Fry and Leela

"My Soulmate is gone, why should I go on living?" - Philip J. Fry

Phillip J. Fry and Turanga Leela are from the animated series Futurama. Fry was a lowly pizza delivery man who was accidentally cryogenically frozen on New Years Eve 1999 and awoke 1000 years in the future. Leela, who lived her whole life thinking she was an alien abandoned on Earth by her parents, was working a dead-end job placing other people in the workforce when she met Fry. He didn't want to be a delivery boy his entire life, and she realized that "You gotta do what you gotta do" was not a motto to live by. Both threw caution to the wind and joined Planet Express, a delivery service owned by Fry's distant relative. Leela became the ship's pilot and Fry was once again a delivery boy.

We initially liked Futurama when it was on weekly, but we did not really ship Fry and Leela until we watched the original series in its entirety on DVD and saw how much their romance grew throughout the first four seasons. Back when we decided to ship a couple based on a longing glance or even less, it was very refreshing to actually see a couple act upon their feelings for one another. The final episode of the original series added closure to their relationship, and left us with a sense of fulfillment in the series. While Fry and Leela's romance was not the main story of Futurama, the strongest episodes of the show usually had them in the spotlight, and many of the other episodes had something between them to make us smile. Be it a corny pick-up line from Fry, an equally corny turn-down from Leela, a hug or more, there was always something. I don't know how we missed it when we watched the show the first time, because there were some pretty heavy anvils dropped for this couple even from the first episode. Both Fry and Leela tried their hand at dating other people, but by the end of each episode they always seemed to get back together. I don't think that either would work with anyone else, and I'm glad that the show continued to build towards a happy future for the two.

When the show was brought back in the form of four movies and later a move to Comedy Central, we became quite frustrated in how Fry and Leela's relationship was handled. There was an entire movie focusing on how epic their love story was, and then the next one was all about Fry dating a tentacle monster. The new series kept in that same vein where there would be an focusing on them, and then nothing for a long stretch. As with the original series, the episodes about their relationship always seemed to be the most cohesive stories and appeared to hold more importance than the throwaway episodes that came before and after them. They just always seemed more epic to us at least. Once it was announced that show would really be ending, things began to change though. Fry and Leela had way more storylines together and were actually consistently dating in canon. The last episode of the show focused entirely on their love and how even though they spent their entire lives together, they loved each other so much that they were willing to go back and do it again. Usually when shows end and have The Couple finally get together, it seems cheap and kind of tacked on, but after so many seasons, Fry and Leela's relationship was the one great consistent storyline the show had, so it was only fitting that it ended with them together for good. The two characters were perfect for each other and seeing them finally work out what they meant to one another was a joy to see. We thought that the original series finale was a great ending when it aired, but the actual series finale was so touching that it made up for all of those years when the writers seemed to forget or stall Fry and Leela's relationship. They are a couple that went the distance and kept our interest throughout everything, all leading up to the happiest of endings.

Quotes

4x12: The Sting

Fry: "I don't know if you can hear me Leela, but there's something I want to tell you... I love you."

Leela: "I'm so scared Fry; I don't know what to do!"

Fry: "Just wake up Leela, please, just wake up..."

Leela: "I don't understand what you mean!"

Fry: "Just wake up, please, just wake up Leela." [cries]

Into the Wild Green Yonder

Fry: "Well, this is the end. There were so many things I wanted to say to you."

Leela: "Like what?"

Fry: "Like 'This is not the end,' but mostly just... I love you, Leela."

Leela: "Maybe I waited too long to say this, but... I love you too."

6x01: Rebirth

Fry: "I love Leela, always and forever, and if I loved robot Leela too, well that's only cause she had so much of real Leela in her. I thought she loved me too, but obviously I was wrong as usual."

Leela: "Wrong again. You were right."

Fry: "Leela? Leela Leela?"

Leela: "Leela Leela. I've been thinking Fry, if I lost you, I don't think I could stand it either. I'd probably build a copy of you too!"

6x25: Overclockwise

Leela: "Fry, can we talk about our relationship?"

Fry: "Of course! Our relationship is the best thing in my life, so I'm sure I'll enjoy talking about it with you."

Leela: "Uh, I don't know. I guess I'm just feeling uneasy about us being so on again off again."

Fry: "Maybe it's none of my business, but if it were up to me, we'd be on all the time, and I mean all the time."

Leela: "But what would that be like? I mean, if we were together, where would we be ten years from now? Still here?"

Fry: "Definitely! Or, somewhere else..."

Leela: "Oh, maybe I'm having some kind of early life crisis, but look, don't you ever wonder about the future?"

Fry: "Well sure, but you're always in it. Also sometimes Terminators."

Leela: "I keep finding myself thinking about this place, and things."

Fry: "Things like me? Or things like this badminton racket?"

Leela: "You, Fry. Bender, while you still have your giant brain, please, tell me, if Fry and I ended up together."

Fry: "It's too late Leela, he's good old Bender again. He's totally useless."

Bender: "Well, not totally. Before they reset me I figured out the answers to life's great questions. Uh, this is the reason we exist, this is which ceiling fans are gonna fall, ah ha! Found it! Fry and Leela's ultimate fate, by Bender."

Fry: "Uh, it's probably better if we don't know. Uh, mystery of life and what not-"

Leela: "Gimme that!"

[they read the paper, and by the end, they are smiling and looking lovingly at each other]

7x02: A Farewell to Arms

Fry: "I hope you're not too mad at me Leela, for tearing your arm off and all."

Leela: "I can't be mad. I'm on way too many pain killers. Plus, you were willing to sacrifice yourself so I could live. I mean, you failed, miserably, but you're the only person who loves me enough to try."

7x22: Leela and the Genestalk

Leela: "Listen Fry, whatever it was that you and I had together-"

Fry: "Goulash?"

Leela: "No! Well, I don't know, maybe it was goulash, but it can't really continue."

Fry: "What are you talking about? I want to spend my life with you!"

Leela: "No you don't! I mean, look at me!"

Fry: "Big deal! Looks change. No matter what happens, you'll always be Leela, the woman I love."

Leela: "Thank you Fry!"

[they kiss]

7x26: Meanwhile

Fry: "Poor Leela! I never even told her I loved her!"

Bender: "What? You told her like 140 times!"

Fry: "Yeah, but she paid very little attention to me. Oh Bender, I always thought me and her would grow old together!"

Fry: "Seeing Leela fly off the hexadecapus and crash through the moon dome and survive inside a stuffed animal by breathing a balloon was a dose of reality."

Bender: "Come in!"

Fry: "All this time I've been wondering if I can spend my life with her, but what I realize now is, I can't spend my life without her. So tomorrow, I'm asking her to marry me!"

Leela: "I guess it's just us for all eternity."

Fry: "Listen, Leela. I'm not sure what kind of life we can make together in this frozen timesicle, but if it's not too weird, will you still marry me?"

Leela: "I would marry you even if you weren't the last man on earth."

Fry: "Do I, Philip J. Fry, take you, Turanga Leela, to be my lawful wedded wife?"

Leela: "You do. Do I, Turanga Leela, take you, Philip J. Fry, to be my lawful wedded husband?"

Fry: "Uh, yes?"

Leela: "Absolutely."

[they kiss]

Fry: "To us. If I could make one moment last forever, this is the one I would choose."

Leela: "I'm glad you did. It was a good life."

Fry: "Kind of lonely though, maybe?"

Leela: "I was never lonely. Not even for a minute."

Fry: "What do you say, wanna go around again?"

Leela: "I do."