Wait, wait, wait, no. That’s not right. I messed it up.
Lets try it again:
Ok, that’s more like it.
Now, onto the episode thoughts!
1. A Slight Step Down
Perhaps it was the intensely awesome episode last week featuring pretty much all of my favorite characters, but this week’s episode definitely felt like it was missing something (particularly, all my favorite characters). There’s nothing wrong with Rusty-centric episodes, but to a certain degree Rusty is one of the least interesting characters to follow at this point; he’s so unwilling to change, so stuck in his own ways and his vanity that there is a definitive part of me that just doesn’t just enjoy his antics.
Granted, that is the point of who he is. The show is so obsessed with rampant egotism and characters who hold themselves above all else, with Rusty Venture being the prime singular example of this; the aspect of him never changing is central to one of the very basic themes of the show.
And yet, when I look at it from an objective stand point, I’m reminded very much of the Office and Michael Scott. Funny, for sure, but sometimes it is just too much. So the episode is still good, and definitely enjoyable .. but I’d still classify it as a step down all things considered.
That said, it’s always nice to see the Original Team Venture, even if only for a few seconds. Also: El-Ron. Hilarious!
2. More St. Cloud
I’ll be honest: I’m not sold on St. Cloud. I get the feeling that he’s the type of villain that will have some kind of pay-off later and I understand his purposes as basically the ultimate fanboy villain (which allows the show plenty of opportunities to throw in obscure geek references, Bobo being particularly funny — although not quite obscure, all things considered), there’s just something about him that rubs me the wrong way. The Quizboy rivalry isn’t too funny, his voice is a touch grating and the other character’s inherent lack of understanding of what to do around/against him etc. just doesn’t really lead to too much interesting dramatic tension.
Cloud could pay off more somewhere farther down the line, but if you compare him to literally every other villain that has been on the show then it is kind of strange to consider why he’s even here at all. Quizboy didn’t need an arch-enemy because Quizboy isn’t a main character, and his antagonism to Dr. Venture seems superfluous. It’s a Rusty episode, and the Quizboy secondary storyline basically has the same pay-off as the premiere.
I’ll give him a few funny moments, but all in all I’m a bit perplexed on this one.
3. A Particular Emphasis on Failure
Relating particularly to the involvement of St. Cloud, the episode spent a good deal of time playing up another constant theme of the show: Rusty’s failure. It’s all over the place here: Rusty fails his two sons in the beginning of the episode (particularly in relation to his seemingly complete ignorance of what’s going on in their lives via Hank still wearing last week’s ninja suit), Rusty’s failure in the competitions (particularly due to St. Cloud’s cheating but it still counts), Rusty’s failure to understand what is happening (like, with everything)… the list goes on.
Basically, this episode was like an ode to everything that makes Rusty a horrible character (and I don’t mean that in the sense that I think he is horrible, just that he’s bad in every way — a failure as a father, a failure as an inventor, a failure as a human being and a failure in competition). And that’s kind of funny, in its own way.
4. Well That Was Different
I’ll give it to Season 5 — they’re trying new things, and it works. Some of the episode directions are new and more freeform, for sure, but this episode brought in stop motion animation with the ultimate The Clash of the Titans parody. There were a lot of Clash jokes here, mind you, all of which seem heavily related to the story (and just the aspect of titans of various non-literal forms clashing in a Greek setting), but that stop motion sequence, calling back to the use of the stop motion to the work of Ray Harryhausen? Genius.
Continued belowAnd, look — while the show certainly had some lean time, I find it hard to believe that the show did all of this in memory of Harryhausen, who died in May of this year. But if they did? Kudos. It was a fine tribute to a man with a genius legacy in film. I certainly loved it for that alone.
5. Go Team Venture!
Because I don’t have any other comments to make about the episode (I kind of got it all out there in the first four), I will instead direct you to Comics Should Be Good’s latest The Line It Is Drawn, featuring variations on the Venture Bros characters within other similarly fictional settings. A lot of these folks put together really on-point examples of the Ventures (that “Watchmen” one is astounding”), and there’s a lot to like in there. Perhaps as much, if not more, than last night’s episode even!
