Recap / Futurama S 4 E 5 A Taste Of Freedom

Or is it?

It's Freedom Day, the day when everyone on Earth celebrates their freedom by doing whatever they feel like. (Like how Bender does every day.) However, Zoidberg goes a little too far and eats Earth's flag, becoming the most hated being on the planet!

Tropes

• Abusive Parent: Zoidberg's mother figure, (not his actual mother considering how Decapodian mating works) browbeats him into giving up his dreams of being a comedian in favor of becoming a doctor. And then she berates him for giving up on his dreams of being a comedian when he goes off to medical school.
• Actually Pretty Funny: Bender notes that court can be this when it's not his ass on the line.
• Affably Evil: The Pain Monster, a large, clawed monster of some kind, who people who don't pay their taxes have to spend time with, is a pretty cheerful sounding beastie, who looks forward to seeing his victims after April 15th.
• Ambiguously Jewish: Every Decapodian we see acts like this.
• An Arm and a Leg: Old Man Waterfall is missing a hand and a leg as a result of injuries sustained during his military career. He's also missing his intestines and skin.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: With the Mobile Oppression Palace, a few dignitaries can enslave a planet for pennies a day! Just to prove Moivin's point, it cuts to several Decapodian dignitaries chuckling evilly and sipping martinis.
• Big Brother Is Watching: Nixon mentions that sex-monitoring chips are implanted in peoples' hands. But they have the freedom to choose which hand.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Old Man Waterfall's Straw Feminist great-granddaughter who comes to his aid after he's crushed will have quite a big role later.
• Child Soldiers: Linda mentions that the Freedom Day parade has men, women and children in uniform.
• Comically Missing the Point: When the Mobile Oppression Palace crushes Old Man Waterfall, Zoidberg points it out in horror, but Ambassador Moivin thinks he's making an Evil Lawyer Joke and says, "you're welcome".
• Continuity Nod:
  • The Neutral Planet embassy appears. Fittingly, it's a dull grey block.
  • As does the Harlem Globetrotters' embassy. Two of its staff are practicing outside.
  • Zoidberg mentions "2 of my 3 hearts are having attacks!" in court. He had four, but one was removed during the crew's trip to Roswell.
  • Bender eats nachos during Zoidberg's trial. In "Anthology of Interest II", Bender became addicted to nachos after becoming human.
• Cool Old Guy: Old Man Waterfall, a veteran of three dozen wars and an experienced lawyer. He's also a Satanist and a bisexual polygamist, neither of which endear him to the citizens of Earth.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: The crowd boos Old Man Waterfall having a husband just as hard as they boo him for being polygamous and a Satanist. Apparently, being a non-straight satanic polygamist is frowned upon in the future.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?:
  • The Clinton and Washington Monuments. The Clinton one is much larger than Washington's. Word of God is that this is a deliberate one.
  • Also, the Clinton Monument gets its tip cut off by the Decapodians (who are Ambiguously Jewish) during their invasion.
• Easily Thwarted Alien Invasion: Subverted: the Decapodians conquer Earth easily, but after their invasion fleet is dismissed in favor of the Mobile Oppression Palace, Earth regains its freedom when the MOP is destroyed.
• Evil Lawyer Joke: For all his faults, Old Man Waterfall genuinely defended Zoidberg when no one else would, but we still get this exchange after he and his spirit get crushed.
  Zoidberg: [horrified] Ambassador Moivin, you killed my lawyer!
  Moivin: You're welcome!
• Exact Words: In the 31st century, people are free not to pay their taxes... but if they don't, they have to spend a weekend with the Pain Monster.
  Pain Monster: See you April 15th!
• Fanservice: Naked Amy, Naked Leela and a nude hot tub. As Fry so aptly puts it, that's all he needs to know about Freedom Day.
• Here We Go Again!: At the end of the episode, Zoidberg wonders what the Shroud of Turin tastes like...
• Hugh Mann: The Trope Namer infiltrates the Nimbus. Zapp Brannigan, of course, fails to see through the ruse.
• Hypocritical Humor: A man spray-painting "Earth Sux" on a mailbox immediately and angrily recognizes Zoidberg as the guy who desecrated the Earthican flag.
• Insult Backfire: Zoidberg telling the crew about the trials of his home planet and how he was never allowed to pursue his dreams since everyone cared too much and how he feels free on Earth since nobody cares enough to meddle. Fry shouts how they aren't listening to him talk and he uses this as an example of his point.
• Kick the Morality Pet: The thing that pushes Zoidberg to betray the Decapodians is them crushing Old Man Waterfall and saying "you're welcome".
• Laser-Guided Karma: The citizens of Earth (with the exception of the protagonists and Zoidberg's lawyer) all turn on and wish Zoidberg death just for eating a flag (one that can be easily replaced, as the ending shows) even though, within the rules of Freedom Day, he really shouldn't have received any punishment. In turn, the Decapodian ambassador summons a fleet that conquers Earth in no time at all and enslaves its citizens, revoking the freedom they thought they could give and take at will.
• Monumental Damage: The Clinton Monument (located adjacent to the Washington Monument) gets its tip cut off by the Decapodian invasion fleet.
• Noodle Incident:
  • Old Man Waterfall mentions that he's a veteran of three dozen wars, one of which involved taking back Halley's Comet.
  • The Decapodians squishing the Squash Men of the Squash Planet. Exactly why they fought goes unsaid.
• Nothing Is Scarier:
  • Whatever it is that's under Morbo's shirt is enough for the normally unflappable Linda to scream in horror.
  • What it is the Pain Monster does to people who choose not to pay their taxes.
• Ow, My Body Part!: A less physical example:
  Old Man Waterfall: Do your worst, you sea-devils! I'll make my stand with Ol' Freebie! You can crush me, but you can't crush my spirit! [Gets crushed] AGGGH! My spirit!
• Polyamory: Old Man Waterfall has seven wives and one husband and is proud to be a polygamist.
• Product Placement: In-universe, Nixon's Freedom Day speech is littered with it, such as Shankman's Rubbing Compound and Charleston Chew candy (which is a real candy).
• Running Gag: Old Man Waterfall being increasingly booed by people.
• Shout-Out:
  • While running from the angry mob, Zoidberg passes by a Klingon Embassy. And yet it's bright pink and frilly (the reason for this is because it was originally going to be the Barbie Dreamhouse Embassy, but Mattel didn't want them to use the reference).
  • A subverted one to Independence Day, when Leela declares "today is the day we fight back", only for Bender to inform her it's almost midnight. She amends her statement to "tomorrow is the day we fight back".
• Silence in the Library: During the invasion, Fry, Leela and Bender all run inside the Library of Congress loudly panicking; after someone inside shushes them, they switch to quietly panicking.
• Skewed Priorities: Zoidberg complains about the lack of marshmallows at the embassy.
• Take That!: President Nixon knows a place where the Earth Constitution "doesn't mean squat" - the Supreme Court.
• Tempting Fate:
  • Zoidberg in court after he refuses to make a public apology.
    Zoidberg: Do your worst, because no punishment could be worse than denying me my freedom!
    Chief Justice Myrtle Fu: You are hereby sentenced to death.
  • Old Man Waterfall's defiant statement about never crushing his spirit.
• They Killed Kenny Again: Old Man Waterfall gets crushed by the Mobile Oppression Palace. His great-granddaughter Frida appears briefly to mourn his death, continuing the tradition of the Waterfall family.
• Unknown Rival: When Fry brags to Ambassador Moivin that he didn't expect them to come up with a plan to free the Earth, the latter comments that he doesn't even know who the former is.
• Vocal Dissonance: The Pain Monster sounds surprisingly human. And good-natured.
• We Will Use Manual Labor in the Future: After they take over Earth, the Decapodians put everyone to work globbing mud to build the Mobile Oppression Palace. Probably justified by the whole oppression aspect.
• White Sheep: Old Man Waterfall is one of the comparatively saner members of his family, being a military veteran and reasonably skilled lawyer, in addition to being generally less obnoxious than the relatives we'd seen previously. Granted, he does happen to be a Satan-worshipping polygamist, but even then, it's something he only mentions in passing.

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