serpentine malign (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
serpentinemalign) wrote2021-06-10 02:31 am
serpentinemalign) wrote2021-06-10 02:31 am
Entry tags:
what are we, some kind of venture brothers? (part 4 of 7)
WARNINGS:
NAVIGATION
Hey folks! It’s been a while. I'm currently swamped with work and my partner and I just got into Metalocalypse, so my rewatch of The Venture Bros. slowed down. Plus, this is the longest season of the show, so it was gonna take a little longer anyway.
This season had some troubled development, hence (at least partly) why it was broken into two halves. Intentionally or not, the season's tone does reflect this. It feels bleaker than the rest of the show, somehow. It digs into the tragedy and trauma, watching the characters make horrible decision after horrible decision. I don't think the season is always successful, but it's bold, and its tonal shifts lead to some of the most outstanding storytelling in the series. When I first watched the show this was my favourite season, and it might still be! We’ll see when we get to the end of this retrospective.
Season 4 is, first and foremost, a low-key season. The laughs are darker, more bitter. This is not a season of action-packed multi-parters. For most of it, we’re living in the breathing space between the action. It’s almost like an entire ‘Doc Hammer’ season, in the sense that Hammer is generally the writer of the more dialogue- and pathos-heavy plots. Many Season 4 episodes aren’t individually fantastic or stand-out, but they have a lingering sadness to them that resonates. The subsequent seasons keep a better balance between sadness and silliness, but I’d say that this season laid the groundwork for the show's biggest emotional punches. And this season absolutely delivers on the heartwrenching moments, especially between Rusty and his sons.
This is the first season where the continuity really begins to hit. It's all about sticking with the permanence of the characters’ decisions and leaning into their mistakes. All the characters are struggling so much this season. The boys are growing up (and, because their clones are dead, we know we’re sticking with them this time) and both of them are realising they don’t want the life that’s been handed them. 21 is grieving and falling off the deep end. Rusty and Brock and Hatred are all grieving in more figurative ways. Characters we saw on top of their game at the start of the show are now washed up and broken (the entire Revenge Society!). And the characters who gain a little extra time in the limelight end up stagnating and suffering as a result of their greater role in the plot (Billy, 21). As Self-Medication demonstrates, you don't want to be a major player in any boy’s-adventure cartoon, let alone The Venture Bros. This existence is one of suffering, stagnation and loss, hidden beneath wacky theatrics.
Removing Brock from the equation offers a chance for the show to spend more time looking at Rusty's neglect and abuse of the boys. The season spends a lot of time on the maladjustment of the boys, and it's kind of the first time they actually matter. Hank and Dean are, of course, the stars of season 4. I couldn’t give it to anyone else. This is the first season that ‘The Venture Bros.’ doesn’t feel like an ironic name — the first season that the boys are characters you can actually care about. The whole season is anchored by their coming of age and their coming to terms with inherited trauma. Dean wanting to distance himself from the lofty aspirations and expectations of his father, Hank desperately missing Brock and struggling to find his own identity.
Even as it embraces a more continuous plot, Season 4 carries on that theme of repetition and stagnation from the earlier seasons. It's about the cycle of abuse and trauma passed down through the Venture family. “No shit,” you're saying, “that's the theme of the whole show”. But I love how this season sprinkles in echoes of this cycle in other, less recognisable forms — the most obvious is the dreadfully creepy Wonder Boy->Captain Sunshine->Desmond cycle. And, maybe I'm grasping at straws here, but I feel like it's also echoed in the OSI-to-SPHINX (SPHINX!)-to-OSI pipeline. An organisation that broke out against and threatened the status quo, being swallowed back up so it can protect the status quo.
On second watch, there are some things I could appreciate more — like Sergeant Hatred. Knowing where his character development goes later, it was a lot easier to appreciate his presence, in spite of the edgy jokes this season. He helps add to the family's dynamic shift, and he's a great symbol of the show's newfound sense of continuity and permanence. While Brock was good at dragging the family away from dire consequence, Hatred is a godawful bodyguard who fucks up almost as much as Rusty does. Introducing Hatred as a bodyguard really adds to that feeling of removing the safety net. I actually love the chemistry that Rusty and Hatred have on-screen. Like I don’t SHIP them, but they’re two horrible, horrible people who bounce off each other so well. They're both desperate for affirmation after being separated from their respective loved ones (because, let’s be real, Rusty and Brock were husbands in all but name).
My episode rankings are heavily weighted towards the top tiers here — as I already said, this season is a personal favourite of mine. My general impression of this season is that there are lots of imperfect episodes with brilliant moments and ideas that resonate much more than the episodes’ overall plot. The Revenge Society is B-tier for me, but I think about Rusty and Dean’s dialogue on the walkway all the fucking time.
S-tier: Pinstripes and Poltergeists; Everybody Comes to Hank’s; Bright Lights, Dean City; Assisted Suicide
A-tier: Handsome Ransom; Return to Malice; Self-Medication; The Better Man; The Diving Bell Vs. The Butter Glider; Any Which Way But Zeus; The Silent Partners; Operation: P.R.O.M.
B-tier: Perchance To Dean; The Revenge Society; Pomp and Circuitry
C-tier: Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel
D-tier:
E-tier:
This season features an incredible three-episode run of consecutive S-tiers (Everybody, Bright Lights, and Assisted Suicide). I said Hank and Dean were this season's stars, and so it's weird that none of these episodes are really about Hank and Dean, but that’s why they work. We get a little taste of the kind of people Hank and Dean are gonna grow into, but each episode shows how they’ll be stymied by their upbringing in different ways. Just as Rusty imposed his own upbringing on the boys, so too do the first two episodes superimpose storylines about Rusty onto stories that are ostensibly about his sons. Everybody focuses on a terrible mistake from Rusty's past, and Bright Lights hints towards his future peril at the hands of the Revenge Society. And then the third episode just hits home that his sons don’t count among his prized possessions. (I love the parallels between this and last season, when we saw the interview with Jonas saying Rusty was his greatest invention.)
Altogether, the three episodes act as a kind of shot and chaser. (A shot and two chasers? Two shots and a chaser?) The first episode reveals some fucked up shit about Rusty we didn’t know already. The second episode is hilarious and silly, but Rusty's self-absorption rings a lot darker with that revelation hanging over our heads. And then the third episode brings us back to the inheritance of trauma, and the horror that preceded Rusty becoming the person he is today. That little after-credits monologue after Assisted Suicide haunts me.
Our lowest rated episode is our season premiere. It’s not that there’s anything terrible about it. It just could have stood to be a little longer — split between two episodes, maybe. I don’t think the nonlinear timeline worked particularly well here, especially not when it had to juggle so many plotlines to get us up to speed.
The season as a whole can feel a little disjointed, especially with the mid-season split and some of the repeated plot elements. It's weird they have two separate episodes in the second half dedicated to Rusty being incapacitated in different ways. Equally, though, I think this is a small trade-off for the season's depth and development. Season 4 took so many risks, and while not all of them paid off, it's the bravest season we've had so far. And it's only up from here.
- Venture Bros. spoilers, discussions of abuse as per what's in the show.
NAVIGATION
Hey folks! It’s been a while. I'm currently swamped with work and my partner and I just got into Metalocalypse, so my rewatch of The Venture Bros. slowed down. Plus, this is the longest season of the show, so it was gonna take a little longer anyway.
This season had some troubled development, hence (at least partly) why it was broken into two halves. Intentionally or not, the season's tone does reflect this. It feels bleaker than the rest of the show, somehow. It digs into the tragedy and trauma, watching the characters make horrible decision after horrible decision. I don't think the season is always successful, but it's bold, and its tonal shifts lead to some of the most outstanding storytelling in the series. When I first watched the show this was my favourite season, and it might still be! We’ll see when we get to the end of this retrospective.
Season 4 is, first and foremost, a low-key season. The laughs are darker, more bitter. This is not a season of action-packed multi-parters. For most of it, we’re living in the breathing space between the action. It’s almost like an entire ‘Doc Hammer’ season, in the sense that Hammer is generally the writer of the more dialogue- and pathos-heavy plots. Many Season 4 episodes aren’t individually fantastic or stand-out, but they have a lingering sadness to them that resonates. The subsequent seasons keep a better balance between sadness and silliness, but I’d say that this season laid the groundwork for the show's biggest emotional punches. And this season absolutely delivers on the heartwrenching moments, especially between Rusty and his sons.
This is the first season where the continuity really begins to hit. It's all about sticking with the permanence of the characters’ decisions and leaning into their mistakes. All the characters are struggling so much this season. The boys are growing up (and, because their clones are dead, we know we’re sticking with them this time) and both of them are realising they don’t want the life that’s been handed them. 21 is grieving and falling off the deep end. Rusty and Brock and Hatred are all grieving in more figurative ways. Characters we saw on top of their game at the start of the show are now washed up and broken (the entire Revenge Society!). And the characters who gain a little extra time in the limelight end up stagnating and suffering as a result of their greater role in the plot (Billy, 21). As Self-Medication demonstrates, you don't want to be a major player in any boy’s-adventure cartoon, let alone The Venture Bros. This existence is one of suffering, stagnation and loss, hidden beneath wacky theatrics.
Removing Brock from the equation offers a chance for the show to spend more time looking at Rusty's neglect and abuse of the boys. The season spends a lot of time on the maladjustment of the boys, and it's kind of the first time they actually matter. Hank and Dean are, of course, the stars of season 4. I couldn’t give it to anyone else. This is the first season that ‘The Venture Bros.’ doesn’t feel like an ironic name — the first season that the boys are characters you can actually care about. The whole season is anchored by their coming of age and their coming to terms with inherited trauma. Dean wanting to distance himself from the lofty aspirations and expectations of his father, Hank desperately missing Brock and struggling to find his own identity.
Even as it embraces a more continuous plot, Season 4 carries on that theme of repetition and stagnation from the earlier seasons. It's about the cycle of abuse and trauma passed down through the Venture family. “No shit,” you're saying, “that's the theme of the whole show”. But I love how this season sprinkles in echoes of this cycle in other, less recognisable forms — the most obvious is the dreadfully creepy Wonder Boy->Captain Sunshine->Desmond cycle. And, maybe I'm grasping at straws here, but I feel like it's also echoed in the OSI-to-SPHINX (SPHINX!)-to-OSI pipeline. An organisation that broke out against and threatened the status quo, being swallowed back up so it can protect the status quo.
On second watch, there are some things I could appreciate more — like Sergeant Hatred. Knowing where his character development goes later, it was a lot easier to appreciate his presence, in spite of the edgy jokes this season. He helps add to the family's dynamic shift, and he's a great symbol of the show's newfound sense of continuity and permanence. While Brock was good at dragging the family away from dire consequence, Hatred is a godawful bodyguard who fucks up almost as much as Rusty does. Introducing Hatred as a bodyguard really adds to that feeling of removing the safety net. I actually love the chemistry that Rusty and Hatred have on-screen. Like I don’t SHIP them, but they’re two horrible, horrible people who bounce off each other so well. They're both desperate for affirmation after being separated from their respective loved ones (because, let’s be real, Rusty and Brock were husbands in all but name).
My episode rankings are heavily weighted towards the top tiers here — as I already said, this season is a personal favourite of mine. My general impression of this season is that there are lots of imperfect episodes with brilliant moments and ideas that resonate much more than the episodes’ overall plot. The Revenge Society is B-tier for me, but I think about Rusty and Dean’s dialogue on the walkway all the fucking time.
S-tier: Pinstripes and Poltergeists; Everybody Comes to Hank’s; Bright Lights, Dean City; Assisted Suicide
A-tier: Handsome Ransom; Return to Malice; Self-Medication; The Better Man; The Diving Bell Vs. The Butter Glider; Any Which Way But Zeus; The Silent Partners; Operation: P.R.O.M.
B-tier: Perchance To Dean; The Revenge Society; Pomp and Circuitry
C-tier: Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel
D-tier:
E-tier:
This season features an incredible three-episode run of consecutive S-tiers (Everybody, Bright Lights, and Assisted Suicide). I said Hank and Dean were this season's stars, and so it's weird that none of these episodes are really about Hank and Dean, but that’s why they work. We get a little taste of the kind of people Hank and Dean are gonna grow into, but each episode shows how they’ll be stymied by their upbringing in different ways. Just as Rusty imposed his own upbringing on the boys, so too do the first two episodes superimpose storylines about Rusty onto stories that are ostensibly about his sons. Everybody focuses on a terrible mistake from Rusty's past, and Bright Lights hints towards his future peril at the hands of the Revenge Society. And then the third episode just hits home that his sons don’t count among his prized possessions. (I love the parallels between this and last season, when we saw the interview with Jonas saying Rusty was his greatest invention.)
Altogether, the three episodes act as a kind of shot and chaser. (A shot and two chasers? Two shots and a chaser?) The first episode reveals some fucked up shit about Rusty we didn’t know already. The second episode is hilarious and silly, but Rusty's self-absorption rings a lot darker with that revelation hanging over our heads. And then the third episode brings us back to the inheritance of trauma, and the horror that preceded Rusty becoming the person he is today. That little after-credits monologue after Assisted Suicide haunts me.
Our lowest rated episode is our season premiere. It’s not that there’s anything terrible about it. It just could have stood to be a little longer — split between two episodes, maybe. I don’t think the nonlinear timeline worked particularly well here, especially not when it had to juggle so many plotlines to get us up to speed.
The season as a whole can feel a little disjointed, especially with the mid-season split and some of the repeated plot elements. It's weird they have two separate episodes in the second half dedicated to Rusty being incapacitated in different ways. Equally, though, I think this is a small trade-off for the season's depth and development. Season 4 took so many risks, and while not all of them paid off, it's the bravest season we've had so far. And it's only up from here.