nibbler eats a big can of Kibbles 'N' Snouts.


 * This is the first appearance of Leela's parents (background)


 * Turanga Munda has arms instead of tentacles in this appearance.

Quotes

 * Calculon: Give it to me straight, doctor. Don't sugar-coat it. DoctorBot: All right. Your entire family died when a plane piloted by your fiance crashed into your uninsured home, and you have inoperable cancer. Bender: [laughs hysterically] Bet you didn't expect that one, Calculon!

Goofs

 * The bathroom that features prominently in this episode is through the door that people usually enter from. So either the bathroom is in the wrong place, or people must enter the TV area by passing through the bathroom.
 * Bender comments that lifting the seat is an annoyance, implying that he must know how men use toilet. Yet when he flushes himself out, he comments "what do humans use it for anyway?"

Characters

 * Amy
 * Armando
 * Bender
 * Calculon
 * Debut: Dave Spiegel and Fluffers
 * Debut: Dwayne
 * Debut: El Chupanibre
 * Fry
 * Hermes
 * Leela
 * Debut: Leg Mutant
 * Nibbler
 * Prof. Farnsworth
 * Debut: Raoul Inglis
 * Debut: Rover and Pepper
 * Debut: Turanga Morris and Munda (background)
 * Debut: Vet Jeffrey Grant
 * Debut: Vyolet
 * Zoidberg

Episode Credits

 * Writer
 * Patric M. Verrone
 * Director
 * Mark Ervin
 * Voice Actors
 * Billy West
 * Katey Sagal
 * John DiMaggio
 * Phil LaMarr
 * David Herman
 * Lauren Tom
 * DVD Commentary
 * Matt Groening
 * David X. Cohen
 * Rich Moore
 * Patric M. Verrone
 * John DiMaggio