So, the ending to last week’s episode wasn’t a cliffhanger. The Professor’s clothing business destroying civilization was just a dark joke to close out the story and will never be mentioned again. Given that, I assume this episode ending with Hermes’ coffee business destroying civilization is the same deal.

Don’t know how I feel about that being a regular thing on Futurama now, but it’s definitely odd they’d do it two weeks in a row.

As for the episode itself, this is yet another just-kind-of-alright outing, which seems to be where Hulurama’s baseline is now set. There were a few good bits – Fry as the only employee at Planet Espresso, working 24/7 shifts, was great; not sure how you’d do anything more with it, but I want more anyway. However, a lot of the time this episode was just meh … but the reason it was just meh is kind of interesting.

You see, the key flaw with “Planet Espresso” is it has too much sincerity. And that’s something I never thought I’d accuse Futurama of.

But, think about it. The story of Hermes bearing a decades-long grudge over their dad leaving them, then becoming devoted to uplifting humanity through coffee? That’s played completely straight. There are plenty of jokes happening within that story, but Hermes’ issues with their dad, and their drive to improve mankind – those aren’t made fun of. They’re treated in a straightforward, unironic manner, without the comedic exaggeration or ridiculous presentation we’ve come to expect from this show.

It’s not that Futurama is a stranger to sincere emotion, but it rarely does it this way. Its technique has always been to start off as a wacky goofball farce, so that when it decides to take something seriously, it’s a “Shit just got real!” moment.

“Luck of the Fryrish” and “Jurassic Bark” are remembered as tearjerkers, but for most of their runtime, they’re as irreverent as anything else in Futurama – their genuine emotion (much like the good Globetrotter algebra) is saved for the final minutes. “Godfellas” contains a sincere examination of faith and the nature of God, but only after spending a good long while on Bender floating through space, fighting boredom, and exploiting tiny aliens. Even “The Sting”, for all that it becomes a heartrending trip through Leela’s psyche, still devotes its first act to Leela recklessly pursuing space honey, and never treats that as anything other than a ridiculous character doing ridiculous things for our amusement.

But that’s not what happens here. “Planet Espresso” establishes Hermes’ daddy issues almost from the get-go, and while the reason Papa Conrad had to leave is silly (the hurricane destroying the barometer store was my biggest laugh of the episode), the actual moment where Daddy leaves isn’t played as a joke, nor is Hermes’ hurt reaction. And once the Professor and Hermes decide to improve the world with coffee, their drive to do so is never ridiculed. I repeat, their plan is to expand human consciousness by selling magical psychedelic space coffee, and that’s not treated as a cuckoo bananas thing to do!

I’m not saying this is a dour episode that’s unconcerned with being funny. Far from it. Jokes keep coming at about the same pace they usually do on Futurama. But while the story contains jokes, the actual driving force of the story is treated seriously, held exempt from the mockery.

And that’s a problem. It leaves a comedic hole at the center of the episode, so the humor has to come in from the side, rather than deriving naturally from the story, and the whole thing feels lesser as a result.