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"If Saturday Be... For the Boys!" is the fourth 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. is turned away by his world conquering peers and forced to slum it with some blue-collar street villains.
Plot[]
With the weekend all to himself, MODOK decides to have personal recreational time. Being a robot, he gets finished with all of these things in a matter of seconds. Super-Adaptoid suggests they get beer together. MODOK likes the idea, but wants to spend time with the other villains rather than him and distracts him with bubbles. MODOK shows up at the SoHo Lair, but his membership card is out of date. He is mocked by the Leader, Mister Sinister and Madame Masque who make fun of his recent failures. When MODOK mentions that he stole Iron Man's boot, they offer him a challenge. If he can steal Captain America's shield, he will be allowed in the SoHo Lair. The woman at the front directs MODOK to the Bar with No Name, for the lower tier villains.
Meanwhile, Jodie takes Lou to A.I.M. headquarters after he posted a video of himself eating ten Paydays, despite the claim in her book that he had a nut allergy. They came in the hopes of getting MODOK to somehow remove the video. As Jodie looks around, Lou gets sent to the Teen Zone area of the building where he meets a goth girl who is disinterested in him. MODOK arrives at the Bar with No Name and immediately interacts with Armadillo, Melter, Poundcakes, Angar the Screamer, and Tenpin. While put off by their cynicism and lack of villainous talent, he witnesses them kicking out Whirlwind using their abilities and offers that they take part in a heist. He neglects to tell them the real reason and instead says they are stealing money so that everyone can get a Pontoon Boat (half each).
MODOK attempts to explain the plan to his team of villains, but quickly learns of their disruptive and uncoordinated tendencies. He also realizes that they are all illiterate and do not seem to take the idea of being villains seriously with Melter's motivation being to create a food truck that serves melted cheese sandwiches. When MODOK suggests that Tenpin use his exploding pins, he admits that he pawned them. They stop by the pawn shop where MODOK is forced to trade one of his saw blades (Tenpin used the money to donate to PBS). The pawnshop owner turns out to be metallophile who loves to cut himself and Armadillo steals a ring that belonged to his ex-wife and flees with it. MODOK finally calls Super-Adaptoid for help.
Jodie runs into Monica who upon learning who she is, offers to drink with her. They end up bonding over their respective relationship with MODOK with Jodie admitting that she still needs him for certain tasks. Monica offers her services as a bio-geneticist. Super-Adaptoid becomes a van for MODOK's crew and they manage to find Armadillo outside of his ex-wife Irene's house. It is revealed that Armadillo never formally gave a ring to her and that they had been divorced for eight years. Since then, Irene had remarried to Mandrill who starts a fight with Armadillo. MODOK breaks up the fight as Armadillo tells him that he needs to accept that people fall out of love, though MODOK claims he is still happy in his marriage. He offers to TP the house with him.
As the crew drive away, Angar gets accosted by younger drivers for his old band Sweetleg, who broke up thirty years prior. MODOK coerces him to use his powers and a chase ensues as they end up at Gruenwald High School, Poundcakes' old school. As they go inside, the young drivers come by and steal Super-Adaptoid. Poundcakes reveals that she was headed to becoming a sports champion, but that a blood test revealed her mutant abilities and she was disqualified. MODOK tries to make her feel better by destroying one of the trophies for her to toss, but it does nothing for her. MODOK realizes that all of them (except maybe Tenpin) have emotional issues and tries to motivate them, but in the process reveals his true intent to steal Captain America's shield. The villains angrily leave him.
MODOK pathetically tries to hitch a ride to Avengers Tower, but instead finds Night Loaf (a restaurant the other villains kept talking about). He pays for a round of meat loaf and apologizes for not being open to them and acknowledges that despite their flaws, they are talented villains who deserve to have some sort of respect. After his new plan of robbing Night Loaf is turned down, Melter suggests stealing Captain America's shield to hang over the Bar with No Name which everyone excitedly agrees to. Back at A.I.M., the goth girl, who is revealed to be Monica's daughter Carmilla, suddenly expresses interest in Lou when he reveals that he is MODOK's son. Monica bursts in and injects Lou with a serum that makes him allergic to peanuts. Lou ends up liking it, as it makes him "complex", and he and Jodie leave with Carmilla now finding him charming.
MODOK and the villains get on a subway to go to Avengers Tower, but they all end up falling asleep and awake early in the morning at Coney Island. They head to the beach and reminisce on the previous night's events. MODOK reveals that had they gone through with the heist, they only would have lost two of them, which actually pleases them. Melter finally tells MODOK his food truck name, though it is inaudible to the viewer, and MODOK calls it "perfect". They decide to head to the Bar with No Name, as they serve donuts early in the morning, but when MODOK tries to get Melter to come, he realizes that he had peacefully died from excitement. Super-Adaptoid, still in van form, is found at the impound by the younger MODOK who zaps and kidnaps him.
Cast[]
- Patton Oswalt as George Tarleton/M.O.D.O.K., The Anomaly
- Aimee Garcia as Jodie Tarleton, Irene
- Ben Schwartz as Lou Tarleton, Battle Orbs
- Wendi McLendon-Covey as Monica Rappaccini
- Jon Daly as Super-Adaptoid
- Bill Hader as Samuel Sterns/Leader, David A. Angar/Angar the Screamer, Drake Shannon/Orb
- Whoopi Goldberg as Marian Pouncy/Poundcakes
- Dustin Ybarra as Antonio Rodriguez/Armadillo
- Eddie Pepitone as Bruno Horgan/Melter
- Chris Parnell as Alvin Healy/Tenpin
- Zara Mizrahi as Carmilla Rappaccini
- Kevin Michael Richardson as Nathaniel Essex/Mister Sinister, David Cannon/Whirlwind, Jerome Beachman/Mandrill
- Meredith Salenger as Whitney Frost/Madame Masque
Trivia[]
- Melissa Tarleton is absent in this episode.
- Kang makes a brief non-speaking appearance arriving at the SoHo Lair.
- The name of the high school Poundcakes attended is Gruenwald High School, named after Poundcakes' co-creator Mark Gruenwald.