Futurama: 10 Worst Episodes

8. A Pharaoh To Remember

The Episode: Bender becomes obsessed with how he will be remembered after his death when he fails to gain recognition for one of his crimes. The Planet Express crew deliver a giant sandstone block to Osiris 4, only for Fry, Leela and Bender to be enslaved and forced to help construct a pyramid for Pharaoh Hamenthotep's. Bender, seeing how the residents of Osiris treat their kings, manages to have himself declared Pharaoh. Hilarity ensues. Except that it really doesn't.

Why It Sucks: If anything, the episode was very light on laughs, with only the early funeral scene really carrying any kind of comedy weight at all, mainly because it gave the other characters a chance to interact with Bender on a level field. The idea behind the episode also lost points for being utterly unoriginal; the idea of a character being driven mad with power had already been touched on in My Three Suns, and this episode was just treading old ground.

The episode was made worse by the treatment of Bender, who normally works as a character precisely because he is a loveable jerk. However, this episode just made him obnoxious. Increasingly, Bender has proven to be the kind of character who had excellent subplots, but simply couldn't carry an episode himself.

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With a (nearly) useless degree in English literature and a personal trainer qualification he's never used, Freddie spends his times writing things that he hopes will somehow pay the rent. He's also a former professional singer, and plays the saxophone and ukulele. He's not really used to talking about himself in the third person, and would like to stop now, thanks.