Powerless in the Face of Death

Infobox Television episode
Title=Powerless in the Face of Death
Series=The Venture Bros.
Season=2
Episode=1
Airdate=25 June 2006
Writer= Jackson Publick
Doc Hammer
Director= Jackson Publick


Caption = "I got the stuff. How are you doing with Phase Two?"
Production = 2-07
Guests = Brendon Small as Swifty, Hector and White Noise
Prev=A Very Venture Christmas
Next=Hate Floats

"Powerless in the Face of Death" is the first episode in the second season of "The Venture Bros."

Plot

Seemingly due to Hank and Dean's deaths, a distraught Dr. Venture flees from the Venture compound to "find himself." He is seen in many locations around the world, consistently escaping the attentions of Brock, who wants him to "pay the bills" and "to deal with that happened to the boys." Venture is eventually tranquilized and captured at a rave.

Other people Hank and Dean have affected are shown. In a montage are views of Triana comforting a distraught Dr. Orpheus, The Monarch looking out his prison window and reaching out for a butterfly (which he promptly eats), Doctor Girlfriend looking ill-at-ease with The Phantom Limb, henchmen 21 and 24 destroying the Cocoon headquarters (as per the Monarch's orders in the previous episode), and Master Billy Quizboy and Dr. White fitting Jonas Jr. with a bionic arm similar to the one Billy sports.

Jonas Jr. has improved in appearance, skills and attitude while his brother Rusty had been off. He's improved his education and finished all but two of Venture's government projects. In the face of Rusty's discontent, Jonas leaves with two women for "quality time".

Alone in his old compound, Rusty's investigations find two unfamiliar men, who turn out to be long-time adventuring companions, Hector and Swifty. Despite both of them having gone on adventures with Rusty and his father Jonas, Rusty does not remember them at all. He fires them both. Their project, a teleporter, swiftly malfunctions, affecting Rusty.

The Monarch attempts to send a message to 21 and 24, but it is quickly intercepted by Phantom Limb, who is currently romancing the Monarch's love interest, Dr. Girlfriend.

Back at the compound, Dr. Orpheus becomes confused at Brock's seemingly blasé attitude towards Hank and Dean's deaths. Brock finds that Dr. Venture's torso, except for his right shoulder and arm, is hanging out of a wall, his legs somewhere else. He appears to be just fine; in fact, with his right arm, wherever it is, he can feel something gooey.

Orpheus, still tormented by guilt, decides to use his necromancy skills to resurrect the boys to Triana's dismay; he even makes a trip to the underworld. His efforts end in hairless, skinless half-formed versions of Hank and Dean appearing, drooling and mumbling about milkshakes.

In prison, the Monarch attempts to organize his fellow inmates for a breakout. "Tigerrific" can not tear the gates open, however, since his strength comes from his suit; "Mister Monday" seems more concerned with occurrences of his favorite day than the escape; and "White Noise" refuses to participate if the scheme involves other races. King Gorilla agrees to provide the required muscle, and the plan seems ready to go for the most part. Unfortunately, Phantom Limb arrives and bribes King Gorilla to betray the plot. Recurring Henchmen 21 and 24 meet outside the confines of working for Monarch and speculate on his return.

Back in the lab, Brock and the head portion of Rusty Venture (his legs are hanging out of a nearby TV) reassure a distressed Orpheus that he did nothing wrong. What he had seen are Hank and Dean's clones; the boys are simply prone to dying. Several flashbacks illustrating some of their deaths are listed below.

The Monarch's plans for escape are ignored by everyone he thought had been involved. Cursing and screaming, the Monarch is dragged to his cell until King Gorilla decides to help. He had been motivated by the Monarch's desire to fight for the love of Dr. Girlfriend and for an attraction he has to Monarch himself. King assists the villain, shoving him into the sewer system.

Back at the lab, Venture finishes explaining how the clones' memories are recorded in the computer and it's no different than the necromancy Orpheus willingly practices all the time. Despite this, Orpheus is horrified; especially when the naked, hairless clones perform a feeble 'Go Team Venture!' barely touching fingertips and slurring each syllable, before collapsing on the ground from the effort, leading into the closing credits.

The final scene after the credits shows The Monarch, covered in filth, splashing into a small pond from a pipe. As he rejoices in his freedom, he takes the hand that is extended before him... which is attached to Dr. Venture's disembodied right side.

Deaths montage sequence

The montage of death sequences showed 13 instances of at least one of the Venture boys dying. Brock mentions that this was the 14th pair of clones they developed. Assuming that they are only cloned in pairs, this would leave at least one of their deaths open to speculation, since there are three scenes in which only one brother, either Hank "or" Dean, dies. Since the boys are unaware that they are clones, the difficulties involved in explaining the situation to the surviving brother would be considerable. Jackson Publick notes on the subject, "Ah, but BOTH of them didn't die in every incident. We've still got some unaccounted for...." [ [http://jacksonpublick.livejournal.com/13829.html?page=7#comments LiveJournal comment of Publick's quote.] "Ah, but BOTH of them didn't die in every incident. We've still got some unaccounted for...."]

The sequences mentioned in this episode are as follows:
#Sucked into the X-1's engine turbines
#Devoured by a giant spider breaking through the floor of their bedroom
#While attempting to smoke, Dean blinded Hank with a cigarette; Hank collides with flammable material, followed by an explosion in the hangar
#Shooting apples off of each others' heads with bows and arrows á la William Tell, though the arrows likely miss and are implanted into the boys' heads
#Decapitated by a clothesline while riding their hover-bikes
#Ripped apart by their father; a werewolf at the time
#Hank jumps off the roof of the compound while wearing a Batman costume, carrying an umbrella to act as an unsuccessful parachute
#Crushed by a robot crashing through their bedroom
#Dean trips while running with (safety) scissors
#Satellite falling on Hank
#Gas leak ("the silent killer")
#Falling into a pit of spikes while following Brock and Dr. Venture
#Dr. Venture (accidentally) setting their room on fire (the boys are not seen, but they are trapped inside their beds)
#The accidental drive-by shooting from "Return to Spider-Skull Island" (not depicted in flashback sequence)

In addition to these, another past death sequence is shown in the episode "¡Viva los Muertos!" in which both of the boys were murdered by Sonny & Groovy of the 'Groovy Gang' (who are parodies of Scooby-Doo and friends), as they had 'freaked' Sonny. This was not referenced in the montage. [Episode "¡Viva los Muertos!"]

Production notes

* An eighth of the budget of this episode was spent on licensing for the song "Everybody's Free (To Feel Good)" by Tim Cox and Nigel Swanston featuring Rozalla, specifically the 2002 Aquagen remix, which played over the opening montage. [Season 2 DVD commentary for "Powerless in the Face of Death"]
* The opening credits for this episode featured a gawky Dr. Venture and a diaper-clad Jonas Jr. replacing Hank and Dean as the titular Venture brothers. Dr. Orpheus and H.E.L.P.eR. were listed for the first time as supporting characters.
* One of the animation directors (Kimson Albert) has a "nickname" inserted into his credits. The nickname is an unusual line or word from the preceding episode. For "Powerless in the Face of Death" the credit reads Kimson "President of Calendars" Albert.

References