Episode Recap: A Fishful of Dollars

Fry experiences a nightmare in which he sits amongst other college-aged
students in a lecture hall clad only in his underwear. When Fry recounts
the dream for his colleagues at Planet Express, he is told he
experienced an advertisement for LightSpeed brand briefs. Though the
staff members counter that dream advertising is harmless, and does not
control their lives, they are unable to resist the sudden urge to go
shopping at a department store. Fry picks out a package of underwear,
but discovers he hasn't the money to pay for it. The group's attention
is drawn to a bank of television monitors, where the image of Mom, a
plump, grandmotherly woman sitting in a rocking chair, greets customers.
Leela tells Fry that Mom is the wealthiest, warmest person on the
planet. Mom hawks her own brand of robot oil. Shortly thereafter, Bender
is arrested for shoplifting. His friends pool together their resources
to make bail, but come up fifty cents short. Fry notices a nearby bank…
and wonders if his old account is still active. He approaches a teller,
who asks him if he remembers his old PIN number. Fry tells her that the
number is the price of a cheese pizza and a large soda. He runs his card
through a reader and punches in the number. The teller informs him that
his old balance of ninety-three cents, at an average of
two-and-a-quarter percent interest over a period of one thousand years,
adds up to four point three billion dollars. Fry drools uncontrollably.

Fry celebrates his good fortune by throwing a huge party for his
friends. The gang heads out to a pizza parlor, where Fry orders his
favorite topping: anchovies. The Professor informs him that the fish has
been extinct for hundreds of years. It turns out that Dr. Zoidberg's
species is responsible for their disappearance. Fry grows nostalgic for
all things 20th-century and uses his money to buy up things from his
era, including a Porsche. He and his friends attend an auction, where
various antiques from the 20th century are put up for bid. The final
item is a rare unopened can of anchovies. Fry soon finds himself in a
bidding war, pitting him against Mom. Fry wins the auction with a bid of
fifty million dollars. Later, Fry retreats to his apartment and fails to
show up for work. Leela grows concerned for his well being. She believes
he has become so obsessed with the past that he has lost touch with
reality. Meanwhile, Mom and her three sons-Walt, Larry and Igner-return
to their mansion. There, Mom peels off her padded bodysuit, revealing a
skinny, mean-looking old woman beneath. Mom vows to possess Fry's
anchovies.

Mom addresses her three sons inside her company's corporate
headquarters. She shows them a computer model, which shows that a single
drop of an anchovy's natural oil would lubricate ten robots
indefinitely. Mom fears that if the anchovy oil should fall into the
wrong hands, its DNA could be used to produce cheap robot oil (driving
her company out of business). She tells her sons that their best hope of
success is to bankrupt Fry so he will be forced to sell the anchovies.
Mom replays surveillance video taken from the bank. She tells her sons
they know "what needs to be done." With that, Walt sets in motion a
tortuously complicated plan with some help from Pamela Anderson's head.
Walt and his brothers drug Fry. When Fry regains consciousness, he finds
himself in a bad recreation of Panucci's Pizza parlor. Pamela Anderson's
head orders a cheese pizza and a large soda. When she asks Fry how much
she owes him, he replies, "Ten seventy-seven. Same as by PIN number."
The brothers enjoy an evil laugh. They knock Fry unconscious and dump
his body onto the street. When Fry regains consciousness, he realizes
his bank account is now empty. Mom makes an appearance at Planet
Express, where she offers to buy Fry's anchovies. Fry turns down the
offer. He explains that his friends mean much more to him than money.
With that, Fry opens the can of anchovies and places them on a pizza.
His friends, however, are disgusted by the taste…all save Zoidberg, who
gobbles them.