Orders Regarding Bodyguard
Posted on | August 12, 2008 at 11:02 pm | 1 Comment
I know I talk up the Cartoon Network/Adult Swim show The Venture Brothers quite a bit, but I just can’t help myself. This week’s episode, “Orb” (watch it here while it’s still online), was the last one of the third season before the two part season finale. I continue to be blown away by the things they are doing with this show. It started off in the first season as a cute parody of the Jonny Quest-type Saturday morning adventure cartoons, with heavy doses of other pop culture satirization thrown in, mostly from comic books, but everything is fair game. (And though it can be nasty about it, it’s nowhere near as nasty as your average South Park episode – the creators’ fondness for their source material shines through in every scene.) And then something happened. Much like the comic book Cerebus The Aardvark before Dave Sim got all crazy religious and misogynistic, what started out as a simple parody turned into an exercise in universe-building and an exploration of deeper themes. Sure, the overriding theme (according to the creators themselves) is “failure”, but at least that’s something.
The first season of the show established the main characters and gave them some adventurous things to do. The second season fleshed out the characters and their motivations and flaws and started expanding the universe and setting up the rules. The third season, now nearly over, delves deeply into the back stories of nearly everyone involved (including their ancestors), to the point where flashbacks take up a significant part of each episode. It all seems to be leading to something, probably some major revelations (Why does The Monarch hate Dr Venture so much? What secret did Dr Girlfriend tell The Monarch at the end of last season?), but it could all just as easily be a gigantic tease. After all, a fourth season is already in pre-production.
This latest episode was so densely packed with plot and zippy dialog that I had to watch it twice to fully understand everything that happened. It had some astonishing scenes set in a 19th century steampunky past, featuring Venture ancestor Colonel Lloyd Venture and a congregation of real and fictional historical luminaries (including Oscar Wilde, Eugen Sandow, Mark Twain, and Aleister Crowley) meant to satirize The League Of Extraordinary Gentleman. It’s funny and exciting, but at the same time it resonates on a deeper creative level, especially in the tragic way the flashback ends. It not only sets up the moral conflict faced by Venture bodyguard Brock Samson (voiced by the always great Patrick Warburton) later in the episode, but it also hints at the origins of The Guild Of Calamitous Intent, the mysterious organization that’s behind most of what happens in Venture World (and whose modern day leader is an ever-popular chameleonic British rock star).
As with all good storytelling, at times I find myself getting a little bit too wrapped up in the characters and my interpretations of them, which makes it all the more impactful when my expectations get turned around. From the very first episode, they’ve portrayed the main character Dr Rusty Venture as a total dick. And yet, when I saw how he not only had to live in the shadow of his more famous/more competent father, but also how that father constantly subjected him to a bizarre form of child abuse (it’s not easy being a Boy Adventurer), it became easier to have sympathy for him. That’s been a major theme of this season. And then they have this latest episode, where Dr Venture not only shows joy at reliving some good parts of his past, but also ends up making the right decision for once… and Wow. They’ve given us a more intimate bit of universe building.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, there’s Venture’s arch-enemy The Monarch, a laughably pitiable supervillain who can never do anything right. From the beginning, I kind of liked him and rooted for him to actually have some measure of success in the Evildoing Biz. I cheered every time Henchmen #21 and #24 (whom Monarch describes as a combination of “expendable and invulnerable”) made it through another ridiculous mission alive. And then, this season Monarch does actually start to become somewhat competent and successful. It could be because of his marriage to Dr Girlfriend, but it seems more to do with him finally letting out his pent-up rage towards Rusty and the Venture Family. But then it starts getting really dark. Sure, Monarch has never been shy about killing people, but to see him cold-bloodily mow down that pathetic hero Dr Dugong (as well as others hinted at but not shown on screen) was a bit too much. Not to mention the humping-the-robot scene, which was funny but disturbing. All that empathy I had built up for the character started to dwindle away. Expectations dashed again. But I still get the feeling it’s all part of the larger story the creators are trying to tell, and they’re toying with my emotions on purpose.
I know it’s wrong to take a cartoon so seriously, especially one that’s so satirical. But the creators are obviously taking it very seriously and so must I. Instead of letting the joke run dry, they’ve extended the premise by constantly bringing in new elements and new revelations, and even playing around with (*gasp*) drama! Even when an episode isn’t that funny, it’s still very exciting to see how it plays out. So, I’ll be really interested to see how this season winds up over the next two weeks (”The Family That Slays Together, Stays Together”). I suspect there will be a major confrontation between Rusty and Monarch, but I have no idea where it will lead. I’m just along for the ride. Like little Rusty Venture following his father into the unknown.
Latre.
P.S. I must give props to the fans maintaining the Venture Brothers Wikipedia entry. Very detailed stuff!
P.P.S. Oh, and go out and buy or rent the first two seasons on DVD. You won’t be sorry!
P.P.P.S. Write Stephen Colbert and tell him to come back as the voice of Mr Impossible!
P.P.P.P.S. This show is definitely not for kids.
Jogged Today: Yes (@ 60°F)
Songs That Came Up On The iPod While Jogging:
- “Reminders” (Yuji Oniki)
- “Clean, Clean” (Buggles)
- “Blue Overall” (XTC)
- “Assoholic” (54-40)
- “Linus And Lucy” (Game Theory)
- “Jonathon Fisk” (Spoon)
- “I Don’t Believe You” (Al Stewart)
Comments
One Response to “Orders Regarding Bodyguard”
August 13th, 2008 @ 12:54 am
#1 in da hood, G!
> P.P.P.S. Write Stephen Colbert and tell him to come back as the voice of Mr Impossible!
He’s also left “Harvey Birdman” so I’m guessing his ‘real life’ show is taking all his time.