Children of a Lesser Bog

"Children of a Lesser Bog" is the second episode of Season 8 of Futurama and the 142nd episode overall.

Synopsis[]

Amy and Kif's children emerge from the swamp on Kif's home world.

Opening Sequence[]

Futurama logo with subtitle, Alienese and (often), cartoon.

Plot[]

The crew sees Fry sucking on some remnants of an old honey-candy that got onto his jacket from back in his pre-freezing days, which Zoidberg ends up finishing off (much to Fry's dismay). Since they don't sell that particular candy anymore, Bender helps Fry to recreate the recipe. They ultimately succeed, with Fry claiming that it tastes just like how back in his pre-freezing days -- the two name it "Clump-o-honey" and share their batch with the rest of the crew.

While having some of the candy, Amy's looking through her calendar and discovers a reminder that she had made twenty years previously. Kif then comes in and informs Amy that it's time to head back to his home planet and retrieve their offspring -- Kif and Amy remind the others of when Kif gave birth to a clutch of tadpoles, with Amy even showing everyone a video she had taken of it (much to disgust of her coworkers). Amy felt the whole thing was very beautiful, but claims that at that time, she was in no ready to become a parent.

With the rest of the gang (along with Zapp Branningan), Amy and Kif soon arrive on Kif's home planet -- Amy's parents, Leo and Inez, soon arrive and are excited about finally becoming grandparents. The Grand Midwife soon appears to help commence the ceremony of Amy and Kif welcoming their children -- the first part of is called "The Winnowing," which, as Kif describes to Amy, is "don't start naming [the kids] yet." We see what he means when Kif and Amy's tadpoles start swimming towards shore, but many of them are eaten by predators (and Zoidberg). Ultimately, only three of the babies survive -- two boys named Axl (who resembles a teenager) and Newt (who resembles an infant/toddler) and a girl named Mandy (who looks to be in between the "ages" of her brothers). After cutting off their little tadpole tails, Amy and Kif take the kids back to Earth with them.

One day at work, Kif brings the kids by to visit Amy while she and her coworkers are on their lunch break -- during the visit, Leela notices how Newt keeps coming up to her and calling her "Mama" instead of Amy and also notices how he has one giant eye like she does. Amy reminds Leela of something else that happened back when Kif got pregnant: Leela was the one who had impregnated Kif in the first place, so she's technically the biological mother of Axl, Mandy and Newt. Leela's confused by this, so the Professor plays a video that explains how the members of Kif's species reproduces -- unlike with most other species of the universe (human or otherwise), Amphibiosans only have to do something as simple as touch hands in order to get pregnant. After the video is done, Kif elaborates by explaining that even though Leela was the one who had gotten him pregnant, Amy was the one who had inspired the initial feelings of love that made him receptive to pregnancy, making Amy what Amphibiosans call a "Smizmar" -- and as a result of that, Amy's considered the true mother to Axl, Mandy and Newt.

After this, Kif and Amy take their kids out to the park for the day to have some fun with them -- during this, the Grand Midwife is watching them and writing things down on a clipboard. Eventually, a worn out Kif and Amy take the kids home, hoping they'll tire themselves out and the couple can get some alone time. But even by the time night falls, the kids are still just as rowdy as they were at the park -- but just as Amy says that there's at least two of them (meaning her and Kif) to split the work, Zapp calls on Kif and explains that they have to go on a mission to Ursa Major, where the stations aren't giving off any signals. Unfortunately, this means that Amy will have to take care of the kids on her own until Kif gets back -- after Kif leaves on the Nimbus, Amy and all three of her kids soon break down crying.

The next day, Amy shows up late for work with her kids in tow -- the reason she brought Mandy and the boys with her was because the babysitter she hired never showed up. Amy then gets a call from Petunia, who had gotten the planet she was supposed to babysit the kids on mixed up with another place. While Amy does her best to take care of the kids on her own, she's clearly getting very worn out. Upon seeing how worn-out her friend/coworker is from having to take care of her three rambunctious children by herself, Leela offers to keep an eye on them so Amy can have a little break -- the kids are excited to spend time with Leela and have lots of fun with her, which the Grand Midwife is shown to be taking progress of, just like Amy and Kif. When Amy stumbles upon some security footage of the kids having all sorts of fun with Leela, she begins worrying that the kids might prefer Leela over her (especially since Leela is technically their biological mother).

Zapp and Kif arrive at Ursa Major, where they run into the Whale Biologist, who's now a Bear Biologist specializing in the study of tardigrades (aka, "water bears"). They're able to fix the outpost, but Zapp stupidly attracts the attention of some of the tardigrades when they smell some of the clump-o-honey that Zapp decided to snack on -- they drag Zapp back into their cave, and Kif (reluctantly) goes to save his boss. Meanwhile, back on Earth, an angry/jealous-Amy confronts Leela about how she's been bonding with the Axl, Mandy and Newt.

While wondering what to do to save Zapp, Amy calls Kif and explains the situation to him, worried that the kids prefer Leela to her and calls herself "the worst mom ever...except for my own mom!" Kif assures his Fonfon Ru that she's a great mother and that he and the kids love her no matter what, but just as he tells her that she'll always be their mother no what, the Grand Midwife soon arrives at Planet Express and claims that a challenge for the motherhood of Axl, Mandy and Newt has been issued. At first, Amy assumes that Leela called the Grand Midwife, but Leela assures her that she didn't -- the Grand Midwife confirms this, explaining that the challenge is issued automatically if the Smizmar isn't biologically related to the children. The Grand Midwife elaborates by saying that if the challenge indicates someone other than the Smizmar is the children's biological mother, then that person will be the one to raise the children -- before leaving, the Grand Midwife states that both Amy and Kif must be present for the challenge on Kif's home planet by the next day.

Shortly after this, Amy (clearly devastated at the prospect of potentially losing her children) apologizes to Leela how she acted towards her -- but Leela assures her that she's fine with it, acknowledging that it's just part of the bond that parents (biological or not) feel with their kids and hopes that the challenge Amy and Kif go through works out. A tearful Amy then states that, even if things don't work out for her, she knows that Leela will take good care of the kids. Meanwhile, back on Ursa Major, Kif successfully rescues Zapp, who ultimately runs away after he and Kif are confront by two more tardigrades -- but just before Kif takes out these water bears as well, he notices that they're protecting a trio of baby-water bears, reminding him of himself, Amy and their kids. Kif then makes a very tough decision -- the scene then cuts to Zapp Brannigan crawling out of the cave, where we hear some gunshots from inside of the cave.

The next day, Amy and the kids are back on Kif's home planet (with Amy's parents and the rest of the Planet Express-crew in tow). At first, it seems like Kif isn't going to be there, but he soon shows up (with Zapp Brannigan in tow) -- Amy and the kids are happy to see him again, and we learn what really happened in the cave after Kif was confronted by the family of water bears: rather than kill the tardigrades, Kif shot the platform that the arrogant bear biologist was on, ultimately causing him to get mauled (and possibly killed) by the family of tardigrades when they smelled the food that he happened to have on him. After this, the Grand Midwife takes Kif and Amy inside the Inquisidome (which looks like a tiki hut) -- Amy shares a tearful but sweet exchange with the kids (even getting a hug from Axl). Upon taking their seats within the Inquisidome, the Grand Midwife claims that the challenge she's about to issue can be a long and arduous process, but starts off with just one question: Does Amy Wong truly love Axl, Mandy and Newt?

Amy claims that she loves the kids more than ever thought she could love anything -- after hearing this, the Grand Midwife assures her that that's all that truly matters. The challenge is commenced and says that Amy is the kids' true mother and always will be. After accidentally knocking down the front of the hut, Leela brings the kids to Amy and Kif, who excitedly hug their parents, and Newt claiming that Amy is his "favorite mommy."

The episode ends with Bender and the others crying and sharing glasses of treacle and watching the heartwarming exchange between Amy, Kif and their kids.

Alienese[]

• At 11:47 on the wall of the phone booth Petunia is using - "ET&T".

Ongoing Themes[]

Fry & Leela[]

References[]