Venture Brothers, Pinstripes and Poltergeists, Venture Bro
“You know, people cry about aborting babies because of their soul? Turns out, you don’t get a soul until you’re like, one… you’re just this crying, pooing monster blob until you get your soul.” – 24
We open with 21 chatting with his dead friend once again. Only this time, we actually see and hear 24. 21 asks about the afterlife, and 24 has some pretty unique insights, including that you don’t get a soul until you’re one year old. The Monarch walks in, angry that 21 is not suited up for their mission. The Monarch says they’re going to “make villain history”.
–Man, it’s good to see 24. His recounting of the life cracks me up, especially when he tells 21 the meaning of life is “the color 12”. (The reference they make is to Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, in with the answer to the question of Life, the Universe, and Everything is “42”.) Also neat is the way 24’s voice sometimes goes all spooky.
The obvious question is whether 21 is actually talking to his friend’s ghost, or if he’s gone crazy. I don’t think they give a definitive answer here – either interpretation is equally valid. But after all the supernatural stuff that happened last week, I’m siding with “ghost”.
It’s worth noting that the Monarch is clearly aware that 21 talks to 24’s skull, as much as he tried to hide it. And 24 brings up 21’s longstanding crush on Dr. Girlfriend, which always makes me laugh. Also, I love 21’s “Hench 4 Life” tattoo.
We get a whole new opening theme this week, a neat parody of the old school James Bond themes. This is only the second time this season that we’ve had a full opening – other than the premiere, every other episode has just had the logo and a quick musical sting.
“Boom! That’s right, this is all happening. Can not change the channel now!” – Shore Leave
Brock Samson (Yay!) and Shore Leave are lurking in a hallway, trying to override a computer system. Their target: Dr. Peter Schumpmaker, who is making the world’s most powerful stinkbomb. Shore Leave bursts into the lab to create a diversion and starts wailing on evil scientists.
–Dude, it’s Brock! I love that he uses a grappling hook rather than climb the ladder – the man’s got style. Shore Leave is surprisingly competent here, and he seems to be back to his old persona. At the end of Season Three, he found the Lord and changed his name to Holy Diver. They’ll explain this by the end, but both the flamboyantly gay and the ultra-religious versions are funny, so I’ve got no complaints.“I’m gonna arrive in style. Show this Monstroso chump I mean flying car business.” – The Monarch
In a flying Monarch-mobile, The Monarch, Dr. Mrs. The Monarch, and 21 are headed for a meeting with “Monstroso”. They’re unable to land the flying car, so Monarch and 21 tuck and roll. Meanwhile, Schumpmaker’s lab is littered with dead bodies, but they managed to restrain Shore Leave. Hanging from a chain, with two guns trained on him, Shore Leave explains that Schumpmaker is dangerous, and they have to kill him. At that moment, Brock drops from the ceiling, punches both gunmen through the skull, and bends Schumpmaker’s arm backwards.
–Is that a 3-D rendered Monarch-mobile? Why yes, I believe it is. Nice! This is the first we’ve seen of his flying car, by the way. After the old Monarch-mobile exploded and killed 24, an upgrade was in order. Monstroso has been referenced in the past, but never seen. In Season One’s “The Trial of the Monarch”, Monarch was humiliated by a leaked picture of Dr. Girlfriend sitting on Monstroso’s lap. We also know that he attended the wedding of Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend, where Dean tortured him with Snapple Facts.
From Shore Leave’s dialogue here, it sounds like SPHINX is in place to take on unregistered evildoers. The implication is that they’re dealing with actual threats, instead of the cartoonish villainy of the Guild of Calamitous Intent. See? You just knew Brock was doing the right thing! And man, is it ever good to see him punch two guys to death. It’s just like old times…
“Cigar?” – Monstroso
The Monarch and 21 enter Monstroso’s office. He is a very large and powerful-looking man who wears a business suit and a skullcap with devil horns. Monstroso reveals that he found a legal loophole to take down Dr. Venture – a zoning variance. He claims that this will give the Monarch all of Venture’s assets, and them muses as to whether he even needs the Monarch for this plan at all. At this point, 24’s ghost warns 21 that one of Monstroso’s henchmen has a gun, the other has a rag soaked in ether. 21 takes out both of the henchmen, impressing Monstroso.
–At last, we meet Monstroso! I like his character design quite a bit. I also like that he’s just doing regular business with his legal assistants, and when the Monarch shows up, he pulls on his devil horns and his assistants slip on their henchmen hoods. As he says, his company is “mostly” legitimate. He’s a pretty clear parody of the Kingpin, right down to his bulk.
I will love Monstroso forever just for the running gag in this scene where he keeps offering the Monarch a cigar. Four times in this scene! This scene also lends credence to the idea that it’s actually 24’s ghost. There’s no way that 21 would have realized somebody was packing a handkerchief soaked in ether on his own. See, on Battlestar Galactica, the imaginary number 6 would give Baltar information, but it was more about forcing him to realize things that he already knew, or putting together the pieces. She was all in his head. 24? I think that’s really his ghost.
“If it’s a Nigerian prince asking you to take 12 million dollars, he never sends it. Then you have to explain to your wife, who leaves you… for other reasons…” – Sgt. Hatred
Sgt. Hatred is irritated to find that Dr. Venture is using his screen name. Doc is completely new to the idea of e-mail spam, and he misconstrues much of what Hatred’s chat buddies have to say. Doc gets an e-mail telling him that because his grandfather zoned the Venture Compound for “the care and upkeep of American rightness and the active defense of her civil needs”. If at least ¾ of his property isn’t devoted to “do-gooding”, he’ll lose it to the Mammoth Corporation.
–Yes, we find out in this scene that Doc usually uses a Commodore 64 with a cradle modem. That fits nicely with the retro design of the compound. Of course, when he uses the modern computer in the boys’ room, Sgt. Hatred’s chat windows come up. That means Hatred uses that computer, and when you consider what chat rooms he hits up, that’s just super creepy. We also find out that Hatred lost most of his money in the Nigerian Prince scam. Hee. I’m surprised that Doc says his grandfather built the compound – I would have assumed it was Jonas. We’ve never seen Doc’s grandfather. His father and his great-great-grandfather, but nothing in between. We also learn that Doc has tenants on the compound beside Orpheus – he references the “Johnson Family” who live in the missile silo, and some guys who might be cooking meth in the Propulsion Research lab.
“Monstroso’s the king of the double-cross. Think about it. He’s a lawyer and a super-villain. That’s like a shark with a grenade launcher on its head.” – Dr. Mrs. The Monarch
Brock and Shore Leave are bathing in tomato juice to get the smell from the chemical weapons lab out. Hunter Gathers berates them for ruining their uniforms, because he’s the one who has to repair them. A SPHINX agent brings Hunter a fax showing that Monstroso is making a play for the Venture Compound, but they won’t talk about it in front of Brock. Meanwhile, in the cocoon, everybody’s moping around because they’re bored. When Dr. Mrs. The Monarch learns the specifics of the deal with Monstroso, she’s alarmed. She knows he’ll try to double-cross the Monarch. 21 confirms that Monstroso plans to take the Monarch’s property as well, thanks to the Blackberry he stole on the way out of the office. In their contract, Monarch signed away his rights as Venture’s arch. Dr. Mrs. The Monarch checks out his information, and in the process, puts her cleavage right in 21’s face. 21 then announces that he knows what he has to do.
–Oh, man. I love 21’s line about Mickey Rourke – “He looks like he was made by a
cobbler.” I’m also impressed that 21 thought to snatch a Blackberry and then pull Monstroso’s access codes. He’s become quite a good henchman. Also funny was his reaction to Dr. Mrs. The Monarch, especially the flashback to young 21 finding a soggy nudie magazine. And just what is it that 21’s going to do? I bet it’s going to be awesome… Also, note that Brock still has the metal plate in his chest.
cobbler.” I’m also impressed that 21 thought to snatch a Blackberry and then pull Monstroso’s access codes. He’s become quite a good henchman. Also funny was his reaction to Dr. Mrs. The Monarch, especially the flashback to young 21 finding a soggy nudie magazine. And just what is it that 21’s going to do? I bet it’s going to be awesome… Also, note that Brock still has the metal plate in his chest.“We don’t need that much room for what we do. And that’s why we can’t pay that much. Because we don’t do that much.” – Billy Quizboy
Doc leads Billy Quizboy and Pete White around the Compound, trying to get them to rent out space. He takes them to what looks like a small factory, but when he opens the door, it turns out to be SPHINX headquarters.
–Dude, I was not expecting that. Billy and White are really funny in this scene, especially Billy’s excitement and desire for a high-five. The poor guy has had such a terrible life, but he’s just full of enthusiasm for the next adventure. I like that he nicknamed White “The Pink Phantom”, by the way. And seriously, SPHINX has been on the Venture Compound the whole time? I can’t get over how awesome that it. What a great reveal! I think it’s really cool that Brock wasn’t far away from the family. Even with all the world-saving, he was keeping an eye on them as best he could. And man, it sure makes SPHINX look like a shoestring operation if they’re using an abandoned building on Rusty’s property for their headquarters.
Hey, there’s a Space Ghost: Coast to Coast short where Space Ghost interviews Zoe Saldana about Avatar. This is the first piece of marketing that has made me even vaguely interested in Delgo 2. I mean Avatar.
“How much you want for that watch of yours? Ours is way too creepy.” – Col. Hunter Gathers
Doc sits down with the SPHINX high command to hash things out. Hunter explains that the real SPHINX was wiped out in the Pyramid Wars of ’87, and they decided to repurpose the gear. They are not affiliated with OSI anymore, as they felt crippled by the bureaucracy. Hunter makes it clear that Billy and White will be mindwiped to forget this. Doc tries to get SPHINX to pay back rent. Brock talks about how hard it was to be near the family, and not be able to see them.
–Well, that answers a lot of questions. I assume the Pyramid Wars were what we saw in last season’s “Billy Quizboy and the Invisible Hand of Fate”. 1987 works out pretty well for the time frame – not perfectly, but since the characters don’t age in real time, it’s as close as they’re going to get. Hunter confirms that his sex change was real, but he had it reversed – that hadn’t been clear up until now. So in Season Two’s “Asassinanny 911”, he really did go rogue from OSI, and he had a sex change to (ostensibly) keep Brock from killing him (“No women, no kids.”), but there may have been a long-term plan at work there, too. Shore Leave and Mile High faked their religious conversions, though it’s not entirely clear as to what end yet. And though we all kind of knew it, it was nice to hear Brock say how much he missed the Ventures, and how hard it was to not be a part of their lives.
Also definitively confirmed is that Billy kept his memories at the end of “Invisible Hand of Fate” (though not for much longer). And once again we come to the idea that both OSI and the Guild of Calamitous Intent are showy but ineffective – Hunter and the rest are operating without sanction to take down the actual dangerous threats. Once again, we’ve learned this season that Lloyd Venture created the Guild, and there are at least two loopholes in Guild rules that have saved Doc in the past, one of him is actually named after him. The Guild exists to keep villains and lunatics tightly regulated, and OSI might have been a force to be reckoned with at one time, but now they’re just part of the pageantry.
“You can either follow me to our bedroom or bend over that control throne, because I haven’t been this turned on in forever.” – The Monarch
21 sneaks over the fence at the Venture Compound and takes the security lasers out with butterfly throwing stars. He asks 24 to disable the alarms, but 24 explains that he’s not a poltergeist and can’t move anything. He does agree to scout the grounds, but only if 21 will show off his knowledge of celebrity perfume lines to a couple of his friends – the ghosts of Speedy and President Woodrow Wilson. 21 says he’s waiting for Monstroso to show up where he can ambush him. Then he and 24 argue over whether his ghost is real. In the cocoon, Monarch rants about Monstroso’s betrayal, and then the Moppets report that 21 has disappeared with the Monarch-mobile. They assume that he’s going after Monstrose. Dr. Mrs. The Monarch realizes that this solves all their problems, since they didn’t order him to do so, and thus they didn’t violate Guild law.
–It’s interesting that when 21 and 24 argue over whether 24’s ghost is real, 24 is the one who says that he isn’t. Is this all in 21’s head, or is 24 just being a dick? And isn’t it great that 21 is impressing people in the afterlife with his knowledge of celebrity fragrances? (Woodrow Wilson? Really?) Besides the fact that 21 is seriously taking matters into his own hands here, the most important revelation is that 24 isn’t a poltergeist and can’t move physical objects. So it was definitely not him who updated 21’s revenge list in “Return to Malice”.
And finally, Dr. Mrs. The Monarch is getting tired of those little Moppet bastards. The Monarch’s managed to push them around this season, but if she loses interest, those creeps aren’t long for this world. Since I’m convinced they killed 24, I hate them. Thus, anything bad that happens to them will entertain me.
Are you ready for things to get all awesome? Well, here it comes!
“Hey! Did I ever tell you about your mother? Or that you’re both clones?” – Dr. Venture
21 approaches the Compound to see Brock Sampson waiting. 21 springs into action, takes a swing at Brock, and actually knocks him down. Brock is impressed. They fight, and while Brock clearly has the upper hand, 21 makes a better showing than you’d imagine. Back at SPHINX headquarters, Hunter offers to take care of Doc’s “Monstroso problem”. Mile High wipes Billy’s memory, and they decide it’s not worth the trouble to do the same to White. The boys then stumble across the headquarters, and Doc tells them that they’re clones and also starts telling them about their mother, as he leads them to have their memories wiped.
–That is a well-choreographed fight scene, and it’s amazing that they can convey the idea that Brock is the obvious winner while still having 21 perform admirably. It’s really well-done. Over at SPHINX, I freaking love the bit where Hunter chews out White after brainwashing Billy – “White, you lazy bastard. If you had half that little guy’s moxie, I’d be scrubbing you like a toilet seat.” It’s a weird show of respect for Billy, really. He could be dangerous knowing what he knows. White? Not so much.
The cool thing about that is that Billy Quizboy has had a terrible life. Being a hydrocephalic dwarf is enough to deal with, but he’s been publicly disgraced, mauled in a dogfight, manipulated by just about everybody in his life, and then nearly killed in Phantom Limb’s bizarre experiment. He had his memory wiped after all this, but last season, he got his memories back. And what I love is that bringing back all that trauma didn’t change Billy in the slightest. He’s still excited for new adventures, and he doesn’t sit back to bemoan his fate. Little Billy is a survivor, and it’s nice to see Hunter acknowledge that. “I’ll hand it to you – you really can deliver a pretty decent beating.” – Brock Samson
24’s ghost wakes up 21 after his beatdown. Brock admits his newfound respect, and they realize that both of them have it in for Monstroso. Later, 21 enters his office, dressed in Jedi robes. Monstroso summons his henchmen, but to no avail. He straps on his skullcap and gets up to thrash 21. And then, Brock shows up in the doorway. He and 21 both charge into battle and we head into the end credits.
–There’s not much to say here, but I love the interaction between Brock and 21 – that’s respect right there. And the fact that those two team up to take down Monstroso is pretty sweet. The interaction between them would have been impossible at any other time, and it comes off really well. It’s a nice touch that 21 still embraces his nerd side by dressing like Obi-Wan Kenobi for the attack.
“Brock?!?” – Hank Venture
In the tag, a blood-soaked Brock is calmly eating cereal in the Venture kitchen. A sleepy Hank comes in for a glass of water, and says hello to Bock as he passes. As soon as Hank leaves the room, it clicks, and the last line of the season is a very excited “Brock?!?”. Awwww.
And that’s the first half of Season Four! That was a pretty excellent finale. There was some legitimate heart, especially with Brock’s obvious pain over being separated from the Ventures. The big guy really does care. And it’s interesting to see how 21 processes grief, with varying degrees of anger and denial. While I still think the show’s overall themes focus on failure and the ongoing disappointment that the future has proven to be. However, this season has had an almost redemptive quality – We’ve seen some of our favorites, notably Doc and 21, take responsibility for the crappiness of their lives and try to make things better. Orpheus looked deep within himself and found something that he really liked. Brock made a great personal sacrifice for a cause he really believed in. Billy Quizboy didn’t let horrors that would break a lesser man dim his enthusiasm for one second. Hank and Dean each faced things that were very difficult for them and surprised themselves with how well they did. Heck, Jefferson Twilight literally found the magic within himself.
The Venture universe was fleshed out even more this season, with some real insight into how magic works, the real secret of the ORB, and we finally met characters who had remained offscreen until now – The Outrider, Captain Sunshine, Monstroso. The real aims of the various organizations have come more into focus, too.
We have some big questions to mull while we wait for the second half of the season. Why did Hunter Gathers hook up with Molotov Cocktease’s Blackhearts? Did he eliminate her after
they found Brock? Is Brock coming back to the Ventures? After all, he wasn’t in uniform when he went after Monstroso – is he done with SPHINX? And if Brock is back, where does that leave Sgt. Hatred? For cry Pete, who is the boys’ mother? What is the Master up to? What’s going to happen to Triana now that she’s living with her mother and studying sorcery? Did 21 survive the fight with Monstroso? Who killed 24? And seriously, is Ghost Robot coming back?
they found Brock? Is Brock coming back to the Ventures? After all, he wasn’t in uniform when he went after Monstroso – is he done with SPHINX? And if Brock is back, where does that leave Sgt. Hatred? For cry Pete, who is the boys’ mother? What is the Master up to? What’s going to happen to Triana now that she’s living with her mother and studying sorcery? Did 21 survive the fight with Monstroso? Who killed 24? And seriously, is Ghost Robot coming back?We’ll see you back here when the second half of the season begins. There’s no start date yet, but we’ll keep watching the schedule. The only official tease we have at this point is that Bill Hader is the new voice of Professor Impossible, and this is something I’m very excited about.
Another fantastic season – hats off to Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer, as well as the awesome production staff and voice cast. And until next time, just ask yourself: What Would Giant Boy Detective Do?
(If anybody out there is good at making things and wants to whip me up a “Wisdom” mug or a WWGBDD bracelet, I can assure you, you’ll be my new best friend.)
