I never wrote this in my full review of the 11th Futurama season, but that reboot ended with one of the absolute best Futurama episodes in living memory. "All the Way Down" was classic old-school Futurama, which was as thought-provoking as it was poignant. After so many misses, with the COVID-themed episode "Rage Against the Vaccine" remaining one of the worst Futurama episodes in history, it felt like the Planet Express crew had finally steered the ship back home.
Now that Season 12 has landed, however, we're back to that nervous introductory stage from the 11th season. The flow, spark and intelligence from the show isn't quite where it should be, as it usually is. There's something about the storytelling and dialogue that feels uneven and unplanned. Futurama usually makes me double-over with laughter, but now I'm more used to light giggles and supressed grins. It feels trapped in the 2020s and not pushing the craziness of the 3000s to its potential. This reimagined Futurama sometimes glows with genuine signs of life, sometimes it twitches a little in that unsettling post-mortem way, but more often than not it struggles.
It does get progressively better, though, just as was the case with the 11th season. It's getting a little snappier, a little funnier, a little more confident in the long run. After 12 seasons, it's still admirable that these characters of the future still enchant with their stubbornness and stupidity, even if their dynamic isn't as compelling as it once was. Bender and Professor Farnsworth (and his daft inventions) still carry the show for me, while characters like Leela and Fry mostly take a back seat. This time around, the show's creators explore the needlessly convoluted nature of the NFT, jealous chatbots, and aliens who like to torture humans with Squid Game-like death games. There are some laughs, although you're not really surprised as much anymore by the stories, as most of what is told here feels pretty expected and predictable.
We'll see what happens after the sixth episode's big cliff-hanger, which marked the end of my preview. There are 10 episodes in total in Season 12 and there's still all the potential in the world to end even this season with a bang. Dare I hope for a new "All the Way Down"? If the writers push themselves to be a little more creative with their sci-fi concepts and dare to challenge with their humour, Futurama could very well continue to be one of the monumental highlights of the animated comedy genre. For now, it's too safe, hence my rating of a 6, but I'll wait to see what the rest of the season has to offer before giving a full analysis on Season 12.