Futurama Season 12 Episode 2 Recap: Spoilers Ahead

Futurama is back with Season 12 on Hulu, featuring a twisted birthday party for Fry in Episode 2. After making a comeback last summer with its first season of a revival series, fans now get to enjoy the new wave of episodes. Season 11 brought significant changes to the characters and status quo, and Season 12 follows suit, offering viewers a new side of Bender in the premiere.

The premiere revealed a different aspect of Bender, while the second episode shifts the focus to the extended cast. In a surprising twist during Fry’s birthday celebration, the characters find themselves in dangerous versions of games Fry played in his childhood. Here’s what went down in Futurama Season 12 Episode 2, “Quid’s Game.”

It’s Fry’s birthday, and all he desires is some peace and quiet alone. However, the Planet Express crew surprises him with a party, inviting almost 40 guests ranging from regulars like Leela’s parents and Zapp Branigan to others like Bubblegum Tate and Elzar. Fry becomes sad, but the crew ignores his feelings and begins partying.

Their fun is short-lived as they are pulled onto a giant planet’s surface by its gravitational pull, crashing them. Fry is the first to step out, and with a drop of spit hitting the ground, the planet transforms into a replica of Fry’s childhood home matching his eighth birthday party—a memory Fry was trying to repress.

The episode flashes back to young Fry, anxious about his party. Back in the present, masked aliens reveal that they’ve recreated everything using a machine that scans visitors’ brains for conflicts, using Fry’s memories to play lethal games. They start with Barrel of Primates, a death game where participants string their arms together like monkeys hanging from a bar.

Fry wins the game in a flashback against his childhood friend Josh Gedgie. In the present, the aliens start betting Quids on the outcome, and the losing group falls into an alkaline liquid, dissolving instantly. The next game involves blowing out birthday candles representing each survivor; Fry manages to blow them all in a flashback, but in the present, Zoidberg’s candle remains lit, causing him to burn to ash.

The next game: musical chairs. Fry wins in a flashback, but in the present, after walking around for six hours, the remaining participants fight for seats. Four without chairs, including Zapp Branigan, are eaten by a weasel from a jack-in-the-box. The following game, a pinata, sees key characters like Amy’s parents, Professor Farnsworth, and Barbados Slim killed, leaving Fry, Leela, Bender, Hermes, LaBarbara, Amy, Kif, and Hattie as survivors.

In another game, they must find hidden baseballs in a house. Finding all but one, Fry recalls how his mom hid them in a flashback. When Leela pleads for help, Fry consents to cheat for the first time in his life, giving her the final baseball. However, a twist reveals that the winners are those who didn’t find the balls, turning Leela and others to dust.

Fry, Bender, and Hattie proceed to the final challenge, pinning the tail on a mechanical donkey. Fry, carrying the pain from his past, decides to play blindfolded. However, the aliens take everyone’s eyesight. Hattie is eaten immediately; Fry mistakenly pins the tail on Bender, killing him as he calls Fry a cheater. Fry is declared the winner but is stabbed by Hattie, making her the final victor.

With the game ending, the aliens revive everyone using their machine. The planet reverts to normal. Leela and the others now believe Fry isn’t a cheater because Hattie defeated him so easily. A flashback reveals Fry’s parents rigging the party games to give Fry the best birthday. Although his friends perceived him as a cheater, his mom was happy to have given him a perfect day.