Not The Episode With The Dead Dog
The second-to-last episode of Season 7 of Futurama.
After being rejected by women for his horrible stink, Dr. Zoidberg may have found the love of his life in Marianne, a flower vendor born with no sense of smell, but will he risk it all by giving her an operation that will allow her to smell? Meanwhile, Bender enters a tap-dancing contest and finds the competition tougher than he expected.
Tropes
- Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad: Because Marianne only recently acquired a sense of smell, she never learned what "good" smells and "bad" smells were—while she gets her wish to be able to smell flowers (like the ones she sells), she finds the smell revolting while loving Zoidberg's smell. She quits her job as a florist and becomes a waste disposal worker.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- After getting a sense of smell, Marianne initially looks disgusted at Zoidberg's stench... only it turns out she actually hated how the flowers smelt and loves Zoidberg's smell after all.
- Once Marianne quits her job as a florist to become a waste disposal worker, she tells Zoidberg she's going to have to dump him... by which she means she's taking him with her to the dump.
- Beast and Beauty: Zoidberg and Marianne.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Tanya is every bit as much of a monster as Bender.
- Blind and the Beast: A variation—there's nothing wrong with Marianne's eyesight (she can see Zoidberg and everything else just fine), but she was born without a sense of smell, so she's not repelled by Zoidberg's horrendous stench like everyone else is. And even after gaining the ability to smell when she has a nose transplant done, she ends up loving Zoidberg's scent while being revolted by the smell of things like flowers.
- Boob-Based Gag: Dr. Cahill when she lifts her breasts with the defibrillator ("I'm a doctor, and yes. They're real. Clear!").
- Continuity Nod: The Professor calls Fry "Orange Joe", which he told the Professor was his name in "Fun on a Bun".
- A Day in the Limelight: For Zoidberg and Bender, similar to "That's Lobstertainment!".
- Duels Decide Everything: The tap-dancing contest ends with a dance-off between Bender and Tanya.
- Fanservice: Amy in a Naughty Nurse Outfit. Complete with ass cleavage.
- Horrifying the Horror: Even Roberto is mortified by Zoidberg's stench.Roberto: [on Zoidberg's smell] What is that, mustard gas?! That ain't legal. Ain't you heard of no Geneva convention?!
- Innocent Flower Girl: Marianne.
- Interspecies Romance: Zoidberg (an alien lobster man) and Marianne (a human woman).
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Zoidberg could have forgone telling Marianne about the nose transplant, leaving her unable to smell anything, including his horrendous stench. In fact, he is urged to do so by his friends and coworkers. Ultimately, Zoidberg tells her about it and performs the operation himself, even if it means that she will leave him. She doesn't.
- Naughty Nurse Outfit: Amy's nurse's outfit. Completely backless and with ass cleavage.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Bender brings Tanya back to life by tap-dancing on her corpse.
- Noodle Incident: Referring to his stench, Zoidberg comments that most women can’t stand next to him without falling down. Marianne asks what was wrong with those women, and Zoidberg comments offhandedly that some of them didn’t have legs.
- The Noseless: Zoidberg's love interest Marianne, who has no sense of smell.
- Pass the Popcorn: Bender eats a hot dog as Tanya has a heart attack.
- Serious Business: Bender is willing to play dirty just to win an incredibly small-scale tap-dancing contest with absolutely no prize money involved; Tanya, his main competition, has the exact same outlook.
- Shout-Out: The "Band-Apes" sticker is referred to as a "medicinal wacky pack".
- Special Guest: Emilia Clarke voices Marianne, alongside Tara Strong as Tanya.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Zoidberg finally finds someone who loves him for who he is.
- Unexplained Recovery: Roberto comes back to life, despite being killed off in "The Six Million Dollar Mon". Although, as explained in "Lethal Inspection", since each robot has a wireless backup unit except for Bender, it makes sense for Roberto to come back.
- Villainous Friendship: Tanya and Bender end up becoming partners in crime.
- Whole-Plot Reference: To City Lights for the A-story, and the Tonya Harding incident for the B-story.
- Would Hurt a Child: Bender's plan to make Tanya lose involved sneaking rusty tacks in her shoes to make her bleed, kidnapping her parents and forcing them to watch Bender cut her hair off with hedge clippers.
