Damn, that was an excellent episode. Let’s get to it.
“Maybe No Go” opens on the home of everyone’s favorite albino and metal-handed-former-boy-genius dream team, Pete White and Billy Quizboy. They are arguing over what initially appears to be a dangerous experiment complete with labcoats and beakers, until Billy exclaims, “You can’t put mouthwash into cookie batter! Its idiotic!”
Their extremely important experiment is interrupted when the ground starts shaking due to a giant robot t-rex breathing fire outside of the Conjectural Technologies trailer. This seems to be a message, because Billy exclaims, “To the Quizcave!”
The scene changes to the best opening we’ve seen in a long time: opening credits for an animated show titled Billy Quizboy and the Pink Pilgrim, complete with theme song, clips from different ‘episodes’, an excellent logo, and of course Robo-Bo. I’m pretty sure it is impossible to not smile with pure glee as you watch this scene. Pete’s ‘Pink Pilgrim’ costume is very literal – neon pink buckle on his hat and everything. Not only is this opening sequence super fun, its also new and unique – proving that Astrobase is not resting on their laurels in their 6th season.
In their Quizcave (Quiz Cave? QuizCave?), Pete and Billy video chat with St. Cloud, who remains as obnoxious as ever. Cloud has stolen a red rubber ball from the Conjectural Technologies team, which Pete calls “the source of our power”. Billy calls for action, but Pete asks if they can reschedule their revenge for the next day as he has a dentist appointment in the morning. Cloud admits that he has a lot of things to do, so he’s down to reschedule for the next day. Billy admits he didn’t sleep well last night, so maybe tomorrow would be better. St. Cloud declares, “I will get you, Quizboy… At a reasonable hour.”
We join the Venture family as they sit around the kitchen table eating breakfast. Rusty is proud to see that he’s on the front page of the paper, undeterred by the accompanied headline “C-E-Oh No! Second Venture Son Drives Stocks Into the Ground.”
Brock gently suggests that firing all employees and then spending money wasn’t the best idea, but as always Rusty refuses to listen to reason. “I don’t need a mutiny because people can’t post a picture of their lunch on TweetTweet or whatever.”
Brock complains about the gross coffee substitute that Rusty says he drinks for his nervous bowels, and leaves to get some real coffee. As he’s leaving, Rusty yells for him to find the missing Pirate, who is now back on tranquilizer darts.
At the Monarch’s mansion, which is still under construction, the Monarch crew are also having their morning coffee. The Monarch is refusing to accept that he can no longer arch Dr. Venture, but Dr. Mrs the Monarch will not budge on her position. She says that she will give him his arching rights back after the Guild of Calamitous Intent has reestablished their credibility. She also admits that there are a dozen villains in line ahead of the Monarch waiting to get Dr. Venture’s arching rights.
Dr. Mrs the Monarch finally appeases the Monarch by offering make-up sex – or so she thinks. As she changes into the cheerleader outfit (assumedly the one we saw in season 4), Monarch tells Gary to use his wife’s laptop to find out the information of the 12 villains in front of him on the Dr. Venture list.
This scene also features the most graphic sex talk we’ve heard on the show so far. As they are from the Monarch, they are as gross and narcissistic as one would expect, e.g.: the phrase “caked in my sticky triumph”. 21 is understandably grossed out.
We cut to the zoo, where the Pirate Captain is jumps into the polar bear exhibit, causing the security guard will shoot the bear with a tranquilizer dart, which he steals for himself. The Captain looks much worse than the last time we saw him.
Pete and Billy are dropped off by Robo-Bo at the gate of the St. Cloud estate. Billy tries to get them in with his grapple hand, but then realizes that he can’t stand any pressure on the cord because the hand is attached to his nerves. Pete uses the intercom and Cloud opens the front gate. Billy’s hand coil isn’t retractable, so he has to drag it with him.
The Monarch and 21 approach a rundown house in Patterson, NJ, where one of the villains on the Venture arching list lives. A woman in a bathrobe and towel answers the door, and the Monarch requests that she sign away her arching rights for Dr. Venture, offering her a clipboard and paper. She refuses, so the Monarch darts her in the neck and drags her inside.
Apparently St. Cloud was not on time to arch, because Billy and Pete sit in the bathroom as he showers. We find out that the stolen rubber ball that Cloud has stolen is a prop from Duran Duran’s ‘Is There Something I Should Know’ video. This also explains the unique scene transitions that have been happening during the Pete and Billy scenes: they are the same as the video.
Pete passes the time by using hair mousse to make his hair into signature styles from different bands – Flock of Seagulls, the Exploited, and Tool Academy. Pei Wei brings St. Cloud a cat puppet on a gold tray, which turns out to be Henrietta from Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood. Cloud uses her as a shower mit. Billy is understandably outraged.
Back at Venture Industries, Brock has returned with good coffee and the Pirate Captain. The Venture boys chain the Captain to the bed in Hank’s room to stage an intervention. They give him a bed (chained to), ladies’ shirt (pirate-sized), beef-flavored tomato juice (2 jugs of), fruit snacks (10 feet of), coffee cake (crunchy part of), picture of old people dancing, sympathetic kitten, television, She’s All That DVD, and buckets for urine, feces, and vomit (and one for the kitten).
In a restaurant that apparently has live krill on the menu, Wide Wale meets with Fallen Archer. He is angry because Fallen Archer has not paid him the usual amount of money, and Archer says that its because Venture refused the Crusader Action League’s protection.
Back in New Jersey, the woman in the robe named Redusa wakes up from her tranquilizer sleep, and she is not happy. Her towel falls off, revealing a head of snake hair, and she starts shooting lasers out of her eyes at the Monarch and 21. 21 bounces one of her lasers off of what looks like a bag of garbage, and it shoots back at her, shrinking her head. 21 holds his blade at her neck and they force her to sign the paper.
In Hank’s bedroom, The Captain is going through tranquilizer withdrawal. He is drenched in sweat and starts to hallucinate. In an excellent reference to the movie Trainspotting, he sees a former member of his pirate crew and a baby crawling on the ceiling with the face of Jonas Jr, both of whom tell him he’s a failure. He finally wakes up in care of Doc, Dean, and Hank, who stage an intervention.
Angry that Rusty did not pay the League fees, Wide Wale decides to do his first arching. Brock is warned ahead of time by his old friend Shore Leave, who I was super happy to see and have missed dearly. We learn that Wide Wale got his mutation from trying to find a cancer cure by using cuttlefish DNA with his brother (who we can only assume is Dr. Dugong from season 3). Brock starts to request backup, but Shore Leave tells him that the arching will happen at any minute and there is no time for backup.
At Cloud’s estate, he is finally ready to arch. Billy and Pete are tied to chairs in a room that looks exactly like the room from the Duran Duran video, and St. Cloud’s wears an outfit very similar to what Duran Duran wears. St. Cloud says he will give them back the ball if they sell him their company for one penny.
Brock teams up with Hatred to protect the new Venture Compound, more out of necessity than choice. Hatred seems to be official Venture Industries building security now, with the jacket to prove it. He doesn’t seem to have any bitter feelings toward Brock, and enthusiastically agrees to help. Hatred’s history as both supervillain and OSI have given him a wealth of information about all Guild members, including Wide Wale.
Hatred admits that they have no real line of defense against an attack from Wide Wale other than the objects in the lobby. Brock smiles like a man with a plan and asks Hatred if he has been to the zoo recently.
Now clean from the tranquilizer dart monkey on his back, the Pirate Captain is back in his black turtleneck and helping Rusty repair the damage he’s made to Venture Industries. Rusty wants to change the direction of the company from modern “Angry Birds” technology to classic superscience like his father and grandfather before him. Dean suggests that they do both: continue producing the type of technology that will please the shareholders while also founding a new superscience-focused division of the corporation.
Billy and Pete discuss the importance of the rubber ball on their walk home that night. Pete questions if it was worth it to tell their company to retrieve the ball, and Billy is adamant that it was. Billy explains all of the progress that came from the New Romantics, including future hip-hop, which is important because “I lost my virginity to side-A of Wutang Forever!”(Possibly the time that he had sex with three prostitutes who he thought were vampires in Monstoso’s home?) Billy says that the ball is magic and that they just saved the world.
At Venture Industries, Wide Wale appears for his first arching by coming up through the floor as Hatred predicted. However, Brock and Hatred stood him up. No one is in the building.
After finally procuring Redusa’s signature, Monarch and 21 return home to a huge surprise. The head of construction on the house, Manolo, shows them a secret steel door that the crew found earlier that day. They descend a long staircase to a huge underground room which sheets covering large objects. It appears to be some kind of laboratory.
Brock and Hatred talk on the roof of the Venture building. They bond over the activities of the day, and Brock offers to buy Hatred a beer. They scale off of the roof together, no longer rivals but two men with the same goal of keeping the Venture family safe.
Wide Wale returns home to find his living room filled with balloons and the polar bear from the zoo, courtesy of Brock and Hatred.
In the final scene of the episode, St. Cloud shows up at the Conjectural Technologies trailer to inform Pete and Billy that he has sold their company to Venture Industries.
I loved every single moment of “Maybe No Go.” Some people online were saying it was a “set-up episode”, and maybe it was, but it also advanced the story substantially while bringing back old favorites and packing in the references. I was glad to see that Doc is taking steps to not completely ruin the company. Watching him make some effort to succeed will be far more interesting than if he fails immediately.
I love Billy and Pete and I’m really excited for them to join the Venture team in NYC. This was also the first episode when I actually kind of enjoyed St. Cloud instead of wanting to strangle him. The impulse was still there, but its hard not to laugh when he’s using a beloved Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood puppet to wash his junk.
This episode is an excellent reminder that new seasons of The Venture Brothers are worth the wait. Doc and Jackson are not merely recycling their previous successes. It is clear that still have their supremely unique voices that made us all fall in love in the first place. I’m sure that there are plenty more surprises in store for us in season 6.
Also! This week’s Shirt Club shirt is super cute. Its made even better by the use of Kim as this week’s model. Kim is Triana’s friend from season 2 who is infamously always asked about at conventions. It was a cheeky move from Doc and Jackson, who really would like it if you stopped asking about her. Please.
Edit: Thanks to the commenter who pointed out the Trainspotter reference that went completely over my head!
geek girl gang 