Review: The Venture Bros. ‘Spanakopita’

So, Rusty takes a vacation. What happens when Augustus St. Cloud shows up? Here’s the review!

Back at the New York Comic Con panel, this episode was the linchpin to their sizzle reel for the new season. Well, I didn’t know it at the time, but after watching the episode, it definitely was. Anyway, here’s the review for Spanakopita.

Spoilers Ahoy!

So, Flashback to Rusty’s youth to Spanakopita. This is a lead-in to Rusty trying to fill his kid’s spots for the trip. As they’re arguing, we get the ominous robo-owl spying. Flash forward, Rusty and the gang get Spanakopita, with Pete  in the funniest garb to keep him out of the sun. As Rusty is getting re-aquainted with the Georgo and the rest of the natives, they run into Augustus St. Cloud. After an awkward exchange between Billy and St. Cloud, Hatred brings the bags up, and is surprised to see Rusty tied to a chair. He starts kicking the tar out of the other guys, until Rusty tells him it’s a tradition. Billy and St. Cloud are going back and forth about St. Cloud’s Goldfinger outfit, and it having to be in a museum. Meanwhile, Hatred is scoping things out, and the explanation of the Spanakopita Games, it is revealed that St. Cloud is looking into buying the island. First is the running of the goat. Of course, St. Cloud is cheating, using PY. After the first event, Rusty is about to have the absolute worst aneurysm ever, due to St. Cloud. Now, Rusty is carrying a clump of hummus for the hummus carving competition.

After the break, Hatred is feeling not all that good about the situation. So, he calls Brock, who just tells him to shut up and let it happen. And after he sees the mini-Brock children, he exits posthaste. Next up, for the competition, is the sponge diving. In a severely fucked up Clash of the Titans dream sequence, the Venture pantheon of gods sees Billy having fun, so they send the Cloud-kraken after him. This was produced by Stoopid Buddy Studios, and it was a crisp sequence unfortunately, it didn’t add much in terms of plot. After Billy wakes up, he figures out how to get a win from St. Cloud. Billy goes on the X-2, and tries to take all of St. Cloud’s money. Unfortunately for him, PY and his clown robot beat the shit out of him and Pete.  They get one good shot on the robot, and it’s defeated, until St. Cloud uses a sleeping agent on darts to knock Billy and Pete out. And we get the back story of Spanakopita. It starts with the natives raiding Dr. Venture’s yacht. They mistakenly take Rusty back to Spanakos as a hostage. Rusty’s dad is fighting  L. Ron Hubbard, completely oblivious to Rusty. Spanakians (I guess?) fake a celebration, and do it every year to keep Rusty happy.  Hatred is then told that he shouldn’t tell Rusty. Billy and Pete are tied up on a beach, with the impending sunrise coming. PY saves them, just in time for Pete’s head to catch fire, because the albino code is stronger than his loyalty to St. Cloud. Speaking of St. Cloud, he is waiting for the natives to declare him winner, but he is missing the drackba (I think this is what it was called. I went over it about 20 times on my TiVo, so I’m running with it.). That is when Billy, who is carrying Pete on his back, comes back with it, and helps Rusty win the Spanakopita Games. St. Cloud makes good on his threat, and buys Spanakopita, and banning Rusty. Rusty, ever the delusional, says he’s coming back, with everyone telling him no.

The completely outlandish premise of this episode is what keeps this episode afloat. If it were any other show, there would be no mind fuck of a twist. Did you see this being a 20+ year cover for a terrible kidnapping because I didn’t. But I think the show can only go so long before it’s way out there twist just for the sake of twists, and I hope that it doesn’t go down that way. The twists were there, but unfortunately, there wasn’t much meat to the rest of the episode. The Clash of the Titans sequence didn’t add much to the plot, but it was a fun diversion to the rest of the episode. I, however, loved the little bit after the episode, where the original Team Venture go bat shit on the natives.