Alright, Season 3, let's gooooo:
This is the first fully strong season of the show, in that there isn't a bad episode in the bunch. The first season starts off rough, and season 2 has some episodes that aren't as good as they could be. Every episode of this season works, it fits into the continuity of the show, and serves some sort of purpose, whether it's building the characters, building the world or just being a straight comedic or adventure episode. Dr. Quymn, Medicine Woman" is an example of this. It has some small connection to continuity, but it serves more as a comedic episode, focusing on the awkward sexuality of the Venture clan, and the comedic possibilities inherent in it. It mostly works, and I'm surprised it hasn't been part of my rewatch cycle. Anyway, we get a nice mix of Monarch focused and Dr. Venture focused episodes, each exploring the characters and helping them become fully formed figures, especially as they are no longer official enemies. The Monarch has some great episodes, really showing his passion for loathing Dr. Venture and how difficult it is moving on from said hatred, cementing this key part of his character going forward. Dr. Venture being just as villainous, if not more, is firmly and decisively established in "The Doctor is Sin", which, again, becomes a key part of the character going forward. "The Buddy System", while another comedic episode, helps establish the dysfunctionality of the world and the very idea of "boy adventuring". "The Invisible Hand of Fate" is one of the best episodes of the season, perfectly balancing the worldbuilding and character origins. However, tied for the three best episodes, not only of this season, but the series in general are "What Comes Down, Must Come Up" for its sublime mix of humor, history, and plain insanity, balancing out each of its interweaving stories, "Now Museum, Now You Don't", which is just a great episode exploring the characters just interacting and the inherent tension in those sorts of interactions, and of course, "ORB", which is a straight adventure, which manages to exhibit the very best of the show's writing, a great mixture of pulp and comic tropes and real world history and some good obscure references to follow, and in the grand tradition of great season finales, "The Family that Slays Together, Slays Together", sees a stunning, unbelievable status quo change which will come to mature the series as it reaches its fourth season, and upping the stakes for characters in a big way. (And a Babes in Toyland reference, so that's cool.)
Alright, no big outro this time. Again, a link to my Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/rohithc and to my Paypal: https://paypal.me/rohithnc
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