The Venture Bros.: The Forecast Manufacturer
October 1, 2018 1:16 PM - Season 7, Episode 9 - Subscribe
New York is hit by an enormous blizzard!
The blizzard is revealed to have been generated by a weather machine stolen from the Guild of Calamitous Intent. OSI recruits Rusty to investigate, helped unwillingly by Billy. Meanwhile, the Monarch and Gary are tasked by Dr. Z and Dr. Mrs The Monarch with assassinating the leader of a splinter faction within the Peril Partnership who they believe to be responsible for the snowstorm as well as the general unrest between the two organizations. Finally, Murder Bear helps Hank find a terrible secret.
The blizzard is revealed to have been generated by a weather machine stolen from the Guild of Calamitous Intent. OSI recruits Rusty to investigate, helped unwillingly by Billy. Meanwhile, the Monarch and Gary are tasked by Dr. Z and Dr. Mrs The Monarch with assassinating the leader of a splinter faction within the Peril Partnership who they believe to be responsible for the snowstorm as well as the general unrest between the two organizations. Finally, Murder Bear helps Hank find a terrible secret.
I believe the official name for Murder Bear is Scare Bear [warning link has spoilers for this ep].
posted by fings at 2:04 PM on October 1, 2018
posted by fings at 2:04 PM on October 1, 2018
I swear to god I was just joking with a friend about scare bear from his first appearance using the š»šŖ emojis. And now he returns! Best supervillan 12/10.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 2:23 PM on October 1, 2018
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 2:23 PM on October 1, 2018
S-464 got up there, he got up there on that platform,
And this is what he said:
I just want
You to hurt
Like I do.
Also...okay, so Murder/Scare Bear is definitely, definitely, definitely [other character], right? For, like, a ton of reasons? I donāt want to get into āspeculative spoilerā territory, but the evidence is really piling up.
posted by Sys Rq at 2:23 PM on October 1, 2018
And this is what he said:
I just want
You to hurt
Like I do.
Also...okay, so Murder/Scare Bear is definitely, definitely, definitely [other character], right? For, like, a ton of reasons? I donāt want to get into āspeculative spoilerā territory, but the evidence is really piling up.
posted by Sys Rq at 2:23 PM on October 1, 2018
Poor Dr. Z, sometimes lingo in an evil organization can be tricky
I had to watch this episode twice, because there's so many weird moments strewn together.
If they do end up revealing M/SB, I wish they had waited and had MB around a little bit more. MB is such an awesomely creepy character I wish they had done more with it.
posted by Query at 5:03 PM on October 1, 2018
I had to watch this episode twice, because there's so many weird moments strewn together.
If they do end up revealing M/SB, I wish they had waited and had MB around a little bit more. MB is such an awesomely creepy character I wish they had done more with it.
posted by Query at 5:03 PM on October 1, 2018
Now that they re-introduced Grover Cleveland's time machine, they should do "Return to the House of Mummies, part 2".
posted by fings at 5:28 PM on October 1, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by fings at 5:28 PM on October 1, 2018 [5 favorites]
The villain is comedian James Adomian doing his Jesse Ventura voice.
Did anyone else think Hank was hallucinating Dean and Serena together?
posted by wittgenstein at 7:04 PM on October 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
Did anyone else think Hank was hallucinating Dean and Serena together?
posted by wittgenstein at 7:04 PM on October 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
wittgenstein, he did suffer a serious head injury. And how did Scare Bear know where to take Hank? Suspicious (and again, it would be better to twist the trope of Guy's Girl Falls For His Brother that to play it straight). It would be in keeping with forbidden lovers being reunited ... only to have The Brainy One's brain is changed and he's forgotten his former crush!
posted by filthy light thief at 8:03 PM on October 1, 2018
posted by filthy light thief at 8:03 PM on October 1, 2018
I have been having so much fun with this I might have a new halloween costume. I canāt wait for the season finale!
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 9:22 PM on October 1, 2018
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 9:22 PM on October 1, 2018
It's funny, the episodes I love are the one Zack Handlen doesn't really enjoy, and vice versa. I thought the teleportation one was genius and this one didn't quite work for me, and he was strongly opposed on both counts. Maybe we're looking for different things from this show.
I felt like the dialogue in this one seemed kind of strained, like they were making too many jokes that weren't landing. Normally this show's dialogue is superb, but it seemed off somehow this time. There was stuff I loved, like the time-traveling non-sequitur and Scare Bare, but the suppository bomb and the Jesse Ventura guy seemed like things from a lesser Adult Swim show. Overall I'd give this one a B-.
I guess we all knew Dean and Sirena would end up in bed, ever since we saw Dean's boner. (It was the Chekhov's Gun of boners.) But that whole love triangle plot can't help but feel rushed in such a busy, abbreviated season. I can't believe next week is the season finale! I just looked at Wikipedia and apparently this season has been 10 episodes long, but if you'd told me it was only half that long I would have believed you. Fingers crossed we won't have to wait 2 or 3 years for the next season!
Sys Rq, who is Scare Bare?? You're not spoiling anything if it's only a guess.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 10:11 PM on October 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
I felt like the dialogue in this one seemed kind of strained, like they were making too many jokes that weren't landing. Normally this show's dialogue is superb, but it seemed off somehow this time. There was stuff I loved, like the time-traveling non-sequitur and Scare Bare, but the suppository bomb and the Jesse Ventura guy seemed like things from a lesser Adult Swim show. Overall I'd give this one a B-.
I guess we all knew Dean and Sirena would end up in bed, ever since we saw Dean's boner. (It was the Chekhov's Gun of boners.) But that whole love triangle plot can't help but feel rushed in such a busy, abbreviated season. I can't believe next week is the season finale! I just looked at Wikipedia and apparently this season has been 10 episodes long, but if you'd told me it was only half that long I would have believed you. Fingers crossed we won't have to wait 2 or 3 years for the next season!
Sys Rq, who is Scare Bare?? You're not spoiling anything if it's only a guess.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 10:11 PM on October 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
I agree, Ursula; there were a lot of brilliant images and moments in this episode, but I felt like it was twice the bone, half the connective tissue that I wanted, with some surprisingly cheap jokes that made some of it feel like a fantasy sequence -- whereas the teleportation episode was a perfect deranged portal caper. These past few seasons, The Venture Bros. on a bad day is still a stone masterpiece ("ASSASSINATE!"), but I do often feel that Handlen and I have different prescriptions to our glasses.
This season, there's been an awful lot of gestural storytelling, where what would normally be a show's A-plot is shown via a just few crucial details, but the B-plot and minor character antics are lavishly written and animated. I'd say that the creators were winding down, but honestly the work with the main characters has never dug deeper; there just isn't much of it, and it cuts off at odd times. (Of course, it's also possible that the main characters' growth and maturity is itself the result of creator boredom with the characters being trapped and unchanging, but if that's the case I'm into it.)
posted by thesmallmachine at 8:28 AM on October 2, 2018
This season, there's been an awful lot of gestural storytelling, where what would normally be a show's A-plot is shown via a just few crucial details, but the B-plot and minor character antics are lavishly written and animated. I'd say that the creators were winding down, but honestly the work with the main characters has never dug deeper; there just isn't much of it, and it cuts off at odd times. (Of course, it's also possible that the main characters' growth and maturity is itself the result of creator boredom with the characters being trapped and unchanging, but if that's the case I'm into it.)
posted by thesmallmachine at 8:28 AM on October 2, 2018
Sys Rq, who is Scare Bare??
*hopes against hope that it's Bipolar Bear from The Tick*
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 9:34 AM on October 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
*hopes against hope that it's Bipolar Bear from The Tick*
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 9:34 AM on October 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
Also, I liked the shoutout to Matrix Revolutions when the Venture ship popped through the clouds
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 9:37 AM on October 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 9:37 AM on October 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
And how did Scare Bear know where to take Hank?
*sigh*
Fine. Hope for your sake Iām wrong, but blame yourselves if Iām not!
He knows BECAUSE HE LIVES THERE. Thatās a big clue right there. Brown Widow. Add to that: 1. used to go out with Sirena, 2. only ever appears in episodes also featuring Scare Bear, and vice-versa, 3. may have problems with unsightly lower back stains, 4. is known to dress up as woodland creatures, and 5. is Deanās college roommate, and college roommates, historically, canonically, arch (which may even be some sort of deliberate interagency arrangement). Add in Rustyās apparent love for the guy and Deanās resentment toward Rusty, and, well, youāve got yourself a stew goinā.
posted by Sys Rq at 7:54 PM on October 2, 2018 [10 favorites]
*sigh*
Fine. Hope for your sake Iām wrong, but blame yourselves if Iām not!
He knows BECAUSE HE LIVES THERE. Thatās a big clue right there. Brown Widow. Add to that: 1. used to go out with Sirena, 2. only ever appears in episodes also featuring Scare Bear, and vice-versa, 3. may have problems with unsightly lower back stains, 4. is known to dress up as woodland creatures, and 5. is Deanās college roommate, and college roommates, historically, canonically, arch (which may even be some sort of deliberate interagency arrangement). Add in Rustyās apparent love for the guy and Deanās resentment toward Rusty, and, well, youāve got yourself a stew goinā.
posted by Sys Rq at 7:54 PM on October 2, 2018 [10 favorites]
Oh, interesting idea, Sys Rq! Maybe you're right. Or maybe it's somebody else we'd never expect. Or maybe it'll never be explained! I could see the creators of this show enjoying a weird mystery like that that never gets resolved.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 9:09 PM on October 2, 2018
posted by Ursula Hitler at 9:09 PM on October 2, 2018
Yeah, Brown Widow's got issues. He gets no respect being a hero . . .
posted by whuppy at 5:57 AM on October 3, 2018
posted by whuppy at 5:57 AM on October 3, 2018
Jared/Brown Widow was Hank and Serena's ninja waiter while at the same time Scare Bear was at the Doom Factory's party with Rusty.
posted by fings at 6:11 AM on October 3, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by fings at 6:11 AM on October 3, 2018 [6 favorites]
How come Brock's character drawing looks ... off? ... this season? He looks kinda blocky and empty.
I bet he's Scare Bear. Brock Samson is everywhere. The knife? It's just a distraction.
posted by not_on_display at 9:16 PM on October 3, 2018
I bet he's Scare Bear. Brock Samson is everywhere. The knife? It's just a distraction.
posted by not_on_display at 9:16 PM on October 3, 2018
Well, I was gonna guess Dermott, but now I gotta go with SysRq's guess.
posted by pwnguin at 8:36 PM on October 5, 2018
posted by pwnguin at 8:36 PM on October 5, 2018
Waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait!
How could we forget? Thereās already a bear, sort of. TeddyRuxpin Talk-To-Me. With a history of allegiance to Enrico Matassa, no less. Escaped from (villainsā) asylum. Delusions of actually being the fictional bear he voiced. Last seen entering a forest. So he finds a knife, skins a bear, travels cross-country, badabingbadaboom Scare Bear.
Plus, the themes of questionable paternity in this season echo the theme of questionable maternity (and paternity, for that matter) of the episode in which he featured. Could be!
I will now wait however many hours it takes for iTunes to upload the next episode, at which time I shall decide how embarrassed to be.
posted by Sys Rq at 7:16 PM on October 7, 2018
How could we forget? Thereās already a bear, sort of. Teddy
Plus, the themes of questionable paternity in this season echo the theme of questionable maternity (and paternity, for that matter) of the episode in which he featured. Could be!
I will now wait however many hours it takes for iTunes to upload the next episode, at which time I shall decide how embarrassed to be.
posted by Sys Rq at 7:16 PM on October 7, 2018
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Also
"I SAID GO TEAM VENTURE, SIR"
posted by GuyZero at 1:19 PM on October 1, 2018