But the B plot involved Bender returning to Mexico and reconnecting with his roots, which wasn’t bad, mainly because it didn’t depend on pop culture references. Danny Trejo was pretty good as a guest star.
(Spoiler end)
I think the reason the pop culture references seem so tired now is because our lives are filled with people making fun of pop culture on social media/the internet. All the NFT jokes have been made already, like a year ago. The writers need to stick to original, engaging plots that don’t rely on criticizing pop culture or rehashing old plotlines.