6.8/10. I'm not really vibing with this new season yet. Things are getting really scattershot in terms of the storytelling, which isn't anything new for Venture Bros., but normally the show manages to tie things together at the end in a way that makes the less-focused parts of the episode's beginnings more satisfying by the end. Which is to say that I liked parts of this episode, but it never really came together to feel like something cohesive or complete.
The closest is with Billy and White vs. St. Cloud and that rubber ball from a Duran Duran video. Most of this was too steeped in Eighties lore for me to really appreciate (which, hey, I'm six seasons into VB -- no one to blame but myself), but I liked the idea that Billy and White saw themselves as dreamers changing the world, even if White is starting to tire of the playacting nature of their world. The twist that they've been bought by Dr. Venture to "dream big" is a canny one in that vein. On the other end, I liked the conflict with Dr. Venture wanting to run an imaginative, forward-looking company, and having to hew to the demands of running a successful business in 2016. I especially liked that it was Dean who figured a way to split the baby. Maybe, just maybe, he can help get out of the Venture cycle of failure.
The rest of the episode was hit-and-miss. I appreciate the Trainspotting parody, but otherwise The Captain's tranq addiction story didn't generate many laughs. Brock and Hatred bonding a bit after their initial mutual suspicion and disregard was nice, but again, felt underserved by how much was going on in the episode. The idea that Wide Whale is running a protection racket with The Avengers pastiches is a pleasant enough twist, but didn't really go anywhere, beyond motivating the Brock-Hatred story a bit. And Monarch and Gary teaming up to get other villains to sign releases so that they can arch Dr. Venture had lots of comic potential, but also felt squeezed given how much was happening here.
Overall, there's a lot of interesting elements, none of which really gets the time or space to breathe, and the episode comes out less funny and more jumbled as a result.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2016-09-02T16:56:51Z
6.8/10. I'm not really vibing with this new season yet. Things are getting really scattershot in terms of the storytelling, which isn't anything new for Venture Bros., but normally the show manages to tie things together at the end in a way that makes the less-focused parts of the episode's beginnings more satisfying by the end. Which is to say that I liked parts of this episode, but it never really came together to feel like something cohesive or complete.
The closest is with Billy and White vs. St. Cloud and that rubber ball from a Duran Duran video. Most of this was too steeped in Eighties lore for me to really appreciate (which, hey, I'm six seasons into VB -- no one to blame but myself), but I liked the idea that Billy and White saw themselves as dreamers changing the world, even if White is starting to tire of the playacting nature of their world. The twist that they've been bought by Dr. Venture to "dream big" is a canny one in that vein. On the other end, I liked the conflict with Dr. Venture wanting to run an imaginative, forward-looking company, and having to hew to the demands of running a successful business in 2016. I especially liked that it was Dean who figured a way to split the baby. Maybe, just maybe, he can help get out of the Venture cycle of failure.
The rest of the episode was hit-and-miss. I appreciate the Trainspotting parody, but otherwise The Captain's tranq addiction story didn't generate many laughs. Brock and Hatred bonding a bit after their initial mutual suspicion and disregard was nice, but again, felt underserved by how much was going on in the episode. The idea that Wide Whale is running a protection racket with The Avengers pastiches is a pleasant enough twist, but didn't really go anywhere, beyond motivating the Brock-Hatred story a bit. And Monarch and Gary teaming up to get other villains to sign releases so that they can arch Dr. Venture had lots of comic potential, but also felt squeezed given how much was happening here.
Overall, there's a lot of interesting elements, none of which really gets the time or space to breathe, and the episode comes out less funny and more jumbled as a result.