[8.3/10] I love the parallel structure of this one, where both Rusty Venture and The Monarch, who are used to be lone wolves, are pushed by their respective close friends and organizations to be a part of a team, with predictably weird results.
As I’ve said in prior write-ups, I like that this is a season of (moderate but still palpable) success for our heroes (and villains). Seeing Team Venture come up with a working transporter is hilarious and incredible. But even better is the worldbuilding and character building element of OSI coming in to put the kibosh on the whole thing.
I like it from a world-building perspective because it answers the question of how, in a world with all this wild super science, everything pretty much looks like our world. Hunter Gathers’s speech about the risk of crashing the economy with these devices is a fun fig leaf. But I also like it from a character perspective because it loops back around to that “show about failure” conceit -- even when Dr. Venture stumbles into success, no one will ever really know about it.
Instead, he’s whisked away to a (unbeknownst to him) virtual Eyes Wide Shut style party featuring the magnates of the world. There’s a lot of fun ideas in play there, Rusty’s discomfort with the whole thing, to the “lady and the tiger” option he’s given by one of the potentates, to the whole heavy-handed but entertaining “unicorn in captivity” metaphor. There’s a lot of humor in the whole thing being a semi-pathetic ruse by OSI to get Rusty in the tank, and it’s a fun twist at the end of all the secret society stuff.
(It should be noted at this point that it’s a complete boon for the show to get Mark Hamill for this episode. He’s an absolute treat as Presto Chango, where he’s riffing on his venerable role as The Joker, and he’s even better as the velvet-tongued leader of the OSI secret society trying to bring Rusty into the fold).
But I like The Monarch’s part of the episode even better. For one thing, the cast of character he’s surrounded with for the heist are each great, and for once in the show, their plan makes sense. Monarch’s distaste for just being the lookout and not being the lead is a lot of fun. (I especially liked the bit about him knowing Venture’s sleep number.) The reveal that Copy Cat is playing each of them and is using them as decoys so that he can get the transporters for himself is an inspired twist that, naturally, throws everything into chaos.
And I just love how everything unfolds from there. Gary trying to warn the other villains that it’s a setup, Monarch ending up in Rusty’s panic room, and the entire situation resulting in the pair of them accidentally taking out the competition while lucking into the transporters just leads to fantastic sequence after fantastic sequence. The twists and turns really lived up to the heist movie feel and the finish was outstanding.
Overall, another great outing for what is shaping up to be one of the show’s best seasons ever.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2018-09-19T17:28:29Z
[8.3/10] I love the parallel structure of this one, where both Rusty Venture and The Monarch, who are used to be lone wolves, are pushed by their respective close friends and organizations to be a part of a team, with predictably weird results.
As I’ve said in prior write-ups, I like that this is a season of (moderate but still palpable) success for our heroes (and villains). Seeing Team Venture come up with a working transporter is hilarious and incredible. But even better is the worldbuilding and character building element of OSI coming in to put the kibosh on the whole thing.
I like it from a world-building perspective because it answers the question of how, in a world with all this wild super science, everything pretty much looks like our world. Hunter Gathers’s speech about the risk of crashing the economy with these devices is a fun fig leaf. But I also like it from a character perspective because it loops back around to that “show about failure” conceit -- even when Dr. Venture stumbles into success, no one will ever really know about it.
Instead, he’s whisked away to a (unbeknownst to him) virtual Eyes Wide Shut style party featuring the magnates of the world. There’s a lot of fun ideas in play there, Rusty’s discomfort with the whole thing, to the “lady and the tiger” option he’s given by one of the potentates, to the whole heavy-handed but entertaining “unicorn in captivity” metaphor. There’s a lot of humor in the whole thing being a semi-pathetic ruse by OSI to get Rusty in the tank, and it’s a fun twist at the end of all the secret society stuff.
(It should be noted at this point that it’s a complete boon for the show to get Mark Hamill for this episode. He’s an absolute treat as Presto Chango, where he’s riffing on his venerable role as The Joker, and he’s even better as the velvet-tongued leader of the OSI secret society trying to bring Rusty into the fold).
But I like The Monarch’s part of the episode even better. For one thing, the cast of character he’s surrounded with for the heist are each great, and for once in the show, their plan makes sense. Monarch’s distaste for just being the lookout and not being the lead is a lot of fun. (I especially liked the bit about him knowing Venture’s sleep number.) The reveal that Copy Cat is playing each of them and is using them as decoys so that he can get the transporters for himself is an inspired twist that, naturally, throws everything into chaos.
And I just love how everything unfolds from there. Gary trying to warn the other villains that it’s a setup, Monarch ending up in Rusty’s panic room, and the entire situation resulting in the pair of them accidentally taking out the competition while lucking into the transporters just leads to fantastic sequence after fantastic sequence. The twists and turns really lived up to the heist movie feel and the finish was outstanding.
Overall, another great outing for what is shaping up to be one of the show’s best seasons ever.