Bot Seeks Bot – Venture Brothers Recap Season 5, Episode 7

Recap and Analysis of

Venture Brothers, Season Five, Episode 7

Bot Seeks Bot

by

Kemper James

First off I’d like to issue a correction to last weeks article on “Momma’s Boy’s”.  In it I mentioned an offhand comment Dean makes regarding Hank dying while wearing a Batman costume, I incorrectly stated that occurred in “SPHINX Rising” but the episode in question is “O.S.I. Love You.”

Now back to the regularly schedule recap.

This week not only did we get to see the O.S.I. in action once again, but we also got a peek inside the Guild of Calamitous Intent.  We were also left with some very big questions, but first things first.

We start out at the funeral of Boggles The Clue Clown, who was first mentioned in O.S.I. love you when Monstroso was being interrogated.

“Anyone else find it a little convenient the one guy on the Council Monstroso IDed, suddenly dropped dead?” Brock inquires.

“There’s nothing convenient about heart disease, I can assure you, Agent Sampson.”

While members of the G.C.I. are mourning their fallen comrade, Shore Leave, Brock and O.S.I. surveillance expert, Snoopy, are hiding in their mobile spy van which is covertly disguised as a graveyard monument.  The way the stealth mode works on the O.S.I. vehicle reminds me a bit of the chameleon circuit on the T.A.R.D.I.S.–when it’s working properly–but I’m not certain if this is a direct Doctor Who reference.

Red Mantle and Dragoon are at the funeral, dressed as a cliched mourning widow.  We are also introduced to Vendata, a cyborg member of the Council of Thirteen, who was created by Venture Industries when Jonas Venture Sr. was still alive and in charge.  Brock refers to him as a rogue Robocop and Shore Leave calls him the Bicentennial Man, referencing the the book by Isaac Asimov.

Captain Sunshine is also in attendance at the Clue Clown’s funeral, along with his new Wonder Boy.

“I can’t believe he is really gone,” Captain Sunshine laments.

“Right? Who the hell we gonna fight now?” asks Wonder Boy.

Wonder Boy of course is a parody of Robin, The Boy Wonder, sidekick to Batman.  Even though Captain Sunshine is closer to Superman regarding his powers, he’s mourning over the death of a clown nemesis, is more than a little reminiscent of Batman.  he is also voiced by Kevin Conroy, who provided the voice of Batman/Bruce Wayne in Batman the Animated Series and Batman Beyond.

While the Guild inducts its newest anonymous member, the O.S.I., is looking for a way to infiltrate the Guild.  Hunter deduces that Vendata is councilman number one and finds a personals ad submitted by the cyborg, seeking a metal companion.  Ghost Robot is recruited to go undercover as Galacticon, who looks a bit like Marvel’s Galacticus.

Ghost Robot was first introduced in Season Four’s, “Hansom Ransom”, the same episode we first see Captain Sunshine, who is mentioned in earlier episodes, but never seen.   In the second episode of Season Four, Ghost Robot is both a member of Captain Sunshine’s crime fighting team, along with US Steel, Barbie-Q and Brown Thrasher, but he is also Weatherbot 5, on the Action 5 News Team, which is populated the altar egos of the aforementioned superheroes.

Phage is inducted as the newest member of the Guild of Calamitous Intent.  Before he is even identified by Red Mantle, his silhouette makes it rather obvious.  Phineas Phage was introduced in the “Bright Lights, Dean City” from Season Four, when Phantom Limb, Richard Impossible and Baron Underbheit former The Revenge Society.  Doctor Z, is also a member of the Guild, given away by his silhouette as well as his voice.

The Sovereign insists they all follow Guild protocol, despite the fact that all the Council of Thirteen Members are aware of the other members’ identities.  After the Guild meeting officially convenes the silhouettes return and have a discussion about a celebration of the first new member in fifteen years.  During the discussion Vendata is teased about being a buzzkill, and doubt his claims that he has plans to meet a friend for dinner.  After the plans for the evening are solidified, the council members exit their personal chambers and bump into one another in the corridors outside.  Red Mantle mocks Doctor Z’s lame attempt to disguise himself.

“At least I tried,” Doctor Z says as he removes his false ears.

Vendata’s date with Ghost Robot begins at a restaurant, while Brock, Shore Leave, Snoopy and Head Shot spy from the van across the street.  While the O.S.I. spies, Head Shot calls out Shore Leave for the sassy gay routine, and there is a brief allusion to the fact that Brock and Amber Golf, Head Shot’s supposed girlfriend, have been intimate.

At the restaurant, the banter between Ghost Robot and Vendatta is priceless, they cover all the cliches of a first date, but from the indifferent perspective of machines.

“So…”

“You look different from your photographs”

“Are you disappointed?”

“Ambivalent.  Barely re-calibrating expectations.”

When the waiter arrives to take their order Ghost Robot announces, “Full disclosure, I do not eat.”

Vendata does eat, but only a special enzyme paste.  The two machines realize their presence in a restaurant is pointless and head for a Guild only night club.  The O.S.I. gang follows them to the club.  After discovering that they have no visual, or audio surveillance on their unarmed civilian informant, Brock and Shore Leave go undercover as Mummy Yeti and the Fruit Bat.  Though Shore Leave considered going as The Conquistadorable.

“So what, did you kill all these guys?” Shore Leave asks as they look through the costumes.

“Most yeah,” Brock says.  “Some of them just dropped their shit and ran.”

Sgt. Hatred catches Brock and Shore Leave raiding the Venture compound for villain costumes so Shore Leave Tasers him.  Rusty then catches them and believes that Brock and Shore Leave are headed to a costume party that they won’t tell him about.  Doc mentions that Brock is wearing the mummy costume that he rented for a performance at Rusty’s Day Camp for Boy Adventurers, which was featured in Season Three’s “Buddy System”.  That episode is also the first appearance of the E-Den which was featured prominently in the Season Five opener “What Color is Your Cleansuit?”

A group of Council of Thirteen members are car pooling in a pimped out dragster and reminiscing about the old days.  Dragoon is trying to recall the name of an old Supervillain.

“Hey, who was that one fellow?  What’s his name…with the moustache?” Dragoon asks.

“Oh that narrows it down,” Red Mantle responds.

“No, no, you know the one.  He had a dog whom he taught to drive and he would taunt and snicker at us.”

Dragoon of course is describing Hannah Barbara’s Dick Dasterdly and Muttley.

“What!? You senile old fool, you’re thinking of the Wacky Races!” Red Mantle chides.

“Yes, yes they could get quite wacky at times,” Dragoon says nostalgically.

At the club Ghost Robot is not doing well on his date with Vendata, who has noticed that the co-workers he was complaining about are also at the nightclub.  While Vendata goes over to talk to The Council of Thirteen, Brock and Shore Leave enter the club, which they had no problem getting into with fake IDs.  However, Augustus Saint Cloud was unable to get into the club with a valid guild ID, presumably because he isn’t cool enough.

When Brock and Shore Leave enter Don Hell’s, the supervillain equivalent of Studio 54, they bare witness to a large group of Supervillains dancing and partying.  Many of these villains can be seen in the Season One episode “Tag Sale You’re It” in which they attend a yard sale at The Venture Compound and/or in the Season Three opener where they can be seeing attending a Guild party at Phantom Limbs house.  There is also a brief cameo by Brick Frog, a rather lame supervillain who attempted to join The Revenge Society in Season Four.

Don Hell’s, named for it’s owner Don Hell, a Council of Thirteen member, is a parody of Don Hill’s, an NYC nightclub shut down in 2011, shortly after owner Don Hill’s death.

Once in the club Brock goes in search of Ghost Robot and tells Shore Leave to keep an eye on the door.

“You got it Chewbraca.”

Shore Leave enjoys giving Brock nicknames usually tied in with pop culture references.  Earlier in the episode in calls his fellow agent “Brock of Ages” and refers to Brock’s storage room at the Venture Compound as the Fortress of Brockitude–obviously referencing Superman’s Fortress of Solitude, and later in the episode he refers to Brock as Brock Custeau.  The bouncer at Don Hell’s uses a similar method of teasing when we refers to Augustus St. Cloud as “Truman CaBlowMe”, a twisting of Truman Capote’s name.

While Vendata is talking with his Guild cohorts, they spot undercover Brock talking with undercover Ghost Robot.  Doctor Z mentions the yeti mummy looks familiar.  This of course is because Doctor Z was hired to be part of the same production at Rusty’s Day Camp for Boy Adventurers.

Vendata watches as his date, “Galacticon” leaves with a Yeti Mummy and he follows them to the bathroom.  He catches Brock and Ghost Robot changing clothes, but thinks he catches them having sex.

“Gasp, it’s true,” Vendata says as flatly as possible.

Brock knocks out Vendata and steals his costume; Ghost Robot is now dressed as a Yeti Mummy.  This is to of course to avoid detection by the real Galacticon who has arrived at the nightclub.

While all that fun is happening, Rusty, wearing a clown wig, picks up BIlly Quiz Boy, dressed as a cowboy and heads for the “costume party”.

“Where’s White?” Rusty asks.  “Isn’t he coming?”

“Who? Steve Albino?” Billy mocks.  “No he’s still mixing the Jacket single.”

“Jacket” of course is the song Shallow Gravy performed at the Venture home prom in the Season Four finale.  There is also a music video for the song in the short “From the Ladle to the Grave: The Shallow Gravy Story.”  Pete White is Shallow Gravy’s producer, not their manager, as Hank cleared up in “Spanakopita” from a few weeks ago.  The Steve Albino crack is a delicious pun, mixing musician and sound engineer Steve Albini’s name, with the word albino, because of Pete White.

So Rusty and Billy arrive at the Guild nightclub which they believe to be a costume party and they run into a little trouble, a man pointing a gun at them.  Billy of course jumps into Doctor Venture’s arms, and the man with the gun mistakes Billy for a ventriloquist doll.  He obviously knows who Rusty is, because moments later he tells the nightclub owner Rusty and Billy are there–the two protagonists then end up on the wheel of torture just as Brock, Shore Leave and Ghost Robot are about to make their getaway.

Brock is torn and feels the need to save Rusty, showing that he still cares about the Venture Family, despite the fact that he is no longer their bodyguard.  Brock tells Shore Leave to take Ghost Robot and leave, “I can do this on my own.”

“What, commit suicide, blow your cover and start an interagency war?  I know he’s your old sugar daddy, but is he really worth it?”  Shore Leave inquires.

Meanwhile a guy in a squid costume uses a payphone to call the Monarch.  Flying Squid comes into play earlier in the episode when he confronts Shore Leave about the costume is wearing, which once belonged to a supervillain whose body was never found.

“Sri Lankan Devil Bird was a good friend of mine,” proclaims Flying Squid as he squirts ink on Shore Leave.

We actually witnessed the death of this character in Season Three’s “The Doctor is Sin”.  When Doctor Venture is showing General Manhowers around the Venture compound, Sri Lankan Devil Bird attacks.

“My archenemy just quit” Rusty explains.

Brock then goes all “sick house” on Devil Bird’s ass–a description of what Brock does best that the Monarch used in the first episode of Season One.

Back at Don Hell’s, Rusty and Billy are strapped to the wheel of torture awaiting their fate.

“Ass to ass,” Dragoon hollars with a fistful of money.

“I’m not with him,” insists Red Mantle, who shares a body with Dragoon.

“Wrong night Dragoon,” Don Hell informs him.

The ass to ass comment is most likely a reference to Darren Arronofsky’s film “Requiem for a Dream,” which was based on the Herbert Selby Jr. novel of the same name.

As the wheel of torture spins, Shore Leave is trying to cut through the rope holding up the giant disco ball to serve as a distraction, but he is not fast enough and the wheel lands on acid bath. Brock, in a Vendata disguise, claims to have one the right to administer the acid dip.

As Brock approaches the stage Shore Leave asks, “What are you doing?”

Brock admits he doesn’t know but tells Shore Leave to “be ready for anything.”

Rusty spits out his ball gag upon seeing Brock in the Vendata costume, “No! The metal murder man from my nightmares, he was real!”

We learn earlier in the episode that Vendata, formerly Venturion, was in the Venture family employ until he tried to strangle Rusty.

“Been there,” Brock empathizes.

The acid dip never happens because the Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend arrive on the scene to save Rusty–after a brief dispute with Phineas Phage over Guild bylaws.  Shore Leave abandons his tasks and joins Brock and Ghost Robot as they blend in with all the supervillains leaving the nightclub, due to cancellation of the night’s entertainment.  This happens right as Augustus Saint Cloud has finally been admitted to the club.  Instead of being discouraged by missing all the fun, Saint Cloud cluelessly inquires if there is an after party.

Shore Leave asks Brock if he’s going to save Doctor Venture from the Monarch.

“What’s he going to do, he’s the Monarch?” Brock laughs it off.

Then we cut to the Monarch and Doctor Venture.  Before The Monarch can even finish asking Doctor Venture what he should do with him, the giant disco ball falls on Rusty and the episode ends.

“What!?” I screamed at my television as the credits began to roll.   Then remembering there is a stinger at the end of each episode I waited patiently to get an answer as to what just happend.

But then I see the Sovereign offering Dr. Girlfriend a position on the Council of Thirteen.  This is to replace Vendata–Brock broke the cyborg when he knocked him out earlier and Vendatta is last seen collapsing as he displays his last scrap of humanity.

Dr. Girlfriend asks if she can think about the Sovereign’s offer, “I should really, probably talk this over with my husband.”

The camera pulls out to see The Revenge Society watching surveillance footage of Dr. Girlfriend and the Sovereign, on a television set in a rundown apartment.

“Best show on television,” says Phantom Limb.

Enter Henry Killinger with the popcorn, “What did I miss?”

“What!?” I shout again to my TV.  There is no response, of course.  The episode is over and I’m still in need of answers.  I guess I should just be glad it’s not the season finale.