It may not be suitable for all readers. |
"Beware What from Portal Comes!" is the third episode of the first season of M.O.D.O.K.. It premiered on Hulu on May 21, 2021.
Synopsis[]
M.O.D.O.K. drags along his kids, Melissa and Lou, to a GRUMBL leadership conference.
Plot[]
MODOK awakens to see himself riding atop Fin Fang Foom over his Utopia that he has promised to make. This turns out to be a dream as his alarm clock, which is the Super-Adaptoid's head, awakens him for real. MODOK remembers that it is his first weekend with the kids and only has four hours to prepare for their arrival. After four hours, MODOK is still stuck on a "juicy" blood stain that will not clean out. Super-Adaptoid will not help because he "[doesn't] do floors." Jodie arrives to drop Lou and Melissa off. While Lou appreciates the nuances of the broken down apartment, Melissa immediately wants to leave, especially since the entire floor smells like soup. Jodie explains that she has to promote her book and leaves.
MODOK plans a rather boring outing with the kids until he is interrupted by a hologram of Austin who asks MODOK why he is not in Boga Caliente for the GRUMBL leadership conference. MODOK did not check his messages, but he agrees to go especially when the rats in the apartment attempt to take Lou away. MODOK, Melissa and Lou arrive at the hotel where MODOK stubbornly has trouble getting a room because he feels he needs no introduction. When they finally get into the room, Lou is once again taken in by the amounts of special things in the hotel while Melissa is noticeably still indifferent. MODOK decides to head down to the conference room and has Melissa come with him while Lou stays in the room.
At the conference hall, Melissa is impressed with the top businesses being represented by GRUMBL while MODOK points out the shadowy GRUMBL board of directors whom MODOK seeks to impress. They have celebrity speaker, Iron Man, appear via hologram who tells them that he did not want to appear in person because he is too busy trying to dismantle them. Austin then goes up on stage to announce the speaker, but when MODOK goes up to try and give his speech, Austin informs him that he was talking about himself and that he was going to give a speech on how to be a good leader, hence why he invited MODOK to begin with. MODOK is embarrassed by the blunder which is made worse when the concierge loudly proclaims that MODOK has diarrhea.
Melissa deduces that Austin intentionally invited MODOK at the last minute to inflate his ego and make him look bad. MODOK realizing that he does not know how to handle being presentable asks Melissa for advice and she agrees on the condition that she does not need to visit him on the weekends. Three other business people come and ask MODOK to play horse golf with them and with Melissa's guidance agrees. He shows up where they proceed to make jokes about him. Melissa explains that he needs to focus on their weaknesses and exploit them (one is concerned about his weight, one waxes her eyebrows and the other thinks he is not funny enough). Through Melissa's teachings, MODOK is able to exploit and bring down the business people and they start to demand that he join them for the party being hosted that night.
Lou has taken advantage of all the things the hotel has to offer and happily demands complimentary wheelchairs for himself before watching television to see Jodie promote her book on Morning with Master Pandemonium. MODOK thanks Melissa for helping him make a better impression, but immediately becomes upset upon seeing that the hologram Iron Man is giving a speech. Melissa berates him for being impatient and that he needs to listen to her, but she gets distracted by hors d'oeuvres. MODOK decides to create a crisis so that he can come in and save the day, thus showing his leadership skills. He opens a dimensional portal and settles on bringing the Brood as they are ferocious, but easy to kill.
As the party in the conference room begins, the portal proceeds to start up. MODOK plans to kill the Brood when they invade, but instead a group of the turtle like Ciegrimites enter instead. MODOK in confused by this conundrum, but the Ciegrimites turn out to be party lovers whose skin secretes a juice that sucks people into their partying lifestyle. People love the Ciegrimites and MODOK takes the credit for inviting them to begin with, much to everyone's amusement. Melissa is upset over MODOK's scheme and leaves with a visible look of disappointment. A beach ball gets tossed through the portal and MODOK enters to retrieve it. He discovers that he did connect to the Brood home world and discovers a dying Brood who warns them about the Ciegrimites. When MODOK returns to the party, he realizes that they party people until they pass out or die.
MODOK realizes what he has done and tries to mind blast the Ciegrimites, but their shells prove to be impenetrable. He calls Melissa for help, but she insults him for not listening to her in the first place and she hangs up. He thinks about what Melissa had taught him in the past and decides to figure out the Ciegrimites weakness which is that they crave attention and feel the need to be the wildest. MODOK goes up to the individual Ciegrimites and speaks down to them so that they can try to top one another. He convinces one of them to take off their shell and the other Ciegrimites follow suit by removing their shells. MODOK then uses his mind blast to blow up the Ciegrimites, thus saving the party.
At check out, MODOK puts up with the concierge again as Melissa sarcastically congratulates him for saving the party. MODOK uses his scanner to see what Melissa's weaknesses are and discovers that she seeks his approval and that she hates this about herself, making him feel guilty. After dropping Melissa and Lou back off at home, he tells Melissa that she does not need to come visit him over the weekend, but will not hold her to it if she does before adding that he liked playing horse golf with her. Melissa concurs and adds that a deal is a deal and heads inside. MODOK decides to play the "long game" to win his family back. Back at the resort, Austin goes to talk to the board of directors who turns out to be an alien entity who have plans for MODOK.
Cast[]
- Patton Oswalt as George Tarleton/M.O.D.O.K.
- Aimee Garcia as Jodie Tarleton
- Melissa Fumero as Melissa Tarleton
- Ben Schwartz as Lou Tarleton
- Wendi McLendon-Covey as Monica Rappaccini
- Beck Bennett as Austin Van Der Sleet
- Jon Daly as Super-Adaptoid
- Sam Richardson as Gary
- Jon Hamm as Tony Stark/Iron Man
- Jordan Blum as Martin Preston/Master Pandemonium
- Jonathan Kite
Trivia[]
- The opening dream sequence is a reference to The NeverEnding Story with Fin Fang Foom in the role as Falcor.
- The aliens that MODOK looks at the Skrulls ("too slimy"), Lilandra Neramani of the Shi'ar ("too sexy"), and Uatu the Watcher ("the big head is my thing").