Parasites Lost

"Parasites Lost" is the thirty-fourth episode of Futurama, the second of the third production season and the fourth of the third broadcast season. It aired 21 January, 2001 on FOX. After obtaining worms from a truck stop sandwich, Fry finally obtains the affection of Leela, but he is concerned whether she loves him or what the worms have made of him.

Act I: "She's got more meat than a cow!"
The Planet Express Ship pulls over for a fuel stop. Lighting his cigar while refuelling on ethanol and tonic, Bender blows himself up. In the men's room, Fry buys an egg-salad sandwich. While eating the sandwich, Fry makes several comments about how terrible it tastes, ("It's like there's a party in my mouth and everyone is throwing up"), but also says that he has had worse. While Fry finishes his sandwich, Leela starts to clean the windshield of the Planet Express Ship, removing, among other things, the Voyager Probe. Several truckers (including Sal) make derogatory, sexist comments toward Leela as she cleans the ship, and Fry attempts to defend her, but only ends up insulting her further.

Back at the Planet Express building Fry despairs over being unable to please Leela. This despair is interrupted when he and Bender go to fix the plasma-fusion boiler, which Scruffy is unable to fix due to a "schedule conflict". However, since they are unqualified to make such repairs, the boiler explodes, lodging a lead pipe in Fry's abdomen. During an examination from Dr. Zoidberg, who claims that it is normal for your lead pipe to hurt, the pipe is cut in half mysteriously, and the holes in Fry's abdomen seal themselves.

Dr. Zoidberg gives Fry a more thorough examination, which the rest of the crew watches behind a 2-way mirror and on a video screen, while eating popcorn. Hermes eats his popcorn using a Jai Alai scoop, because Fry has been eating all the silverware. During Fry's colonoscopy, it is revealed that there is a colony of parasitic worms living in Fry's bowels, within a city made of the silverware Fry ate. The Professor reveals that the only way to get rid of the parasites is to enter Fry using a microscopic version of the Planet Express Ship. After learning of their journey, Bender calls shotgun, to the disappointment of Dr. Zoidberg.

Act II: "Nobody make a smell!"
The Professor creates micro-droids for each crew member, which, apparently, are cheaper than shrinking them. The micro-droids are controlled via net suits.

The Professor lays out the plan, which involves entering through Fry's ear, and travelling through his systems until they reach the pelvic splanchnic ganglion. Irritation of the ganglion will expel the parasites, among other things, from Fry. The force of the expulsion, according to the Professor, will make Fry lucky to still have his bones afterwards. Fry cannot be warned of the plan, however, as the worms know everything he knows. Leela distracts Fry long enough to launch the miniature Planet Express ship into his ear. In order to keep him distracted, Leela proposes taking a walk.

The Planet Express Crew discovers that the worms are actually giving Fry a mental and physical upgrade making him smarter, stronger, and more coordinated. As they were navigating through the nasal passage, Fry sniffed a rose, which he gave to Leela. This bombarded the Planet Express Ship with pollen, prompting Zoidberg to suggest they escape through a nasal capillary. This surprises everyone, as it's the first time he's expressed any correct knowledge of human anatomy. He reveals, however, that he learned it from a decongestant commercial.

The nasal capillary takes the crew into the heart, or "love muscle", as the Professor calls it. Dr. Zoidberg's usual lack of knowledge of human anatomy returns as he mentions that the heart is where food is digested. The crew will be safe as long as nothing causes Fry's heart to beat faster, according to the Professor. Unbeknown to the crew, Fry is stepping into a puddle to help Leela avoid getting her feet wet. Upon taking his hand, his heart starts to beat faster, causing Bender to panic. Professor Farnsworth sets a course for a cholesterol-encrusted valve, in an attempt to avoid certain doom.

After leaving the heart, the ship passes a group of worms jazzercising Fry's muscles, making him as strong and flexible as Gumbercules. Outside of Fry's body, while on their walk, Leela sees Sal, and suggests they cross the street and blend in with a group of pimps. Fry confronts Sal, demanding an apology. Leela protests, saying that he is "bulging with what could be muscles." Fry tears off his shirt, revealing his newfound strength, which interests Leela. After a short confrontation, being disarmed and defeated, Sal apologizes to Leela.

Act III: "Worms to battle stations!"
The Planet Express Ship sets off a proximity alarm as they neared the stomach, and several worm sentry ships converge and open fire on the Planet Express Ship. After taking a couple hits from the worm fighters, Bender tries to abandon ship through the emergency exit (for the third time), but is restrained by Hermes and Zoidberg. Ahead, the entrance to the stomach is starting to close, and barely make it through, thanks to the help of the worm fighters. They arrive in the bowel and begin an assault on the worm city.

At a coffee-shop across the street from Planet Express, Fry finally shares his feelings with Leela, which he was previously not able to articulate. Leela realizes that the worms may have something to do with the new Fry, and runs off to the Planet Express building.

Just before reaching the ganglion, Zoidberg enters the room, revealing that, although Fry was sterilized by the professor's F-Ray (1ACV13), the worms were able to repair the damage. Leela scans herself to create a micro-droid for herself, and enters Fry by shooting herself into his cup of coffee. Before the others can stimulate the ganglion, Leela arrives and destroys her micro-droid co-workers with a fire axe.

Act IV: "Obviously, you've never been in love!"
After destroying the microscopic versions of the crew, Leela takes off her net-suit and tells the Professor that Fry might be better off with the worms. Fry enters the room and demands an explanation.

After receiving his explanation, Fry says that the worms are the best parasites he's ever had. Later, Leela takes Fry to her apartment, where pulls out a holophonor, one of the most difficult instruments in the universe. He plays, and the hologram shows Fry and Leela in a variety of forms, dancing across the universe. Without saying a word, Leela takes Fry into the bedroom, where says she loves what Fry has become. Fry realizes she may not love him for who he truly is, but instead, for what the worms have made him into. He returns to the Planet Express building and makes a micro-droid of himself, which he drops into the back of his pants.

Inside his own bowel, Fry confronts the Lord Mayor of Col&oacute;n. Fry explains his situation and asks the worms to leave, but the Lord Mayor refuses, citing that he came in on the sandwich and raised a cloud of spores in Fry's bowel. Fry and the Lord Mayor engage in a sword fight, which takes them to Fry's brain. Fry threatens to injure himself to evict the worms. They call his bluff, but he cuts several connections within his brain, including the hand-eye coordination lobe. The Lord Mayor explains that he has only damaged his brain to the extent of a week of binge drinking or 5 minutes of cell phone use. He reaches the medulla oblongata, and threatens to kill himself if they do not leave. After a brief standoff, the worms agree to leave, but give him a promise that they will find their way back--"Ever wonder what makes special sauce so special? Yo."

Act V: "I'm still seduced from before."
Fry returns to Leela's apartment. He asks to play the holophonor, but Leela protests, saying that she was still seduced from earlier. He insists and starts playing, creating a Frankenstein-like monster. Leela asks what it was supposed to mean, to which Fry responds 'I don't know. I got nervous and started thinking about neck bolts." Leela realizes he's become an idiot again.  Fry asks for a chance to prove that it was him, not the worms that made her love him.  Fry pulls out a baggie of massage oil and offers to give her the massage he used to give Amy.  Leela, covering herself, shoves the holophonor in his face and tells him to leave.

Later that night, Fry begins his first lesson on the holophonor, creating a rudimentary hologram of Leela.

Trivia

 * The episode's title is a play on words from the epic poem  by.
 * Opening scene is shown to be on Historic Route 66 (expressed mathmatically).
 * Fuel available at Greasy Sue's Greasy Truck Stop is Light Matter, Dark Matter, Wassa Matter, Ethanol and Ethanol & Tonic.
 * Sign in men's room reads "All Employees Must Wipe Hands on Pants".
 * Leela's apartment is a spoof of the old commercials, which featured a similar setting.
 * These areas of Fry's body are listed on the elevator:
 * Brain.
 * Lungs.
 * Liver.
 * Ball Room.
 * Directly after Fry defeats the worms and they are leaving his brain, he can be seen performing a fairly common fencing salute.
 * This episode is named #4 on IGN's list of Top 25 Futurama Episodes.
 * This episode was named #5 on TV.com's list of Top 10 Futurama Episodes.

Goofs

 * When Fry first walks into Leela's apartment, its walls are white, though when Fry walks out the walls are yellow.
 * When Fry and Leela are dancing at the beginning of the first holophonor visualisation, the rotating planet behind them clearly loops through its animation.
 * Fry mentions that Leela has "more meat than a cow." However, according to "A Fishful of Dollars", cows are extinct. So Sal probably wouldn't understand what Fry is talking about.
 * Not necessarily a goof but rather proof that Fry hasn't adjusted fully to the 31st century.
 * The Planet Express ship seems to be able to work in the fluids of Fry's body. But in "The Deep South", the ship doesn't work under water.
 * Not actually the Planet Express ship, but rather a microscopic version of it, just as the characters are all microscopic robot versions of them.
 * The professor said the worms know everything Fry knows, however they do not know who he was when he entered his body nor did they know he was gonna hurt his own brain.
 * It's unlikely though that he meant all the worms would immediately know everything Fry did. Rather, it may just be that the worm community would have access to all of Fry's knowledge, but that doesn't imply that they'd all know what he looked like or what he was thinking (any more than having access to medical text books makes us all doctors).

Continuity

 * Fry was sterilized by the F-Ray, but the worms apparently fixed his sperm problems.
 * Fry mentions his massage he gave to Amy when he was going out with her.
 * Fry plays the holophonor again with the help of another outside force.
 * Fry mentions his massage he gave to Amy when he was going out with her.
 * Fry plays the holophonor again with the help of another outside force.
 * Fry plays the holophonor again with the help of another outside force.

Alien Language Sightings
Time: 00:32 Location: Truck Language: AL1 Translation: HUMAN MILK

Time: 09:48 Location: Construction site Language: AL1 Translation: WATCH FOR FALLING HUMANS

Characters

 * Amy
 * Bender
 * Hermes
 * Leela
 * Fry
 * Professor Farnsworth
 * Sal
 * Debut: Hoschel
 * Zoidberg
 * Scruffy

Episode Credits

 * Writer
 * Eric Kaplan
 * Director
 * Peter Avanzino
 * Voice Actors
 * Billy West
 * Katey Sagal
 * John DiMaggio
 * Phil LaMarr
 * DVD Commentary
 * Peter Avanzino
 * Rich Moore
 * Eric Kaplan
 * David X. Cohen
 * Scott Vanzo
 * Matt Groening