So, the premiere episode of The Venture Bros. opens on a Mexican strip poker game with some shady characters who are but moments from a pummeling courtesy one Brock Samson. The hand is played, Brock loses because of "Tijuana Rules" and removes his briefs, and then, while everyone is terrified (and awed) and the immensity of his manhood, Brock kills probably 90% of the people in the room... with his socks. Finally, the man with whom he was playing poker surrenders (so as not to die) and hands over the item for which Brock came: a part for a '69 Charger. Smash to the credits.
First of all, this is a pretty ballsy way to open the first episode of a show. There's really no way to get a sense of what exactly is happening until after the credits, because only one of these characters is significant, and he's the only main character (at this point in the show) who doesn't have the surname "Venture." My other issue with the opening is that it has basically no bearing on anything else in the episode, beyond that it's set in Mexico and it establishes Brock as a badass.
Moving forward, we're introduced to Doctor Venture, who's come to Mexico to give a lecture on... the Scientific Method? He uses it to disprove the idea that Chupacabras are running about the place and is about to turn his reasoning to the Catholic Church (I love that chalkboard drawing of what I assume is the Pope zapping a church steeple in the background) when it comes to his attention that most of his students are in fact in the wrong classroom. After some confusion on the subject of his payment, he meets up with Brock (who's heading off with a hooker) and his sons, Hank and Dean:
After a few short exchanges (in which we realize the boys are about a bright as a shattered light bulb and that Doc has about as much compassion for his sons as the Xenomorph), the Monarch is introduced as Doctor Venture's archenemy in a delicious parody of Johnny Quest-esque villainy. Indeed, much of this season can be viewed less as the world-building show that challenges it's characters and more as a straight parody of Golden Age Hanna-Barbera cartoons. "What would it be like if Johnny Quest grew up super-dysfunctional?" is the guiding question here (and one that will be directly answered in season 2, in one of the show's all-time best episodes).
Anyway, Doc fucks off to get some painkillers from "Dr . Ernesto Guevara" (clever, that), the Monarch sends out "a phalanx of no less than 3 and no more than 5 henchmen" to observe and report, and the boys decide that they need to show the family robot HELPeR their appreciation by taking him to an auto-detailer, you know, to make him pretty. Of course, the henchmen run into Hank and Dean, who radio for help, prompting Brock to come to the rescue and be blasted with about eighty-seven tranq darts before being struck with the Monarchmobile and left for dead in the desert.
Meanwhile, Doc wakes up without his kidneys and, realizing he might need those, tries to find the boys for a transplant. He finds Brock's grave in the desert and upon Brock's return to the living (I guess he had to sleep off those darts) they voyage to the Monarch's cocoon and asses are kicked. I realize this is a somewhat slipshod account of the final act, but discussing the Monarch's origin (which has never been addressed since) and his attempts to become the boys' surrogate father would just be kind of weird (like when he's play wrestling with them and Hank's pants start falling down). It is worth noting that after Dean and Hank are rescued, they Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who'll give their pop a kidney and they both lose, a move that firmly cements Doctor Venture in the "Worst Father Ever" category, even if the boys are just clones.
For a first episode, there's a lot of character work here. Some of it is consistent with the future of the characters (Doc's seeming disinterest in his sons), some of it isn't (Brock's disinterest in the Venture clan), and some of it is groundwork for the characters to expand upon in the future (Doc's addiction to painkillers, the Monarch's relationship with Dr. Girlfriend). As of this episode, the character who has the most growing to do is Brock; it won't be for at least seven or eight episodes that he starts showing anything approaching real affection for the boys, and not until season 2 that he's as much a guiding force in their development (if not moreso) as their father.
Further, the first season in particular lays all it's Johnny Quest cards on the table (well... except for Johnny Quest himself). This episode and the next are variations on Quest-style adventure episodes: a foreign locale, a touch of the supernatural (real or imagined), henchmen and kidnappings, mysteries involving ghosts, etc etc. The major difference (aside from tone) is that Rusty Venture is no Doctor Benton Quest. No, he's the kid who used to have to tag along with his dad everywhere, trying not to be kidnapped or get in the way, who's never managed to step out from the shadow of his father, a theme that will continue long into the series.
So this is the beginning. And like most beginnings, it's not the greatest. There are still some good moments here, but this episode and the next are best viewed (in my opinion) more as moments to establish our characters and our themes (failure as a theme is big in episode 2). Going forward, we have yet to be introduced to a number of important characters, Dr. Orpheus and Phantom Limb being two that spring immediately to mind, as well as Henchmen 21 and 24 (though 24 does have a line or two in this episode, even if he isn't credited as such), and so much more story to unravel.
Episode grade: 6.5/10 (if this is actually the first episode you watch. Otherwise add a half point.)
Notes:
"But that might've been someone's spirit, Pop."
"All the more reason to get it the Hell off me!"
-Dean and Doc
"Chupacabra. They're all over Mexico."
-Brock
That thing about Speedy "earning his wings?" Never mentioned again as something the Monarch's henchmen have to do.
"What's Mexican for 'doctor?'"
"Doctor."
-Doc and Dr. Guevara
No comments:
Post a Comment