Leela and the Genestalk

Plot

While riding a mechanical buggalo at Tex 1138's, Leela finds that she is breaking out in suction cups. Dr. Tenderman explains that due to a genetic condition, her body has begun a process called squidification, in which her limbs "will be gradually transformed into a slithering mass of tentacles." There is no cure and a very expensive surgery can only delay the symptoms for a few months. In spite of these drawbacks, the crew send Fry to sell the company ship to pay for the operation. At the market, a con artist buys the ship for two gigantic, magic beans that are supposedly a miracle cure for Leela's ailment. Back at headquarters, Farnsworth is so angry that he knocks the beans out of Fry's hands, causing them to fly out the window. The beans fall onto fertile soil and grow in a few hours into a beanstalk that reaches the clouds. Leela realizes that she doesn't want to share her misery with her friends, and decides to cut off contact with them and live in the sewer. As she opens the manhole leading to the sewer, she notices the new beanstalk and decides to "take the beanstalk less traveled."

At the top of the beanstalk, Leela finds a flying castle grounds occupied by colorful flying fish and a unicorn that eats them. She is suddenly captured by Mom's three sons and taken to Mom who explains that the castle is her genetic engineering facility, where she conducts experiments such as creating gigantic beanstalks for feeding the hungry. In spite of the arguably philanthropic nature of Mom's experiments, Leela is offended, considering the experiments to be crimes.

After three weeks go by, everyone realizes that they don't know Leela's whereabouts. Fry and Bender, after both being hit in the head by Leela's boots, which have fallen from the sky, fly together to Mom's facility to rescue Leela. While climbing up the mass of tentacles up the tower, a parody of the Batclimb cameos from Batman occurs where Fry and Bender encounter Adam West's head jar on the body of a large bat and Burt Ward's head jar on a robot body as part of Mom's experiments. To Fry's horror, Leela's entire body except her face has been transformed into the mass of tentacles that Dr. Tenderman predicted.

While trying to escape from the lab, Fry, Leela, and Bender encounter a giant bound to an operating table connected to medical machinery. Believing that he is suffering Mom's genetic experiments, Leela frees the giant, who then chases the escapees until they flee down the drain of the giant's bathroom sink. Strangely, the drain carries the three back to the bridge of the facility, where Leela confronts Mom. In order to put a stop to the experiments, Leela causes the facility to fly out of control. As it nears the ground, it passes close by the Planet Express headquarters, to which Fry, Leela, and Bender jump to safety.

Later, Mom drops by to thank Leela for helping her to "engineer the perfect bean." Leela is still horrified by genetic engineering in principle. Mom attempts to sway her by re-introducing her to the giant, whom she has cured of hereditary gigantism and reduced back to a normal-sized man. Leela is still not impressed, but quickly changes her mind when Mom announces that she can cure Leela herself.

The episode ends with Fry and a cured Leela walking hand-in-hand through New New York City, which has been transformed into a jungle of giant beanstalks.

Trivia

Reception

The A.V. Club gave this episode a B-. Max Nicholson of IGN gave the episode a 7.7/10 "Good" rating, saying "This week's Futurama put a unique twist on the classic Jack and the Beanstalk fairytale."