As much as The Venture Bros. has changed and evolved over the years, the central theme has always been failure. There are competent characters who operate in this universe (e.g. Brock and Dr. Killinger), but for the most part, a majority of the characters are stumbling through their lives just trying to succeed and survive.
Big Villain
“The Bellicose Proxy” was interesting as it managed to take the two failures at the centre of the show, Rusty Venture and The Monarch, and show that in the grand scheme of things, they’re actually doing pretty well.
The Monarch and Gary are still trying to up their Guild level so they can arch Venture, and one way to do that is to join the Big Villain program. In Big Villain you take a level 1 under your wing and teach them about supervillainy. The villain they are assigned is Augustus St. Cloud, aka the arch of Billy Quizboy and Pete White.
Fanboys and Comedy
Augustus St. Cloud and Billy are the fanboys of this world, seeking to become villains/heroes because they have seen it on TV. Rusty Venture never had a choice as he was thrown into heroics as a child, but Billy and St. Cloud chose to join the great game of arching and hero-ing, which makes them, especially St. Cloud, all the more pathetic for not being very good at it.
Outside of the side plot of Dr. Mrs. The Monarch turning the Stranger into a double agent against PP, this was the first purely comedic episode of The Venture Bros. we’ve had this season. It was wall to wall gags, lines, and slapstick, and a great reminder of the days when this show was more comedy-focused and less plot-y. That’s not a complaint by the way, for me the show works either way, but there are rumblings on the internet that the more serialised episodes rub people up the wrong way. Hopefully, this eases their suffering.
Final Thoughts – The Bellicose Proxy
We’re moving towards the end of this season already with only four more episodes to go. In terms of the big plot, the PP is definitely going to make an appearance soon, and I feel like we’re building to some kind of big shift or character death in the coming weeks.
If that is the case, it was nice for this episode to slow things down and just give us something very funny and very fun. Augustus St. Cloud is such a terribly annoying character it was great to see him fall on his arse over and over again, a tourist in The Monarch’s world, unable even to produce a convincing supervillain laugh.
If I had any complaints, it was that I would have liked to see more Hank and Dean. Dean didn’t get any dialogue and Hank’s only scene where he coolly executed Billy was great (and a reminder of why he’s Brock’s favourite). After the revelations of last week and the stirrings of a love triangle, I’m hoping the boys take centre stage in the coming weeks.
Does content like this matter to you?
Become a Member and support film journalism. Unlock access to all of Film Inquiry`s great articles. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about cinema - get access to our private members Network, give back to independent filmmakers, and more.