Episode - 1-03 (8th in Broadcast Order)
First Aired - September 25, 2004
The Venture family is on a flight aboard the X-1 to Marrakesh when they are intercepted by fighter jets, ordering them to land. On the ground, the pilots state that the X-1 has violated restricted airspace. Dr. Venture tries to reply, but the pilots cut him off and call him "grandpa." Brock shows them his O.S.I. agent card (which doubles as his license to kill) but the pilots point out that it is expired.
Both Brock and Venture fall into a deep depression over the incident. Brock feels like his life has lost purpose without the ability to kill whoever he wants without consequence, while Venture struggles to disprove the fact that he's no longer a young man. Hank and Dean volunteer to help Brock pass his re-certification test, while Venture breaks out his "swinging single" wardrobe, a toupee, and a new sports car. He asks Brock to accompany him for a "boys night out," to which Brock agrees, only for the entertainment of seeing Venture in public dressed like that.
Venture puts Dean in charge while he and Brock are out. Now unsupervised, Dean dares Hank to drink a disgusting mixture of food products and spit. If Hank does it, he wins their grandfather's baseball glove, $15, and Dean has to be his slave for the night. Hank manages to gulp down the disgusting drink and proceeds to command Dean around as a slave.
Venture and Brock arrive at a dingy strip club, where Venture flirts awkwardly with the strippers. The bartender mocks Brock's mullet haircut, which angers Brock and only serves to deepen his depression since he can't kill the bartender. Brock takes one of the strippers to the bathroom, but is unable to perform sexually due to his grief over no longer being a secret agent. Brock returns to the compound where he finds Dean in a bizarre outfit, refusing to drink a concoction that Hank has made. Hank complains to a depressed Brock, who tells Dean to "never welch on a bet."
Venture, still at the bar, is improbably being hit on a woman named Charlene, who is in actuality a disguised Dr. Girlfriend. She continues to flirt with Rusty while remaining in communication with the Monarch via an earpiece. She offers to take Venture back to his place, and he obliges. While there, Rusty begins fumbling around looking for a condom. While he is distracted, "Charlene" gives him an injection in the neck that knocks him out.
The next morning, Brock and the boys are in the kitchen, with Brock still moping over his expired license. Venture enters the kitchen and unsubtly announces that he "scored" the previous night, proudly displaying the "hickey" on his neck (which is actually the swollen injection site.) He returns to the bedroom with two cups of coffee, but finds Charlene gone. He calls her and insists on another date, to which Dr. Girlfriend agrees. This leads to argument with the Monarch over her motives.
Back in the kitchen, Hank shows up in a sweatsuit and gives Brock a glass of raw eggs before beginning an exercise program. Hank enjoys bossing Brock around as his trainer, insulting him throughout the process until Brock reminds Hank that, after he gets his license back, he's allowed to kill Hank. Dean, meanwhile, helps Brock study for the written portion of the exam. The growth on Venture's neck continues to expand, engulfing a portion of his face, but he dismisses any concern over it.
The next morning, Brock leaves to take his exam. Dean has programmed answers into his wrist communicator and H.E.L.P.eR gives Brock a bagged lunch and a hug. As soon as Brock leaves, Dr. Venture screams from his bedroom. the boys investigate to find that their father has turned into a giant mutated caterpillar. Venture tries to create an antidote, but cannot maniupate the equipment with his little caterpillar legs, and H.E.L.P.eR is useless at following his instructions. Trying to end his misery, he first asks H.E.L.P.eR, who refuses, and then Hank to shoot him. Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend continue to argue about the situation when Monarch accuses her of sleeping with him. Dr. Girlfriend, expressing sympathy for Venture, returns in disguise as Charlene. She asks for one last kiss and then injects him with the antidote.
During the written part of the exam, Brock simply doodles Icarus from the Led Zeppelin albums. On the firing range, Brock refuses to use a gun and instead hops the fence to take out the targets with his knife. On the driving portion (not shown) he reportedly "destroys every car but the one he was driving." The examiner initially seems disgusted with Brock's performance, but then rips up the test results and tells Brock that he has fulfilled every expectation for the test. The examiner reveals that his father is General Treister, whose life Brock saved and who speaks of Brock as a god. Brock then remembers babysitting the examiner as a child. Brock's license is restored.
Later, Venture falls naked out of a cocoon, restored to his human form. Brock returns to the strip club and shows the bartender his renewed license to kill. The bartender reacts with a look of shock as Brock jumps the bar to attack him.
Tropes:
- Arson Murder And Life Saving: Played with during Brock's exam to renew his (literal) license to kill. The test-giver isn't actually upset by the "arson" and "murder" parts, he's impressed.
- Bullying a Dragon: The bartender keeps making fun of Brock's hair, who is just barely holding himself back. To a lesser extent Hank, who is pulling a Drill Sergeant Nasty. Brock lampshades it.
- Caught with Your Pants Down: The Monarch watches Dr. Girlfriend seducing Dr. Venture on a video monitor. He starts rubbing his chest, his hand drifts downward... and he stops abruptly when a henchman passes through.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The bartender makes fun of Brock's hair...so Brock returns with his license to kill and attacks him.
- Doesn't Like Guns: Brock, so much so that he refuses to use one on an actual firing range.
- Drives Like Crazy: Brock, during the offscreen driving test where he reportedly "destroys every car but his own."
- Forced Transformation: Dr. Venture spends most of the episode as a giant caterpillar.
- Foreshadowing: The proctor for Brock's exam mentions he is the son of General Treister, a character we won't see in-person until season 3.
- Heroic BSoD: Brock, after learning that his "license to kill" has expired.
- Honey Trap: Dr. Girlfriend plays this role to inject Rusty with the transformation serum.
- Metamorphosis: Monarch plans to put Dr. Venture through one, though he only gets to the cocoon stage before receiving the antidote.
- Mistaken for Flirting: Downplayednote , but both times "Charlene" injects him with chemicals, Dr. Venture interprets it as a prelude to kinky sex.
- Mugging the Monster: Combined with Bullying a Dragon. While it was pretty obvious that Brock is a powerfully built individual with a very angry snarl and that mocking his hairdo was probably a bad idea, the bartender likely did not know he was also a secret agent with a frequently used and abused license to kill and a propensity to murder people for disrespecting him.
- The Nicknamer: The bartender refers to Brock as "Mullethead" and "Ape Drape", while referring to Rusty (derogatorily) as "Professor".
- Oh, Crap!: The bartender has this look on his face after reading Brock's newly reissued license to kill before he is tackled.
- Raw Eggs Make You Stronger: Hank gives Brock a glass of raw eggs when he starts training to get his secret agent license back.Hank: When I'm through with you, you're going to eat lightning and crap thunder!
Dean: It looks more like he's going to eat eggs and crap... eggs. - Shooting Gallery: Subverted. Brock has to prove his marksmanship skills at a shooting gallery as part of the re-certification test, but refuses to use the gun he is given, opting instead to jump over the barricade and tear apart the bad guy card board cut-outs with his knife (and using one innocent bystander cut-out as a club, which he props back up after destroying all the other targets).
- Shout-Out:
- Dr. Venture turning into a caterpillar and H.E.L.P.eR. pointing a shotgun at his head are references to the movie The Fly (1986).
- Brock draws Icarus from the ''Led Zeppelin" albums on the written portion of his exam.
- While bossing Dean around as his slave, Hank says the line "Make it Shine, Gunga Din."
- While training Brock, Hank says the line "you'll eat lightning and crap thunder," from the first Rocky movie.
- Dr. Venture's line about his being turned into caterpillar as being "torn from the pages of Kafka" is a reference to Kafka's book The Metamorphosis.
- When Rusty calls Charlene (who is Dr. Girlfriend in disguise), he's lying on bed with the Lolita novel by his side.
- Spit Shine: One of the things Hank makes Dean do while serving as his slave.
- The Stinger: Dr. Venture emerges from the cocoon as... Dr. Venture thanks to the antidote Dr. Girlfriend gave him.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Hank's been taking his father's transformation a little too well.Hank: Well, gee, Dad, we've seen a lot of strange stuff over the years. Last week, we were fighting a giant dinosaur.Dr. Venture: Granted. But I wasn't the dinosaur. Can't you see where this is maybe different?
- Wager Slave: Dean dares Hank to drink an awful substance, and in exchange Dean will be Hank's slave.
