Thursday, August 07, 2008

[Venture Brothers] The Last Three Episodes

Yeah, I'm really behind on this. Let's try and fix that. Because I'm really late in writing these, this is going to make heavy use of the capsules from Mantis Eye Experiment, which is a fantastic site you should check out for all things Venture Bros.

Season 3, Episode 8: Tears of a Seacow

Once again, this episode wasn't very Venture-centric--and really the whole season has turned out to be relatively lacking in Rusty, the boys, and Brock in comparison to seasons 1 & 2--but "Tears of a Sea Cow" pretty much matches "What Comes Down, Must Come Up" just in terms of purely how funny it is. The beginning with Dr. Duodong was just inspired.

Episode rating: Like killing clean, not letting dames get in the way

Favorite Bits\Random Thoughts:

-The Monarch not at all impressed by Dr. Duodong's secret lair. "I'm absolutely terrified of your prop from an old Styx video!"

-"Give us the... cuddlefish... I can't do this."

-The Monarch, 21, and 24 reading Dean's newspaper. "This D. Viceroy guy is probably fictitious, or... one of you guys."

-The Murderous Moppets now going around as "The Pupae Twins" to fit in with the butterfly theme.

-21's whole "Highlander" exchange with Hank. "I've personally seen you die TWICE. I'm talking like, shotgun to the face!"

Season 3, Episode 9: Now Museum, Now You Don't

Firstly, amazing episode title. This episode took place entirely on Spider Skull Island, which Jonas Jr. is turning into a museum dedicated to his father. It took care of a whole bunch of story, including what's become of Richard Impossible (he's an alcoholic deadbeat), what the former ghost pirates are up to (wishing they were ghost pirates again), and how Rusty feels about Jonas Jr (still hates him). Even though it takes place entirely in one spot there's a lot going on and it feels pretty rushed. They still managed to fit some funny material in though.

Episode rating: Like when the Monarch Mobile looks like someone took it to Magic Mountain and did that Spin Art thing on it.

-The old Bond movie style opening with Jonas Venture infiltrating the Fraternity of Torment in an absoutlely awful Chinese guy disguise.

-I love the idea of the old heroes and villains signing autographs next to each other.

-Colonel Gentlemen's alive! I love his story of eating mallomars with a "Yoohoo chaser" until he goes into a coma.

-The pirate captain asking Richard "Fess up, you were just tryin' to kill yourself weren't ya?" Great ending.

Season 3, Episode 10: The Lepidopterists

For what its worth, from Wikipedia:

A lepidopterist is a person who catches and collects, studies, or simply observes (see butterfly watching) lepidopterans
Anyway, this was a great episode, a nice change of pace from "Now Museum, Now You Don't" not that it wasn't funny, but I thought it got a little too hung up in all the different character development stuff it was trying to tackle at once. This felt a little more like an episode that held up on its own.

Episode rating: Like having a Tekken 3 machine in the lounge

Favorite Bits/Random Thoughts:

-The whole sequence with Jonas Jr. and team forming the Voltron-type robot was brilliant. Reminded me a lot of the Mecha-Shiva scene from season 1. "It looks like a robot with an ice cream cone for one of its arms!" I loved Ned's constant interruptions as The Monarch tries to get into a dramatic exchange with Jonas. "Butterflies! Pretty!"

-"Poor Ned has three inches of skin. How do you think that makes him feel?"
"I dunno, itchy?"

-"Me and my associates here are amateur lepidopterists."
"You... wanna see my stamp collection?"

-Gotta love 21 and 24 referencing Tomb Raider

I'm still wating for one big Brock ass-kicking scene this season. Season 3 has given me a lot, but I need to see Brock flipping out and killing people.

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