It is night in the city of scribbled buildings. Blood is smeared across the only lit window in sight, and below this dim glow is a jet. Inside, three strange looking figures are attempting to break out. Soon enough, a yellow stream of fluid splatters against the inside of the windshield. A second stream joins it, and together they shatter the glass. Thanks to Peanut Cop and Golden Joe’s inventive use of urine, the three have managed to escape.
This is how the second season of 12 oz. Mouse begins. Perfecting its usual balance of mysterious plot and comedy, this episode firmly plants the show on top of its Adult Swim brethren. No offense to those shows, but this is something truly unique.
After a nine-month break, the results of Fitz falling through the bookcase in the previous episode are finally revealed here. Within the dark passage he stumbles around in, Shark has Rich Businessman create a fake dream sequence for Fitz. A hologram of his wife appears, and she seems to be a zombie. She gives him a new tie and urges him to try it on immediately. “It has to make contact with your flesh,” she insists. Soon enough, the tie has transformed into a gun-toting robot who drills a bloody hole through Fitz with its built-in screwdriver.
Now it’s more clear than ever that Shark and Rich Businessman are more than just a couple of smartasses. They’re a connivingly evil pair of smartasses.
While Shark and RBM screw with Mouse’s head, Skillet is tied up in another room, trying to dodge the Clock, which is by now a character itself, and seemingly another nefarious one. Seeing his favorite rodent in need of help, the New Guy redeems himself from his kidnapping past by saving the little beast from the Clock’s time-gas.
Elsewhere, Liquor talks to Roostre about the letter he received back in the fourth episode. They both seem to know something about it, but what that is has yet to be revealed. Soon Liquor takes an unexpected turn and knocks Roostre out (with several different objects) and traps him in one of Spider’s webs.
Even as all that is happening, the laugh quota is filled with another appearance by the Producer Man, hysterically voiced by Matt Thompson (a former writer for Sealab 2021). Always overexcited about his latest business venture, this time he’s screaming about the new “zoo day” t-shirts he’s made for he and Shark.
When you add together all of the scenes in this episode, it totals up to be a very respectable amount of character development, humor, and plot to build in eleven minutes. While earlier episodes occasionally had me bored, this one deftly maneuvers from one great scene to the next, so that when the credits finally roll, I’m left thinking, “It’s over already?” This season is definitely off to a great start.