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- "No! Stay Outta Here! Dat's Me Special Aera! "
- ―Brogen
Plot
The episode opens with a celebration for Dr. Zoidberg's tenth anniversary at Planet Express. After finding out that Zoidberg's pension fund was empty because he never paid into it, Fry realizes his retirement is also in question. After blowing most of his savings, $100, on lottery tickets, Fry opens an account at the Big Apple Bank. While at the bank, Bender meets an old acquaintance Roberto, who then robs the bank.
Unfortunately, Fry and Bender are arrested for the robbery, and, due to the aloof attitude of Judge Ron Whitey both are sentenced to stints in the Asylum for Criminally Insane Robots. Fry is sent there because the Home for Criminally Insane Humans was full after Judge Whitey had declared poverty a mental illness.
Once there, they both take a body test to Bender's enjoyment, but to Fry's own torture (Being stripped, prodded, drilled, X-ray, and being violently dropped into the evaluation room). The doctors refuse to acknowledge that Fry is human, due to their use of the logic that, if Fry is a patient in a robot asylum, he must be a robot. Fry is roomed with car-dealer Malfunctioning Eddie, who is undergoing treatment for his exploding problem when surprised or shocked. Fry perseveres, surviving on food coughed up by a sick 7¹¹ Robot.
But just when Fry thinks he is going to be released, Eddie gets released instead, and Fry gets a new roommate: the insane bank robber Roberto, who was captured after robbing the same bank again. The day after suffering a complete mental breakdown, Fry is released, having been "cured" of his delusion of humanity, causing him to think he's a robot. Roberto, fed up with life in the Hal Institute for Criminally Insane Robots, breaks out and takes Bender with him.
Roberto then robs the same bank for a third time to thank Bender for his help in escaping, but it's a sting and the pair flee to Planet Express to escape the police. When the Police surround the building, Roberto takes the crew hostage. Then Fry concludes that he must be a Battle Droid and attacks Roberto to save his friends. In the scuffle, Fry is cut and because of the blood he realizes he must be a human, not a robot.
Ongoing Themes
Hermes and Zoidberg
When reading the mandatory speech for Zoidberg's anniversary, Hermes is mechanical, as he probably would have been with any other employee. But when Zoidberg laments his empty pension account, Hermes calls him a "dumb stinkbug".
Hermes-isms
- Sacred hog of Prague
Death, near-death, mutilation
Malfunctioning Eddy blows up on more than one occasion. Roberto kills and dismembers Dr. Perceptron in order to use his body parts as a disguise. Roberto viciously stabs Fry in the oil can, and then throws his knife, causing a flesh wound to Fry's arm.
Fry and Leela
Lamenting Fry's "deprogramming", Leela presses Fry's head to her chest. Fry's heart rate increases noticeably. Later, Leela gives Fry a romantic kiss in an attempt to reawaken his humanity. They both smile afterward, but Fry continues his robot persona; his only comment on the kiss is a single beep. After Fry rescues the crew from Roberto and remembers that he is human, Leela thanks him by giving him a kiss on the cheek. Fry says that he will never wash that cheek again.