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 to install an empathy chip. He ends up being upset about Nibbler, and starts an expedition to save Nibbler. This leads them through the sewers to 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, they have to take him to the vet to get a new tooth. The vet speculates that Nibbler may be 5 years old, so the crew throws 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. Everyone sees that Bender is completely incapable of understanding empathy, so the Professor equips him with an Empathy Chip that "allows" (i.e. forces) 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 mutants 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, 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 when he sees that it was actually running at three times normal 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.
 * Bender whistles the Harlem Globetrotters' theme song, "Sweet Georgia Brown," three times in this episode. He may be whistling this song in particular because he says in the later episode "Time Keeps on Slippin'" that he dreams of being a Harlem Globetrotter.
 * The crew sings an edited version of "" at Nibbler's party. This is because the actual song is copyrighted and the studio would have had to pay to use it.
 * This is the first appearance of Leela's parents (background)
 * Turanga Morris's mouth is normal rather than sideways.
 * Turanga Munda has arms instead of tentacles in this appearance.

Goofs
When Fry is released from the trap, there is an off-screen splash into the mutant pond, yet there is no mention of any danger of mutation.
 * 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 those humans design this for anyway?"
 * It is said that mutants are a myth in this episode, yet in "I, Roommate" Bender says, "or we could live underground with the mutants, a little fire'll show 'em who's boss."
 * Amy and Zoidberg thoroughly believed in mutants, so it's possible some people believe in mutants, and some don't.

Characters

 * Amy
 * Debut: 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