Futurama: 12 Greatest Bender Episodes

Futurama has something of a reputation for being able to tug at your heartstrings like few other animated shows. These moments usually revolved around Fry and some lost aspect of his past life, whether it was his brother, his mother, or his dog, but rarely was Bender involved.

This episode is the only exception, as he and Hermes go on a mission to find out the identity of the inspector who let Bender through quality control with a defective back up unit. He was more emotional and distraught than ever, defiantly screaming through tears that he deserved better than knowing he would one day die.

Though they had been main characters in the show since the very beginning, Hermes and Bender’s relationship was rarely explored, and never like this. Bender had no respect for the pencil pushing bureaucrat before, but he showed on their journey that he actually could be a badass when he needed to be.

The show stealer was baby Bender however. There have been contradictions over Bender’s past before, and how and when he was built, but seeing the wide eyed newborn robot in the hands of Hermes before he passed his inspection is enough to truly melt the heart. You could see why Hermes ultimately did what he did.