Fry-Leela relationship

The relationship between Philip J. Fry and Turanga Leela is a recurring theme and a story arc on Futurama.

Initial development
Upon Fry's initial arrival in the future, he shows a physical interest in Leela. This is quickly squashed when she turns to face him, revealing her eye. Later in the episode, Fry and Leela begin to form an emotional connection, as both are entirely alone in the universe. In "My Three Suns", it is shown that although Fry routinely rejects her advice, landing him in a great deal of trouble, he ultimately cares for her, as evidenced by the fact that the thought of Leela dying was the key to make him cry out the Trisolian emperor.

It can be debated whether the initial beginnings of the actual relationship started in "Space Pilot 3000" or "A Flight to Remember", but there is certainly a difference; in the first episode, Fry is immediately interested in Leela, while in the latter episode, Fry and Leela almost kiss for the first time, which may indeed have sparked Leela as a love interest for Fry.

In "Xmas Story" Fry risks his life to buy Leela a present, and they seem to form a stronger emotional connection.

Not much mention is made of Fry's interest in Leela during the second season. Hints at Fry's continued affection mainly focus around the jealousy he shows towards other men in Leela's life, such as Alcazar.

Leela has been quoted as saying that she loves Fry's boyish charm, but hates his childishness.

The one-sided quest
In "Parasites Lost", Leela begins to fall for Fry's new intelligent and capable personality, but this proves to be the work of the worms inside Fry. After the worms leave, Fry reverts to his awkward self, and Leela immediately loses interest in him.

In "The Cyber House Rules", Fry is the only member of the Planet Express crew who believes Leela is beautiful as she is, and doesn't need phaser eye surgery to make her fit in with "average" people.

Once, in "Time Keeps on Slippin'", Fry manages to get Leela to marry him. Unfortunately, due to time skips, no one has any memory of what he did to make Leela love him. Leela believes Fry tricked her into marrying him, and before anyone can prove otherwise, another time skip leaves them divorced. Later, Fry realizes that he had pushed stars to spell out "I love you, Leela" and that is how he got her to love him. That message is soon imploded before Leela sees.

In the episode, "Love and Rocket", Fry saves Leela's life on Valentine's Day when her portable oxygen tank runs out during a desperate attempt to halt the insane autopilot of the Planet Express Ship. Leela then saves his life by giving CPR. Fry and Leela appear to grow closer, and may have even shared a romantic moment together on the balcony of Planet Express, if only Dr. Zoidberg hadn't interrupted them.

In "Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles", teenage Leela and Fry go on a date.

Fry once again puts Leela's safety before his own in the episode "The Why of Fry". When Fry travels back to the year 1999 to stop Nibbler from freezing him, Nibbler asks Fry, "Is there nothing in the future worth saving [from the brainspawn]?" Fry decides that Leela is the one thing worth saving, and allows himself to be frozen so that he may save her 1000 years in the future. Nibbler also refers to Leela as the Other", implying a deeper connection between the two.

Love's a two way street
The viewer is finally afforded a glimpse into Leela's mind in "The Sting", which is set almost entirely in her dreams. From this perspective, it is clear that she cares greatly about Fry as well. When Leela awakens from her coma in the hospital, it is revealed that Fry stayed by her side the entire time, once again demonstrating his continued loyalty and faith in her. They share a tender embrace, but do not become a couple. In "Anthology of Interest I", after Leela kills the whole crew except for Fry, the two are seen in bed, naked, and Fry says he likes the impulsive new Leela. In "The Farnsworth Parabox", Fry and Leela see what their lives would have been if they had got married. In an alternate universe, "Universe 1", Fry-1 and Leela-1 have apparently been married at least one year prior to Fry-A and Leela-A's arrival.

At the end of the original run, in "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings", Fry trades his hands for those of the Robot Devil in order to win Leela's heart with his holophonor, as he was able to do when he last played for her, in "Parasites Lost". Fry's newfound skill wins him great fame, and he is commissioned by Hedonismbot to write an opera. He decides to write the opera about Leela. After Leela is deafened by Bender's airhorn, the Robot Devil makes a deal with her for Calculon's ears. The Robot Devil then crashes the opera, and presents Fry with a terrible choice: Give up his hands and be left unable to complete the opera which may finally cause Leela to return his feelings for her, or lose Leela to the Robot Devil forever. Fry gives up his opportunity to win her heart in order to save her life, and the Robot Devil takes back his hands. After Fry's terrible attempt at playing his holophonor with his regular hands, the audience leaves, except for Leela. As Fry is about to leave the stage, Leela, the only patron left in the audience, stops him, and asks him to play the end of his opera. Fry plays the last scene, in which Holo-Fry and Holo-Leela turn to each other, kiss, and walk off towards the horizon. Unfortunately, Leela's reaction is never shown, although it is clear by events of the next season that Leela still remains "just friends" with Fry.

Season 5
In Bender's Big Score, Leela's love interest becomes Lars Fillmore, who she claims to Fry is "the only man she could ever love". When she realizes Lars was actually Fry's time paradox duplicate, her statement suddenly gains new significance.

At the end of The Beast with a Billion Backs, after Yivo dumps the universe (except for Colleen), Fry returns to his quest for Leela's love, although she is angry that Fry went out with Colleen. There was no development of the relationship in Bender's Game save for Fry commenting on how he enjoyed riding Leegola, although he could not find an explanation for this.

And it is not until the very end of Into the Wild Green Yonder, that Leela finally returns Fry's affection, and kisses him. The relationship grows stronger in the next seasons

Season 6: On the other side
Fry and Leela continue more-or-less as they always have: Leela likes Fry and is even physically attracted to him, but is utterly turned off by his immaturity. Fry remains immature, always coming up with silly ideas in a quest to impress her. Sparks fly a few times during the season; nothing sticks, but the final episode suggests a romantic future for the couple, or at least for their severed arms floating through space for eternity.

In "Rebirth", Fry and Leela pick up where they left off at the end of Into the Wild Green Yonder, only more so. When Fry's remains dissolve to nothing in Farnsworth's stem cell vat, Leela is so grief-stricken that she creates a robot-Fry. This is a surprise, given Leela's historical cool-headedness about their relationship. Perhaps losing him has intensified her newly warming feelings for him. It is no surprise that robot-Fry creates a robot-Leela.

Fry appears not to have changed much: he shows more than once and finally announces explicitly that he loves "any" Leela. Robot-Leela turns out to be slightly more cool-headed than Leela: Leela was so grief-stricken that she created a fake Fry, while robot-Leela wants to cool their relationship while she tries to sort out her confusion over her own identity.

Fry expresses his feelings more vehemently than ever before, saying, "I love Leela, always and forever." Hearing Fry say this, Leela unambiguously expresses love for Fry for the first time. More kissing occurs.

Fry shows that he has in fact grown a little, when, after the robots run away together, he tells Leela, "I waited a thousand years for you. I can wait a little longer." Not only is this a more mature sentiment than we usually get from Fry, he's also being surprisingly considerate of Leela's feelings. He says it to Leela, although Leela wasn't the one who expressed emotional uneasiness about her relationship with Fry. It was robot-Leela who expressed those concerns. So Fry has guessed that Leela might feel the same way as robot-Leela. This is precisely the sort of thing Leela has always been hoping for: a sign of maturity with a touch of romance.

In "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela", the relationship seems to have cooled considerably. At the beginning, Fry objects to the idea of Leela going on the mission to sabotage V-GINY, even before he knows that Zapp will accompany her. He apparently adjusts to the idea of her absence, and doesn't mention jealousy at all, even as Zapp makes crude innuendo while he and Leela board Farnsworth's stealth ship. Fry gives Leela a care package to take with her. It seems that his maturity level is still improving, something Leela surely appreciates, and she shows it with some tender words and even a kiss, but only on the cheek.

Still, Fry is Fry: not ten seconds after he worries out loud about Leela's delayed return, he eagerly accepts Amy's offer of end-of-the-world sex. Sadly, when Zapp is considerate of Leela's feelings and behaves like an adult for more than ten seconds, she forgets all about Fry and is suddenly ready to bear Zapp's children. When she finally puts on the brakes with Zapp, it's not because of Fry at all, but because she starts to suspect Zapp of scamming her.

Fry makes not a single comment when he discovers Leela and Zapp naked. He is happy to watch Leela beat Zapp, but he shows no sign of jealousy, even when they have sex right in front of him. It's difficult to tell where Fry and Leela can go from here.

They go only downhill in "Attack of the Killer App". Fry's "selfish rudeness" in posting an embarrassing video of Leela isn't necessarily surprising. Given his immaturity, it is easy enough to believe that he can love her and yet betray her so horribly. Leela had already mostly forgotten her feelings for Fry in the previous episode, but when Fry makes her believe that he has deleted the video, she refers to him as "a good friend." Later, in spite of Fry's betrayal, she actually thanks him for accidentally freeing her from her shame, and gives him a hug. She laughs a lot while watching the video of his disgusting and painful dive, and he takes advantage of the moment to ask for another hug. Leela doesn't want to hug him again, but is persuaded easily enough by a light prompt from Susan.

The relationship is only hinted at in "Proposition Infinity", as Fry and Leela sit or stand next to each other in some scenes. An abrupt and unexplained change occurs in "The Duh-Vinci Code". While exploring the catacombs in Rome, Fry finds a pretext for proposing sex with Leela. No surprise there, but shockingly, Leela glibly agrees. The deed never actually occurs, as the Professor interrupts them, but this is unprecedented: she is now, at least for the moment, willing to have sex with Fry. Does she love him now, or has she simply decided to lower her standards far enough for him to be acceptable? Perhaps she feels obligated due to guilt for not visiting Fry during his two weeks in the hospital after his bus accident. It isn't clear.

We are left in the dark through "Lethal Inspection", as the two hardly say a word to each other. But the relationship is the central theme of "The Late Philip J. Fry". At the beginning of the episode, Fry has a lunch date with Leela to celebrate her birthday, meaning that a serious relationship is once again a possibility. Another hint at a serious relationship is Leela's reaction to Fry's tardiness. She chews him out, suggesting that she is becoming emotionally invested in him. Further, when Bender invites Fry to Hedonismbot's party, Leela angrily tells him to go to the party rather than taking her to dinner. She is clearly inviting him to reaffirm his commitment not only to their dinner, but to her in general. He does the right thing by her, re-committing to the dinner date.

After the accident with the time machine and the accident at Hedonismbot's party, Leela believes that Fry is dead. While Fry is lost in the future, we get two brief glimpses of the life Leela lived after he disappeared. The first glimpse, 20 years later, shows no sign of Leela being attached, but she flirts with Cubert when he momentarily reminds her of Fry. The second glimpse, a further 20 years later, reveals that she and Cubert married at some point after the flirtation but are now divorced. When Fry's birthday card appears out of thin air, she realizes not only that it was not his fault that he missed their date, but also that he did not die in a horrible accident. She realizes now that her time with Fry had been the happiest time of her life. She uses a laser gun to leave a message that will eventually be read by Fry.

Although it may not be obvious, there is a tragedy here, despite the closure we might feel when Fry reads the message. Just before Fry disappeared, he and Leela were on the verge of being in love. As far as Leela knew, Fry died in the accident at Hedonismbot's party. So she spent decades not only grieving a terrible loss, but also believing that Fry had done something really immature, inevitably lowering her respect for him. When she learns the truth, her sadness is magnified by the knowledge that she has spent those decades with an unfairly negative opinion of Fry. She spends the rest of her life with that sadness, without Fry, and then she dies. Fry lives on, but he never sees "his" Leela again. She is dead. Fry experiences this tragedy from the other end: when he reads Leela's billion-year-old message, he can clearly imagine the life she must have lived, the sorrow she must have lived with.

But Fry is not a guy to suddenly make a big jump in maturity. When the universe restarts and Fry realizes that he can drop out of time back into "Leela's" life, he is still the same old Fry we always knew: he says, "I'm almost there, Leela," with not a moment to consider that this will be a different woman, not the woman he just finished grieving. This is, of course, the man who said, "I love Leela. Any Leela." When Fry finally drops into normal time, two Leelas later, he proves it by taking this new Leela out on a romantic date. The fact that we don't see them kiss suggests that the date is still officially a "just friends" date.

It seems that Leela tends not to have feelings for Fry when he is around. In the previous episode, the Leela who lost him looked back and said that her time with him was the best time in her life. But the Leela who has to put up with him day in and day out is usually not very interested. In "That Darn Katz!" Leela is seen sitting alone with Nibbler during a night out, lamenting she hasn't a man, while Fry parties on the dance floor with Bender.



In a sort of backhanded way, Leela hints at the onset of deeper feelings for Fry in "The Prisoner of Benda": she begins to torment him with her insecurities. At first she obsesses about her appearance, especially her eye. When Fry reassures her that she is "the most beautiful woman in the world", she changes direction, scolding him for shallowly being interested only in her looks. She gets really carried away with this idea, and eventually swaps her mind into Farnsworth's body to allow Fry to "prove" his love to her. For Fry, always wanting to prove his love to Leela in some grand and often ridiculous way, this is a golden opportunity. All he has to do to prove his love (and defend his honor) is pretend that he is turned on by Farnsworth's body while Leela occupies it. But he is a bit grumpy about her challenge, and wants revenge: he swaps his mind into Zoidberg's body and returns her challenge, forcing her to pretend that she is turned on by Zoidberg's body while Fry occupies it. They both finally find that they are indeed attracted to each other, even in hideous bodies, which leads to them having sex. Although this is the first time ever that Fry and Leela have had sex (the sex in "Anthology of Interest I" was fictional, a story told by the What-If Machine), their own bodies still have not been involved. So in a sense Fry and Leela have still not had sex.

It is notable that Fry, complaining to Hermes about his predicament, admits that while he obviously is not attracted to Farnsworth's body even if Leela's mind is in it, he is "willing to lie about it." This is a moment of growth for Fry, a step toward maturity. Although Leela doesn't hear him say this, she knows that Fry can't possibly be attracted to Farnsworth's body; when she sees his attempt to be attracted to it, she is seeing an increase in Fry's maturity, which is what she has wanted from him all along.

Fry follows his usual formula for Leela in "Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences": he wants her for reasons he probably doesn't understand, and childishly fantasizes about winning her heart by saving her from a space-monster villain. Although in the previous episode they were hot and heavy, by the end of this episode the best Leela can muster is an extended kiss on Fry's cheek. Nothing much changes in "The Mutants Are Revolting". Although Fry and Leela attend Mrs. Aster's gala together, it's business as usual for them. When Fry arrives in the sewer, the main thing on his mind is to impress Leela by sharing the suffering of the mutants. Although Leela is angered by his shallow notions of their suffering, she is ready to forgive fairly soon. Still attempting to impress her, Fry goes for the grand gesture again, by jumping into Lake Mutagenic. Leela is impressed, even to the point of wanting to kiss Fry, but not enough to overcome her aversion to Fry's grotesque body--she refuses to touch him. Later, celebrating the success of their social movement, Leela warms up enough to kiss the still-"mutated" Fry on the lips.

Many episodes go by with no mention at all of the relationship. Finally, in "Law & Oracle", when Leela comments that she loves a man in uniform, Fry tries to impress her by pointing out that he is wearing one: his Planet Express delivery boy costume. Naturally, she rebuffs him. When Fry leaves Planet Express to become a cop, neither one expresses any particular sadness. Leela seems surprised to realize that a long delivery would be less enjoyable without Fry. In "Benderama", the two are seen together a few times, but nothing happens between them. Another silent episode goes by, but "Ghost in the Machines" shines some light. Leela is in her usual mode concerning Fry. After Fry saves the life of another parade-goer, we see Leela among the crowd of people cheering him. So Leela seems still to consider Fry a friend. But she clearly has no romantic interest him. When Fry publicly announces that he has had sex with the Mayor's wife, Leela has nothing to say. She visits Fry in the hospital, but she doesn't go with him to the Amish home world. While Leela hasn't changed, it seems that Fry has: ever ready to proclaim his love for Leela, he says not a word about it when he leaves her behind, presumably forever.

It's business as usual in "Fry Am the Egg Man". Leela's not interested, as we see when she shows interest in Angus McZongo and calls Fry her "strictly platonic friend." Fry is still in love, as he is reminded when Mr. Peppy attacks Leela. When Fry announces in "All the Presidents' Heads" that he has a night job, Leela is completely taken by surprise. At a party at the Head Museum, she dances with Martin van Buren's head. Although she remains his close friend, as we see her tenderly congratulating him on having saved the earth in "Cold Warriors", her romantic inclinations toward Fry are nearing an apogee.

Leela demonstrates that she does at least sometimes think about their relationship. She talks to Fry openly about it in "Overclockwise", describing it as "on-again, off-again". She muses about the future they might have together and has the same concern she always has: his immaturity. He reminds her of it with his starry-eyed suggestion that he would always be happy if she were to love him. We see Leela reading a magazine article that illuminates the current state of their relationship: it is entitled "Is Your Dead-end Relationship in A Rut?" She finally decides to leave the defunct Planet Express to make a fresh start with her life, "breaking up with" Fry in doing so. Fry tries to argue, "But I thought we..." he can't finish his sentence, perhaps underscoring his immaturity one last time. Perhaps if he really knew what he wanted out of life, he would have said something like, "But I thought we would grow old together." Leela moves on with her life, but ultimately returns, clearly indicating that she returned primarily because of Fry. Bender has anticipated Leela's request for a description of their future; as Fry and Leela read it together, their faces indicate that Bender has predicted a happily-ever-after story.

Production Season 7
Several more episodes go by without touching on the relationship. By the time we reach "A Farewell to Arms", Leela has apparently come to terms with being in a relationship with Fry. Throughout the episode, Fry looks for ways to impress Leela and show her his love. She appreciates his solicitousness, but finds it unnecessary, and later downright dangerous to her. Early on, her reaction to his behavior is, "I appreciate your gallantry, but isn't this a bit much?" Later, she advances to "Your noble gestures keep making things worse," and "Fry, stop trying to do things for me!" And finally, after his favors continually result in inconvenience and injury, "Every time he says he loves me, I get killed!"

Although she is warming to the idea of Fry, as we can see when she proposes sex on the Planet Express balcony, she has no illusions about him, still seeing him as sweet but a doofus, as when she responds to his "lucky pants" comment with "Awww...Also, oh lord." Although Amy interrupts their attempt at sex, they do manage to share a rare kiss on the lips. Fry makes another gallant gesture by using his pass to Mars to create a fake pass for Leela, choosing himself to stay behind and die with the earth. Leela sheds a few tears for her loss after arriving on Mars, but of course cries out, "Fry, you noble idiot!" when she realizes that he has sent her to her death on Mars.

When the Earth is not destroyed, Fry and Bender sit around drinking; it's no surprise that Fry seems not to realize that Leela is still alive, that they could be reunited. When Mars passes close to Earth, Leela needs help to get back home. Fry runs to help, but Leela calls out, "Or somebody else could do it!" Fry tells Leela to take his hand, something he has been doing all episode, but Leela responds, "I don't know, bad things happen when you say that." It is Scruffy who actually ends up saving Leela, but only after Fry and Leela each lose an arm in Fry's rescue attempt. Fry apologizes to Leela, but her response is gratitude that he was willing to sacrifice himself for her, and although he failed miserably in his attempt to rescue her, that he is the only person who loves her enough to try. The episode closes with a view of their severed arms floating through space; symbolically, the arms are not separate, but holding hands, presumably for eternity.

The relationship again goes silent for a couple of episodes. In "Zapp Dingbat", Leela has no hesitation in sending Fry away to keep watch over her father. But when he convinces her that Munda's happiness matters more than Leela's scruples, she is finally seeing signs of the maturity she has always hoped for. When he suggests that he himself might be marriage material, Leela astounds both Fry and the audience with, "You're getting there," and a rare kiss on the cheek. In a rare moment of continuity, at the beginning of "The Butterjunk Effect" we see that the relationship has followed a real trajectory and taken a step forward: Fry and Leela dine with Kif and Amy. Leela describes the group as "Two happy couples on a double-date." It is likely that this is their first bona fide date, as we find later, when Fry approaches Leela in the gym with flowers and says nervously, "I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me again." When Leela first starts taking the stimulants, she loses interest in Fry. She finds him irresistible when he is covered with butterfly pheromone. But then, Amy also finds him irresistible too. The next morning, Leela refers to Fry as "my boyfriend." But still, this could be just the stimulants talking. After the stimulants have worn off and Fry emerges from the giant butterfly's body, Leela seems no happier than the others to find him back to normal.

Leela shows more signs of being invested in "Fun on a Bun". When Fry gets embarrassingly drunk at Oktoberfest, which by now has become a stately and refined affair, everyone but Leela abandons him. Leela stays a little longer to glare at him, perhaps contemplating her next move. She finally arrives at a decision and says that she is "breaking up with" him. Of course, Fry reacts in surprise at the idea that they were dating, but that is not any reflection on the state of the relationship; it is simply a reflection of Fry's lifelong cluelessness. At Fry's memorial service after his apparent death, Leela again refers to him as her "boyfriend", although in the context of having broken up with him. Both grief-stricken and guilt-ridden over Fry's death, Leela has all of her memories of Fry surgically disconnected from her conscious mind. But Leela's conscious mind is no match for her unconscious, which still cares about Fry: when she finds a chicken hat on the ship, and later, while staring at a pumpkin (about the same color as Fry's hair), she feels inexplicably sad. Fry, having lost all of his memory due to a blow to the head, has a similar experience while staring at a "prehistoric pig butt" with a purple tail. During their hand-to-hand battle, both Fry and Leela lose their head coverings, revealing their hair to each other and causing a spark of recognition in both of them. Even before they fully remember each other, they start making out. That's a first. Even after finally recognizing him, she continues making out with him; there is no sign of their previous breakup.

The bona fide relationship trajectory continues in the next two episodes. In "Free Will Hunting", Fry laments the loss of Bender while lying comfortably in bed with Leela. In "Near-Death Wish", Fry even neglects Leela a bit, as he rebuffs her advances due to his tunnel vision over Farnsworth's parents. There are a few more episodes that don't touch on their relationship, although the non-canonical "Naturama" throws a bone to diehard fans who really want the two together. Fry and Leela the salmon agree even as juveniles to mate when the times comes. They spend their time together as they mature. Tragically, as they return to their spawning grounds, they find that they came from different originating streams, and must separate. Fry eventually finds that he can't cope with the separation, and risks life and limb to be with her again. They die happily ever after. Later, Leela the elephant seal is interested only in the beachmaster, not even aware of Fry's existence.

The genuine arc of their relationship continues in "Fry and Leela's Big Fling". For reasons unexplained, they keep it a secret from their co-workers, but they are otherwise clearly dating happily. Leela seems to have adjusted to Fry's goofiness, enjoying the ambience that Fry has created for their rendevouz using items he found around the office, such as post-it notes and white-board markers. They even have progressed to the point that they go on a romantic and secluded vacation together. They have a lovers' quarrel when Leela's old boyfriend Sean shows up, but Leela remains committed to Fry. Still, there is some mystery left concerning their love. When introducing Fry and Sean, she says, "He and I are..." and then, "What would you say we are, Fry?"

In "Leela and the Genestalk", Leela undergoes squidification, but Fry still thinks she's Leela, "the woman [he loves]". At the end of the episode, they're holding hands on a street filled with plants.

In "Stench and Stenchibility", Leela is seen crying into Fry's shoulder after a little girl suffers a fatal heart attack.

In "Meanwhile", Fry and Leela got married for the second time, and this one sticks and they grow old together.

Trivia

 * The "" is their song.

Appearances

 * This list should include all episodes mentioned above.