Leela and the Genestalk

Did You Know?

• Alasdair Wilkins at The A.V. Club gave this episode a B−.
• Max Nicholson of IGN gave the episode a 7.7/10 'Good' rating.
• Sean Gandert wrote for Paste that this was a 'fun, surprising episode' even though it wasn't as funny as most episodes.

Plot

Leela starts growing suction cups while riding a mechanical buggalo at Tex 1138's. Dr. Tenderman tells her she has a genetic condition called squidification, which will slowly turn her limbs into a slithering mass of tentacles. There is no cure, and the only option is a very expensive surgery that can only delay the symptoms for a few months. The crew sends Fry to sell the company ship to pay for the operation. At the market, a con artist trades the ship for two gigantic, magic beans, claiming they are a miracle cure for Leela. When Fry returns, Farnsworth gets so angry he knocks the beans out of Fry's hands, sending them out the window. The beans land on fertile soil near a leaking pipe, quickly growing into a beanstalk that reaches the clouds. Leela, wanting to avoid burdening her friends, decides to cut off contact and live in the sewer. But when she opens the manhole, she sees the beanstalk and chooses to climb it instead. At the top, she finds a flying castle grounds with colorful flying fish and a unicorn that eats them. Mom's three sons capture her and take her to Mom, who explains the castle is her genetic engineering facility. Mom claims she creates giant beanstalks to feed the hungry, but Leela considers these experiments crimes. After the crew realizes Leela is missing, Fry and Bender fly to Mom's facility to rescue her. They find Leela in the lab, where her entire body has become the predicted mass of tentacles. While trying to escape, they encounter a giant strapped to an operating table with medical machinery. Leela frees the giant, thinking he is a victim of Mom's experiments. The giant chases them until they flee down the drain of his bathroom sink. The drain carries them back to the facility's bridge, where Leela confronts Mom. To stop the experiments, Leela makes the facility fly out of control. As it nears the ground, it passes close to the Planet Express headquarters, and Fry, Leela, and Bender jump to safety.

Cultural references

As Leela scales the tower's tentacle mass, a Batman-style Batclimb parody appears: Adam West's head in a jar sits on a giant bat, and Burt Ward's head in a jar rides a robot body, both part of Mom's experiments. Inside the tower, Bender finds Finn and Jake chained up; Jake and Bender share the same voice actor, John DiMaggio. When Leela first confronts Mom, she declares, "I am not an animal! I am a mutant being!" echoing a famous line from The Elephant Man.