14 Great Futurama Characters In Only One Episode

The background of Leela’s origin and race remained a mystery thus far on the show. It was not until she participated in the virtual internet game of ‘Death Factory III’ that she stumbles across a cyclops named Alcazar who has very similar features to her – one eye, purple hair etc. but Fry ‘kills’ him in the game, ending any chance she had of finding out more about this man and his background.

All hope is not lost though as the fellow cyclops was able to track Leela down and give her a video call, encouraging her to visit his home planet. Leela ditches her delivery mission and goes to her home world of Cyclopia. She learns of the tragic history of how her people died out and how they’ve become an endangered species. She also gets to know Alcazar, someone who cares greatly about their race and saving it.

But it's not over yet for Leela – previously, we’ve seen that she’s struggled with loneliness and finding true love but Alcazar seems like the genuinely perfect man for his intelligence, sensitivity and appreciation for Leela’s natural beauty. Furthermore, it seems as though she may finally know of her true ancestry.

But after spending the night with him, all hope is lost because Alcazar’s true misogynistic side shows. He bosses Leela around, insults her and acts slobbish. It’s clear that Leela doesn't see her destiny with this man but she forces herself into accepting his marriage proposal if it means she can save her dying race.

In a very soap opera style ending, she is about to reluctantly marry Alcazar until four other bridesmaids of different species show up and shame him for cheating on them. All is revealed as he nervously shape-shifts into the different races as shown by the bridesmaids and they all attack him until he shows his real form. It turns out Alcazar was a shape-shifting cricket alien whose goal was to “make it with five weirdos, and have them clean his five castles”.

It’s sad that Leela was falsely tricked about her true species but equally a huge relief that she didn’t lower her standards by marrying into a sleazy, scheming fraud.