This Episode Worth 250 Futurama Points
After an inspection, Hermes decides that the most inefficient employee is... himself, for spending too much time inspecting his idiotic co-workers instead of getting real work done. An encounter with psychotic robot Roberto inspires him to improve his efficiency by having robotic parts implanted. However, it doesn't take long for him to go too far...
This episode has examples of:
- Angrish: Bender is reduced to gibbering upon Fry complimenting Hermes' new shiny metal ass.
- Back-Alley Doctor: Hermes visits a clinic accessed by, of course, a back alley.
- Blazing Inferno Hellfire Sauce: LaBarbara's curried goat is so spicy that a spilled drop eats its way through the floor of Judge Whitey's apartment, Sal the Surly Delivery Man's stomach, and to Robot Hell, scalding the Robot Devil. Hermes, however, thought it needed more hot sauce after a taste. And apparently a lifetime of his wife's cooking has made his skin so spicy that when Roberto eats a peeling, he melts.
- Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: Scruffy's job, according to him, involves dealing with boilers, toilets, and a boiling toilet."Toilets 'n' boilers. Boilers 'n' toilets. Plus that one boiling toilet."
- Chekhov's Gun: Hermes' discarded body parts, collected by Zoidberg to slowly reassemble him as he continues to upgrade his robot body. It not only allows him to complete the brain swap surgery at the cyborg Hermes' request by substituting his fingers for his claws; more importantly it allows him to restore Hermes to human form by putting his brain back in his original body.
- Chekhov's Skill: Hermes' extreme tolerance to spicy food ends up saving the crew from Roberto.
- Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: The crux of the plot.
- Did You Think I Can't Feel?: Zoidberg really lays into Hermes for the way he treats him. However, he thinks that he and Hermes are Vitriolic Best Buds, so whether or not he means it is unclear.
- Even Evil Has Standards: The cyberdoc will implant anything except a robot brain.
- False Teeth Tomfoolery: Farnsworth loses his dentures while eating pureed clams over the sink. After Bender pulls them out before dropping them back down, Hermes gets an extendable arm to retrieve the false teeth, resulting in Farnsworth humorously thanking Hermes after his dentures are put in sideways.
- Full-Conversion Cyborg: Hermes replaces pieces of his body with cybernetics until he's reduced to an organic brain (and dreadlocks) in a hulking mecha-Hermes. Then he decides to replace his brain with a robot CPU as well... Deconstructed. As the source of consciousness, once Hermes brain is removed and the robot's brain put in, the robot officially becomes a different person than Hermes. This is highlighted by the fact that the robot brain was not a copy of Hermes.
- Grave Humor: "Here Lies Roberto: Beloved Killer and Maniac"
- Heel Realization: Hermes has one of these after Zoidberg puts his brain back in his original body; it allows him to realize how far he gave up his humanity to chase perfectionism as a robot.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Hermes sets up a performance review to determine which of the Planet Express crew will be fired as the company's least productive worker... and concludes from his evaluation that he is the biggest drain on their resources for the time he spends conducting performance reviews.
- Ignore the Fanservice: Leela and Amy showering together. Leela pleads with Fry to rub her new scented body oil on Amy and herself, but Fry is too busy trying to eavesdrop on a conversation between Hermes and Bender.
- Intimate Lotion Application: Subverted and Played for Laughs. While in the locker rooms, Leela and Amy ask for Fry's assistance in rubbing scented body oil on their naked bodies, but he's too busy eavesdropping on Hermes and Bender to pay attention to what they're offering.
- Major Injury Underreaction: Sal the Surly Delivery Man's reaction to having a drop of curried goat burn through his stomach is a simple "Ows!"
- Mythology Gag: Roberto's grave gives his year of birth/creation as 3001. His debut episode aired in 2001.
- Nice Guy: Zoidberg, throughout the entire episode. From the start he tries to talk Hermes out of getting more implants, and winds up saving the day and bringing back the real Hermes.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Deconstructed with Hermes. He spends so much time doing needless paperwork and reviews that he realizes he is the single worst employee when it comes to work vs pay.
- One-Winged Angel: Roberto, now plugged into Hermes' super upgraded robot body, is bigger and more powerful than ever.
- Or Are You Just Happy to See Me?: When Hermes comes home with his first new body modification, LaBarbara exclaims, "Is that a harpoon in your chest?!" Hermes simply responds with, "Yes, and I'm happy to see you!"
- Pregnancy Scare: Exploited by LaBarbara, Hermes's wife—when Hermes is depressed over getting fired, LaBarbara tells him that she's pregnant and that Hermes isn't the father. After initially panicking, LaBarbara assures Hermes that she's not really pregnant and only said so to help him realize that losing his job isn't so bad when compared to an unexpected pregnancy.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Disguised as a playful zinger. Zoidberg gives Hermes both barrels at the end of the episode, telling him he doesn't deserve LaBarbara, or his friendship.
- Shower Scene: Leena and Amy are seen showering in the locker room, their bodies covered by Censor Steam, as they try to get Fry to come inside and rub scented oil on them.
- Smart Ball: Zoidberg, normally a prime example of Comically Inept Healing, reassembles Hermes’ body perfectly (aside from not reattaching his nerves).
- Theseus' Ship Paradox: By the climax of the episode, Hermes has replaced all of his body parts one by one, until he's a human brain in a robot body. Then he replaces his brain with a robot one, at which point Zoidberg takes his human brain and adds it to his old body, now reassembled. However, the full robot identifies as its own person, with the personality of the donor brain.
- Ultimate Job Security: Scruffy boasts "Fire me iffen you dare" after explaining that he maintains the boilers, toilets, and that one boiling toilet.
- Undying Loyalty: Zoidberg, to Hermes. Despite the latter hating him, Zoidberg goes out of his way to save Hermes' body parts and ultimately restores him back to normal.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Zoidberg takes Hermes' insults as a sign of their friendship (it's entirely one-sided). When Cyber-Hermes blows him off, that's when Zoidberg realizes that something's wrong.
- We Want Our Jerk Back!: Zoidberg prefers the human Hermes (who repeatedly insulted him) over Cyber-Hermes (who sees no point in doing so), as he saw his insults as a sign of their friendship.
- Wham Shot: After the crew digs up a robot brain from the graveyard, the wind blows the foliage over the headstone away — and it's Roberto's grave.
