'Futurama' Season 9, Episode 6 Recap - 'The Butterjunk Effect'

Opening Credits Gag: Purveyors of Entertainment to Her Majesty the Space Queen. Fancy!

The Highlights: Let's see... which two characters have we not fully examined the relationship between yet? How about Leela and Amy?

Yes, this episode follows Planet Express' only two female employees (if you don't count the mop bucket) as they embark on a journey of friendship through beating the crap out of other women. It all starts with a delivery to the moon, where the gang takes in a bout of the Butterfly Derby.

It's about what you (and Leela) would expect: two teams of two women in butterfly wings beating the crap out of each other. Leela and Amy end up volunteering for an amateur match, and get creamed despite a spirited effort.

Just like Bender got approached for ultimate robot fighting, Leela and Amy get offered a full-time gig competing in Derby matches... and they lose every single one. Things take a turn, though, when they discover that other contestants are juicing with Nectar.

Ah, yes, just in time for the Olympics, we have a storyline about steroid use. This particular chemical is found on Kif's home planet, it makes Leela and Amy hugely muscular and also very aggressive, and it also helps them to win matches.

That's where things take a strange turn. When their supply runs out, they travel to Kif's homeworld to find more, and Fry gets sprayed by a giant male butterfly. The scent attracts both Leela and Amy because of their Nectar dependency, so Fry gets macked on by both ladies.

After a time, the girls decide to quit the habit cold turkey, and do so with success... only to find that they forgot about their big match against the Murderflies. They get there and almost get thrown into a pit of lava (HOT lava) when Fry, who has metamorphosed into a butterfly, distracts their opponents.

The Heartstrings: There wasn't much this week. Obviously it was a coupley episode with stuff between Leela and Fry and Amy and Kif, but ultimately there weren't any sweet moments. Just very strange ones. Really, a very strange episode overall, and probably the weakest one of the season thus far. But hey, Leela and Amy bonded. And Fry turned out fine and not a butterfly, so everybody wins.

Notes & Quotes:

- "We've got to get these moon rocks to the moon by moondown!"

- "You can work and be lazy at the same time! It's like being a voice actor!"

- "She doesn't even want to cuddle anymore. She just wants to hit me with various chairs."

- "But McGruff the Crime Dog says... ohhhhhhhhh."

- The name of the arena is the Monsanto Yokel Dome. Pretty good.