Leela's best friend.

[on:]

Just a stupid little question that has been floating around in my mind.....but who is Leela's best friend?
We all know that Bender and Fry are best buds.......but would Fry be considered a best friend from Leela's point of view? I mean he was her very first real friend.
..or would Amy be considered Leela's best friend since they are the only females at Planet Express?

[Reply #1 on:]

Fry and Bender are her best friends; the fact that the trio spends most of their non-working time together indicates this.

Amy and Leela don't seem to share much in common at all.

[Reply #2 on:]

Leela is the most independent, hence why she's the captain, so in some ways friends aren't so important to her. I guess Fry is her best friend, I mean he was the last one left at the end of AOI I wasn't he? An interesting question would be does Fry like Bender or Leela more? I mean as a friend...

[Reply #3 on:]

Leela was a loner when we first saw her.  Then she befriended Fry and Bender.  So I would say Fry and Bender are her best friends. 

[Reply #4 on:]

I dunno about Bender though...she does consider him as a friend, however I don't think she considers him as a BEST friend.

[Reply #5 on:]

Yah. Fry is probably her best friend, with Bender coming in at a close second.  Despite the fact that Bender annoys her all of the time (as well as everyone else), I think she does actually like him.

[Reply #6 on:]

I agree that Fry is her best friend. It's pretty obvious that they like eachother more than that. She's probably to ashamed of Bender for them to be best friends.
And as for Amy being her best friend, think about how many insults Amy gives to Leela. There is no way that they can be best friends.

[Reply #7 on:]

Leela is the most independent, hence why she's the captain, so in some ways friends aren't so important to her

Well...personally, I wouldn't say so.

When the mutiny took place in "Brannigan begins again"
- When Leela asks if she was not a good captain, she is putting other peoples judgement over her own (and looks as if  she is about to burst into tears).
- She looks angry when she mentions "I thought we were friends". The friendship aspect did trigger appropiate emotions.
The mere ignoring of orders/the command chain on the other hand didn't seem to trigger any negative emotions on her. (When she mentioned the importance of the command chain, she justifies herself, and does not accuse others. But she never said "You disobeyed an order..that'll have consequences" or something like that).

Well..to cut a long speech short:

The mutiny seemed to have hurt Leela deeply on a personal level, but not too much on a profesional/business level.



Well..to get to the main subject:
ImhO, Leela's character just does not need a best friend in the trio's character constellation.
On a business level, all three protagonists are linked.
On a personal level, it's Fry character that holds the group together: Bender as best Buddy, Leela as love interest. (with Leela and Bender having not too much private interaction).
That's the wanted character constellation, one love-relation, one best-buddy relation, and the writers probably think that's enouhg. Leela might have best friends, they are just not needed now...

[Reply #8 on:]

I would say Amy is Leela's best friend, since out of all the characters, Leela seems to gel the best with her, rather then say Zoidberg, Hermes or the Professor (Fry is her romantic interest and Bender is HIS best friend, so I'm not sure what those two count).  Plus Bender has implied on quite a few occasions he doesn't really care about Leela that much (she's not on his Do not Kill list after all, and they don't interact much when Fry is not around).  

Meanwhile, Leela and Amy seem to have a typical girly relationship.  Amy while being catty at times, she  does seem to care about Leela's romantic life (her trying to help her find a boyfriend in Love's Labours, trying to cheer her up in Second that Emotion, and trying play matchmaker to her and Lars in BBM).  Plus they seem to do things like go to the gym together, pratice their wrestling skills on eachother, go double dating ect.   They also turn to eachother for "girl talk" like gushing over men in uniform, discussing the size of 20th century penises ect.  Plus when Kif was pregnant, it was Leela who took Amy out for a bachlorette drink.  They probably don't have a very close relationship, but I would say Amy is probably the closest thing Leela has to a best friend, at least out of the PE crew.

Outside that, Leela doesn't really seem to have a social life (she doesn't seem to ever go out, and all of the times she does, its usually at Amy's insistence), and she seems to push people away so they can't form close friendships with her, and she seems rather lonely (remember when she was telling a telemarketer about the movie she saw?)

So in conclusion, Leela probably doesn't have a best friend or even much of a social life, but if she has one, its probably Amy.    

Plus Leela was the one to comfort Amy during Kif's funeral, and Amy was the Maid of Honor at all three of Leela's weddings (granted she had to call it the third time, but I doubt Leela was going to let Zoidberg be maid of honor anyway).   I would say Amy is probably Leela's closest thing to a best friend, but Amy seems to have friends outside of PE (as a matter of fact, she's one of the only characters whose shown to have a social life outside of PE). 

[Reply #9 on:]

It's Fry.

Seriously, Fry is her best friend.  If this isn't obvious to you, then I'm not sure that we're even watching the same show.

[Reply #10 on:]

Can your boyfriend really be your best friend as well?

[Reply #11 on:]

One would certainly hope so.

Anyway, he wasn't her boyfriend during the original series*, but he was clearly her best friend.

* Are they a couple now in the new episodes?  I can't always tell.  It seems to vary from episode to episode, perhaps depending on the writer.

[Reply #12 on:]

It's Fry.

Seriously, Fry is her best friend.  If this isn't obvious to you, then I'm not sure that we're even watching the same show.

I agree with David A here. It's possible (and desirable) for your significant other to be your best friend, and frankly the other choices aren't all that convincing. Fry and Leela are obviously very close, and they shared close moments even before the romance angle came into play (The Series Has Landed comes to mind). Meanwhile, Leela and Bender can't find anything to talk about without Fry there (Law and Oracle). As for Leela and Amy, they obviously like each other, but they also seem to be constantly competing with each other in small ways (Amy feeling jealous because Leela's "smarter", Leela being jealous of Amy's man-eating ways). The constant competition doesn't seem like a best friend type of relationship.

[Reply #13 on:]

Most would think that trying to steal your best friend's blood, delibrately making him late for work and then sneering about it in front of your boss, and outright attempting to kill your friend out of spite/for monetary gain doesn't seem like a best friend sort of friendship, but that's how Bender and Fry roll.  Besides what little of Amy says to Leela is mostly about catty superficial things.  The things Leela says to Fry on occasion are downright soul crushing.

[Reply #14 on:]

Catty and superficial sounds more like sorority sisters than actual friends (and, I was actually in a sorority). As for the soul-crushing, I know that I've done that to my boyfriend before (not that I'm proud of it). Once romance gets involved, the potential for soul-crushing rises exponentially. That being said, I still think they maintain a best friend relationship. They obviously forgive each other for their transgressions- both of them have hurt the other plenty.
Edit: Of course, by "they" I mean Fry and Leela.

[Reply #15 on:]

Oh, quite a few of my friends say bitchy and mean thigns to eachother, but Amy never steps out of line into genuine cruelty like Bender does to Fry on pretty much every occasion.  Its mostly petty things like shoe sizes or being unladylike.   Still it does feel strange that Leela's best friend already has a best friend (Bender).   She even refers to Bender as "Fry's best friend" and "Your best friend" to him quite a few times.

I think Leela simply doesn't have a best friend (I know I don't have one, I just have an inner circle of about four or five people tops, but I've never had a "best friend").   I guess you could say that Fry and Amy seem to be the closest things she has to one though. 

[Reply #16 on:]

I won't deny that Bender and Fry have a very abusive bromance. The Amy/Leela rivalry doesn't even approach that level.
I basically think that Bender and Leela share Fry as their best friend. Meanwhile, I wouldn't really say that Fry has a best friend because the role is basically shared by Leela and Bender.

[Reply #17 on:]

True, but he has never referred to Leela as his best friend.  Bender?  All the time.  Leela is his other.  His soulmate.  I suppose you could say they are best friends, but there has always been an underlying romantic tension to it, so its very ambiguous, isn it?

All of the characters on the show except Fry (who is never really mean, mostly an immature jerk but his heart is always in the right place) have a mean streak, but I would say Amy's is the most mild.  On the meanness spectrum, Amy is probably barely on it, since she seems to be the only one of the crew who hasn't displayed sociopathic tendencies (Zoidberg has a murderous bitterness towards those who have wronged him and to those he merely thinks have, Hermes bullies Zoidberg and has an extreme indifference to the crew's wellbeing, Leela easily gets consumed with rage and jealousy over trivial matters, the Professor sees all of his crew as expendable, except for Amy, but only because he covets her blood rather then actually caring about her, and Bender....!). 

I would say Fry and Leela have a very complicated relationship, especially since now they are a couple, but Amy and Leela have the most unambiguous friendship.  I keep thinking of little things like Amy offering to do Leela's makeup when she is blinded, as well as showing her how to apply eyeliner when she actually gets two eyes.  They have a fairly sterotypical gal pal/sisterly friendship, if not best friends.

[Reply #18 on:]

I can see your point, but Amy harpoons giraffes for fun.

[Reply #19 on:]

Perhaps giraffes enslaving humanity could be their punishment for allowing Amy to harpoon their ancestors! :P  Maybe "Man paying for all his misdeeds" could just mean "Amy and all you other spoilt murderous students!".   Plus she does love to chow down on dolphin and tortured bears called Jojo. And she looked a space whale straight in the eye and harpooned it.  On the other hand, she was horrified by her father destroying the universe's flora and fauna, and took a stand against him.   

Even with all this, she is still quite low on the meanness spectrum! A degree of sociopathy/indifference does seem to exist in the future, even in the "nice" characters like Amy and Leela.  Plus, Amy has never really been sadistic to a person... yet. Could just be a matter of time. :P

[Reply #20 on:]

Personally I think the whole 'best friend' thing is a somewhat immature concept that most people outgrow after school, but all the same Fry is definitely Leela's best friend unless you can count Nibbler -and that's relying on a lot of off-screen assumptions. I think I'd still go with Fry.

Fry is Bender's best friend. Bender is probably Fry's best friend although you could make a decent case for Leela. Kif is Amy's best friend. LeBarbara is Hermes' best friend. The Professor's best friend is probably either some yet to be revealed character that we've never heard of or Scruffy. Zoidberg's best friend is probably Fry because Fry is the only one that doesn't hit him.

[Reply #21 on:]

Bender is Fry's best friend and Leela... lets say she is Fry's love.

[Reply #22 on:]

I disagree with it being an immature concept most people grow out of.  Pretty much everyone I know says "my best friend" when referring to their most important friend.   Also I believe most of the relationships you are talking about... "soulmate" would be a much better description then best friend.

[Reply #23 on:]

It's also possible to have more than one best friend, particularly as you get older. I know I have two or three friends that I consider best friends, but the three of them fulfill different emotional and practical needs. And I feel closer to some of them at certain points than I do to others. Five years ago, though, I would have been appalled by the notion that you can have more than one best friend, seeing as how "best" is superlative.

Topic: Fry is Leela's best friend; Leela and Bender are Fry's best friends (though Leela errs on "soulmate" territory); and Bender is Bender's best friend, but Fry is a close second.

[Reply #24 on:]

That's just it though. I can't think of anybody off the top of my head who I know in real life and has left school that has a best friend. They all have several best friends, as do I. I could attempt to rank them, but that's when it just gets into what I was saying about it being something of an immature concept to me. It's not a contest, after all.

Also, I don't see why a soulmate can't be a best friend.


On another note, I love how the Professor talked about his "breakfast friends" in the most recent episode after the comment I made about him probably having off-screen friends that we've never seen before.

[Reply #25 on:]

That's just it though. I can't think of anybody off the top of my head who I know in real life and has left school that has a best friend. They all have several best friends, as do I. I could attempt to rank them, but that's when it just gets into what I was saying about it being something of an immature concept to me. It's not a contest, after all.

Exactly. That's what I mean about certain friends fulfilling certain needs. I don't think it's childish, per se, to rank friends--the fact is, some of your friends mean more to you than others. Like, I have friends I hang out with on a near-daily basis, and I also have work friends who I will occasionally go to dinner with and such. The former are close (or best) friends, and the latter are casual friends. I do think that, in that circle of close friends, rankings are pretty arbitrary.

So to relate that to Futurama: Fry and Bender are Leela's close friends; the rest of the PE crew qualifies as casual friends. I do think the PE crew functions as a bit of a family unit, but the core trio is definitely closer to each other than they are to any of their other coworkers.

Also, I don't see why a soulmate can't be a best friend.

Oh, I think people can be both; Leela is definitely Fry's soulmate and one of his best friends. I didn't mean to imply otherwise, though I may have phrased my original post poorly.

[Reply #26 on:]

I'd say based on Eggman that Leela considers Fry her best friend.

[Reply #27 on:]

I think that line was pretty dumb, and we shouldn't take it too seriously.  Her actions since Wild Green Yonder are a LOT more telling then a throwaway line: (finally kissing Fry and telling him she loves him, the plot twist of Rebirth for example, the disgusting scene in Prisoner of Benda). 

It wouldn't be out of character of Leela to say he's just friends, so she could flirt with some guy guilt free.  Amy flirts with other guys from time to time, but she loves Kif.

[Reply #28 on:]

@SpaceGoldfish fromWazn> I do think the writers did mostly poke a little fun at themselves with that line:

As I mentioned earlier: A professional staff of writers who cannot make
a (non)couple identifiable to the audience delivers a really embarassing work
performance.

"Okay...we did bad so far, but let's see, how much WORSE we can really get"
And by showing a (non)relationships status not by the story/dialoges, but by a rather
pointless throwaway line, they did (deliberately, I hope) reach now a new depth of storytelling.

(Basically, I think they could go on with that kind of jokes from time to time, e.g. Leela saying "If there's one thing I cannot stand, then it's people who do not know what they want", etc... After all, they already broke the 4th wall by ridiculing their own "last episode/going out of business forever once more" jokes.)

[Reply #29 on:]

Agreed with Inquisitor Hein. I don't think that's something the writers should be laughing at themselves about, I think it's something they should fix.

On topic, um, Fry, duh.

Plus they seem to do things like go to the gym together, pratice their wrestling skills on eachother, go double dating ect.   They also turn to eachother for "girl talk" like gushing over men in uniform, discussing the size of 20th century penises ect.  Plus when Kif was pregnant, it was Leela who took Amy out for a bachlorette drink. 

Okay, but she spends a pretty significant chunk of time with Fry basically every episode. Plus the stuff she's done with Fry has been way more meaningful than that sort of stuff. Leela does stuff with Amy that she absolutely cannot do with Fry cos he's a guy. (..."There are some things guys can't do. For everything else, there's Fry.")

[Reply #30 on:]

After all, they already broke the 4th wall by ridiculing their own "last episode/going out of business forever once more" jokes.

Actually, Futurama has tended more towards leaning on the fourth wall rather than actually breaking it.

[Reply #31 on:]

I don't know that they've ever actually broken the fourth wall. They have leaned quite precariously, though.

[Reply #32 on:]

The only instance of breaking the fourth wall that I can think of is Pazuzu breaking it at the end of "Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles."

Of course, he's a gargoyle, so he can break any wall he wants.

[Reply #33 on:]

Even that's not like a self-referential breaking of the fourth wall, as in acknowledgement that they're in a television show, it's just him addressing the viewer.

[Reply #34 on:]

Bonne nuit.  Bonne nuit TO YOU ALL. 

[Reply #35 on:]

Nibbler is Leela's best friend.

[Reply #36 on:]

Probably Washbucket. I think when the cameras are off, she lets her guard down and opens up to ol' Warshbucket. Plus they have lots in common...They've both loved and lost, both are hardworking, both have a less than desireable amount of eyes. No but I think Fry's her bff.

[Reply #37 on:]

So Leela has a secret lesbian relationship with the good ol' Warshbucket? ...
I think Scruffy would be jealous if he ever found out though ...

[Reply #38 on:]

Ya I'm sure he catches them leaving work together and has to fight back tears whenever the memories are too much, and work must be super uncomfortable...but he had his chance and now it's Leela's turn to be happy for once. Besides, Scruffy needs a woman with extra long juggs.

[Reply #39 on:]

Besides, Scruffy needs a woman with extra long juggs.

That can adapt to Zero G!