Recap / The Venture Bros S 3 E 8 Tears Of A Sea Cow

Episode - Season 3, Episode 8 (Production Code: 3-34)

First Aired - July 20, 2008

The Monarch, Dr. Mrs. The Monarch, and the Murderous Moppets (now going by "the Pupa Twins,") are raiding the base of their new Guild-assigned arch enemy, Dr. Dugong. Though they tear through the base with ease, The Monarch's heart just isn't into going after someone who isn't Dr. Venture. After they dispose of his guard robot and corner him in his lab, Dr. Mrs. The Monarch encourages her husband to pretend that Dr. Dugong is Dr. Venture. This sends him into a murderous rage, causing him to outright kill Dr. Dugong.

At the Venture compound, the boys are left home with Dermott and H.E.L.P.eR as Dr. Venture and Brock attend a science convention where Venture will exhibit his new invention: the "Vacuum Boom Broom." Hank, Dermott, and H.E.L.P.eR form a band with Dermott on vocals, Hank on bass, and H.E.L.P.eR synthesizing the drums though his alarm system. Dean is getting ready to publish the next version of his newspaper, the "Venture Home News."

At the Cocoon, The Monarch, 21, and 24 are reading the last edition of the Venture Home News and are making fun of it. The Monarch remembers that he has a post-mission "pow-wow" with Dr. Mrs. The Monarch and runs off. There, she berates him for killing yet another of their replacement arches, for which Dr. Mrs. The Monarch is forced to keep apologizing to the Guild. Later, The Monarch complains to 21 and 24 that he no longer enjoys supervillainy without Dr. Venture as his arch. After the three reminisce about the good old days of tormenting Dr. Venture, they decide to have an unsanctioned raid on Venture's (presumably) empty compound (which they learned about from the Venture Home News.)

Hank and Dermott decide to camp out on the lawn of the compound in a tent for the night. Dean tries to sleep in his room, but H.E.L.P.eR continues to play music. (The boys were unable to get him to stop.) Dean finally has enough and order's H.E.L.P.eR to shut down all of his audible alarm functions. In the process, H.E.L.P.eR also inadvertently shuts down the compound's security alarms as well. The power briefly flashes, leading Hank and Dermott to believe that they're under attack by aliens. (Again.) This causes Dermott to shove a lighter up his ass so that if the aliens try to probe him, they'll get a face full of fire.

The Monarch and his henchmen arrive but are nearly killed by the compound's laser defense system. The lasers blow up the septic tank, alerting the boys. Dean tries to call Dr. Venture and Brock, but both are sound asleep in their hotel rooms. (Venture is in bed with his "Boom Broom" while Brock sleeps with two women.) Dodging the lasers, 21 and 24 take cover in the hangar. They see Hank and Dermott investigating and chase after them. 24 easily captures Dermott, who is unable to run fast due to the lighter in his ass. Separately, 21 is unable to run down Hank but finally asks for a timeout. Meanwhile, The Monarch has slipped inside the compound.

24 questions Dermott's presence, not believing that Hank has a friend. He also does not believe, as Dermott claims, that Dermott is Brock Samson's long-lost son. (He does believe that he is Hank's friend when Dermott reveals that he has a lighter up his butt to deter aliens.)

Inside Venture's lab, The Monarch sabotages some equipment (including hocking a loogie on one of Venture's microscope slides) then finds the disabled G.U.A.R.D.O robot Venture had previously built. When he hits it, Venture's face pops up on the screen, so he decides to rape it and give it chlamydia. Dean walks in as the Monarch is banging the robot, and threatens to call his father, as Monarch is not allowed to be near them since he isn't their official arch enemy. The Monarch, thinking quickly, uses reverse psychology to convince Dean that reporting his activities will be playing into his evil scheme to turn Dean evil, then slips away.

Back in Malice, the Pupa Twins wake up Dr. Mrs. The Monarch and inform her that Monarch is off arching Dr. Venture. They ask her why he hates Dr. Venture so much, but she merely states that what Venture did to the Monarch "isn't worth destroying a career over." She orders the henchmen to fly the Cocoon to the Venture compound.

24 has convinced Dermott not to tell Dr. Venture about the raid by bribing him with Monarch weaponry. 21 informs Hank that he believes Hank to be immortal, having personally witnessed him die only for him to come back alive and well. He then shoots Hank with his dart gun, apologizing as he does. The Cocoon arrives and picks up the Monarch and his henchmen. Hank awakens and pulls the dart from him, now believing 21's theory that he is immortal.

The Stinger shows the Cocoon flying over the ocean two weeks later. Dr. Mrs. The Monarch explains to the Monarch that she has worked it out with the Guild for a new arch on a trial basis. The scene then shifts to Spider-Skull Island, where Jonas Venture Jr. and his crew look on as the Cocoon approaches, revealing that they are the new arch enemies.

Tropes:

• Anal Probing: Dermott sticks a lighter up his butt so that the "aliens" get a "face full of fire" if they try to do this to him.
• Audience Surrogate: Tim-Tom's annoyance at "never getting a straight answer" regarding the origin of The Monarch's hatred for Rusty Venture clearly echoes complaints from viewers.
• Black Comedy Rape: The Monarch rapes G.U.A.R.D.O and tries to give it chlamydia.
• Bottle Episode: Though it doesn't look like this from an outside perspective, it becomes pretty clear once one looks at the voice cast: Dean is the only character in the episode to get any dialogue who isn't voiced by Hammer or Publick.
• Caught with Your Pants Down: The Monarch is caught by Dean having sex with G.U.A.R.D.O. in Dr. Venture's lab. (Since G.U.A.R.D.O. is deactivated, it doesn't quite count as Interrupted Intimacy.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Dr. Dugong is a strange, ineffectual scientist protagonist with a nonsense name that's killed off 2 minutes into the episode. In Season 7 we learn more about him: he's Dr. Doug Ong, brother of Chester Ong, or Wide Whale. And his brother is the most powerful antagonist in New York City.
• Noodle Incident: Hank thinks that the aliens are back "again." He also mentions run-ins with ghosts and a time traveler who showed up "to yell at [his] dad".
• Pun: Dr. Dugong's latest creation is... a bunch of "Cuddlefish".
• School Newspaper Newshound: Dean, though he doesn't go to school, so it's more of a "home" newspaper newshound.
• Shout-Out:
  • Dr. Dugong's base strongly resembles Stromberg's "Atlantis" from The Spy Who Loved Me.
    • He also has a Mr. Roboto from the Styx music video of the same name, which Monarch is severely unimpressed by.
  • The Monarch's reverse psychology used to distract Dean is reference to Darth Vader's speech to Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back.
  • 21 telling Hank that he is immortal and then saying that we "won't live to see the quickening after all," is a reference to Highlander.
  • The robot that Monarch taunts at the beginning of the episode (by saying it looks like it's out of a Styx video) mirrors the titular robots of the Doctor Who story "The Robots of Death".
• Stairs Are Faster: The Monarch and Henchman 21 take the chute down to the Monarchmobile while Henchman 24 takes the more sensible stairs. He gets there first and closes the sunroof just as they would fall into the car.
  24: "You'll thank me later. It's gonna rain!"
• Tranquilizer Dart: 21 doesn't know that his dart gun fires these when he shoots Hank.