7. VICTOR ECHO NOVEMBER
“VICTOR ECHO NOVEMBER” features the most perfectly over the top line: “That’s my daisy!” remarks Doc as he discovers Dean using his lady crafted razor to shave for the first time. The Venture Bros have a date, and the over the top line is but an ominous flag waving down our attention to watch the car crash that is the Venture Brothers’ first foray into the perpetually disappointing, and yet always promising, world of dating. Who are the boys’ dates? The purple haired Triana Orpheus, her friend Kim who dresses like a supervillain, and the most fickle mistress of all playing the fifth-wheel – DANGER.
The over the top line about a man using a woman’s leg razor for his head is another ominous start to the most serious threat to ever threaten the Venture family, but in the meantime Doc makes the mistake of every hormone pumped thirteen- year old with a TV Guide and a clipping of cleavage, setting aside a Saturday night to record one Miss Dolly Parton in The Best Little Whorehouse.
Just like the aftershave Dean accidentally gets on his junk, the brutality ramps up suddenly at an exponential rate, as Phantom Limb, goaded on by The Monarch, orders a blackout hit on the Venture Family. Within minutes, oblivion descends upon the Venture compound as Guild Blackout agents cut the power – not a big shocker given their name – before cutting off Doctor Venture’s arm. The last line of defense is Brock Samson, who insists on being naked and knife wielding throughout the episode, “preying off of their fear.” The highlight of this bloody hunt features a nude Samson singing Technotronic’s “Move This” to a very lonely Guild Blackout Agent who believes he is circling the drain.
Meanwhile, at the Venture Bros’ double dinner date, where apparently coincidence is the night’s special, as the Monarch, with henchmen in tow, renews his guild membership with Phantom Limb and Dr. (Ex) Girlfriend at the very same restaurant. We are given several different stories of what Phantom Limb’s origins are, from Henchman 21, The Monarch, and Hank. Â Each of the three stories has its own purple monkey dishwasher variation of the Phantom Limb origin story, with the Monarch’s story being closest to the truth, each story getting more ridiculous and yet somewhat Venture appropriate than the last.
