In the episode, Bender is overclocked by Cubert Farnsworth, gradually becoming more powerful in computing ability, until eventually becoming omniscient and able to foresee future events.
Meanwhile, Cubert and Professor Farnsworth are tried in court by Mom for violating Bender's license agreement, and Fry's relationship with Leela takes a turn for the worse.
"Overclockwise" received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its premises and humor, but felt that the episode was not completely capable of holding its plots together.
Due to heightened intelligence caused by his overclocking, Bender is able to anticipate future probabilities and connects himself to a water cooler to prevent overheating.
At the trial overseen by Judge Ron Whitey, Cubert and the Professor are ordered to locate Bender, and are forced to pay $10,000 every day until he is found.
After Fry returns to the trial, Bender has a change of heart and appears in court, accusing Mom of unfairly trying Cubert, a minor.
[4] "Overclockwise" was originally written to serve as an open-ended series finale, much in the way that the season 4 episode "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings" and the film Into the Wild Green Yonder were produced, in case the show did not get renewed.
[7] In its original U.S. broadcast, "Overclockwise" scored a 0.8 share among adults aged 18–49, and 1.571 million total viewers, up from the previous week's episode "Cold Warriors".
Club was generally positive towards the episode, noting that it had "a lot of excellent moments" as well as praising that it addressed Fry and Leela's relationship problems.
He also felt that "the story gets lost for a while in the third act, with a courtroom climax that doesn't make a whole lot of sense," though also noting that the episode "rebounds again in the final moments."
Though noting that the episode "isn't without its charms", he felt that the plots involving Bender's transformation into a godlike being and Fry and Leela's romance were "repetitions".