This week, we return to look at episodes eleven and twelve, the penultimate episodes in the first season of The Venture Bros.
1. A What Now?
First of all, I’ve never heard the term tag sale. Ever. These things are yard sales in the southern United States, dagnabbit. Otherwise, I would have known that this eleventh episode was built on a ridiculous premise, namely, Dr. Venture is holding a yard sale that is attended by many of the world’s most dangerous rogues looking to get their hands on some of that theoretically dangerous Venture tech for a song. The episodes cold open is intriguing, but when the underlying gag is revealed the air quickly leaks out of this episode. It’s exactly the kind of thing that I had hoped the series was moving away from, giant subversive gags or premises that can’t take the weight of an episode’s running time. Sure, it’s a funny premise, but the premise quickly runs out of steam once viewers realize what’s going on. The idea of Venture holding a yard sale strains credulity even in a show that is so unabashedly ridiculous. When it comes to The Venture Bros., I prefer a ripping yarn with subversive and ridiculous gags folded in versus jokes layered on top of a ridiculous premise and threadbare story.
2. But Wait, There’s More!
Having said all that, episode eleven saves itself by offering an interesting subplot that runs throughout the episode. It turns out that the yard sale is also a sort of networking opportunity for rogues either looking for a hench person or to join up as a someone else’s second in command, and even Dr. Venture’s neighbor, Dr. Orpheus is in the market for a suitable arch nemesis. His actions during the yard sale are so theatric that his desperation for an adversary becomes all the more sad and pathetic. After the inevitable and multiple scuffles break out on the grounds and Rusty and the boys take shelter in the Venture compound, the real weight of the episode is revealed.
3. The Monarch and Madame Butterfly
It appears that the belle of the ball is Dr. Girlfriend who is either being courted as a henchlady for someone else or encouraged to break free from The Monarch and hang her own villainous shingle. It’s an interesting conceit that leads to our next point. Dr. Girlfriend is clearly conflicted in this episode. She obviously has feelings for The Monarch, but she has equally obvious misgivings about their relationship moving forward whether its for her own career opportunities and well being or recognizing The Monarch as a sadly superficial man who only exists to destroy Dr. Venture. Ultimately though, he’s like the dog chasing a car. What happens when he catches it? There is a genuine moment that shows their relationship at the crossroads, but before the scene can come to a head The Monarch leaps into dramatic action, dispatching guards who have caught him listlessly nosing around Dr. Venture’s sad lab full of disappointing technology. Viewers are beginning to see Doctor Girlfriend as someone who is fed up with this hopeless and pointless feud against Dr. Venture. In fact, Rusty simply waits for The Monarch’s dramatic diatribe to conclude without confronting him. For him, The Monarch, for all his over-the-top villainy and lethal tendencies, is simply an annoyance.
4. That’s What I’m Talking About
Episode twelve is a return to the plot-driven type of episode that I find to be most effective and funny. While not packed with as many laughs as the previous episode, episode twelve reveals some key points in Brock Samson, Rusty Venture, Peter White, and Baron Ünderbheit’s pasts. It turns out that they all went to the same college, a fact that is revealed during several ’80s style flashbacks during a funeral ceremony covering for a kidnapping of the four by a grudge-carrying former college roommate, Mike Sarayama, the same person whose funeral they’re attending. It turns out that all four made Mike’s love for a co-ed named Leslie Cohen an unrequited dream. It’s another subversively benign premise, but it’s dressed in a storyline that includes some genuine if occasionally deadpan peril. Viewers’ mileages may vary, but the episodes that include an adventure of some stripe for Team Venture are more satisfying if not as gut-busting.
5. Classic Venture
Running parallel to the stories that reveal the reason for Samson, Venture, White, and Ünderbheit’s imprisonment, Hank and Dean enlist some unlikely help in finding their father and Brock. After they call The Monarch to make sure he’s not responsible (he has something planned for tomorrow), Hank reaches out to the surviving members of the late Dr. Jonas’s original Team Venture. These four guys might be a little long in the tooth, but they are largely depicted as men with more than a little virility in the autumn of their years. It’s always a treat when the roster of this show expands as the creators seem to have an endless capacity for creating unique and intrinsically interesting characters. Dr. Orpheus even has another scene-stealing cameo in a Team Venture confrontation that is a highlight of the episode. While it feels wrong to keep wanting more of these inventive characters, revealing backstories, and reflexive storylines, it seems to be what Publick and Hammer are really skilled at providing in the best episodes of this first season.
That’s it for this week. Join us next time for the last two episodes of season one of The Venture Bros. and the conclusion to the 2018 Summer TV Binge.