'Futurama' Season 9, Episode 1 Recap - 'The Bots and the Bees'

Opening Credits Gag: "Not sure if new episode, or rerun of episode I watched drunk." Yes, that's right... "Futurama" incorporated its own meme into its opening credits. That may be the most meta it's ever been.

The Highlights: It's a Bender episode to kick off the season, and why not? He usually ends up giving us the most entertaining episodes, even if they're a little heavy on the looting.

This episode features another robot romance for Bender, this time with the new office vending machine, Bev (voiced by Wanda Sykes). As it turns out, robots are actually able to reproduce sexually, which the show explains through one of its signature educational tapes. So, of course, that means that Bender knocks up Bev, and they have themselves a little mini-Bender.

At first, Bender (being Bender) wants to ditch the kid, but Bev leaves first and sticks Bender with his son (whom he names Ben). The two bond over bending, but there's one problem: the kid can't bend and he doesn't have an extra card slot to get a bending card installed.

Ultimately, it comes down to removing Ben's memory in order to give him the ability to bend (and attend University of Bending Santa Cruz). That conveniently writes Ben off the show, since he now has no idea who Bender is.

The Heartstrings: Bender actually gets very attached to his new son, once he finds out how much he likes bending/is exactly like Bender in almost every way. We don't usually see Bender get emotional, but it happens here, and in a way that's actually moving, as the show tends to be sometimes. Plus, seeing a baby version of Bender looting is oddly adorable.

Notes & Quotes:

- Another fun side story that involves Fry drinking too much of something, only to have it benefit everyone in the end. You may remember the episode that had Fry drinking 100 cups of coffee, sending him into a caffeine nirvana that allowed him to save everyone from a fire. In this episode, he continually drank Slurm Loco (it's the most extremest Slurm out there) until he glowed a luminescent green, allowing him to guide the ship through a foggy night like Rudolph.

- "I hate to crush the kid's dreams, but why not?"

- Pretty epic opening.

- "I know, let's outrun it!"

- "Should we call Child Services?" "Nah, let's just get out of here."