M.A.S.K. S1E35

In Dutch

Cracks in a stone dike burst open with water spilling through.

A Dutch millionaire named Wellick hires V.E.N.O.M. to steal an ultrasound analyzer, the machine used to test Holland's dikes, and pays Miles Mayhem to turn it into a weapon that cracks them with ultrasonic vibration. While Scott and T-Bob tour the country, a dike collapses and Matt traces the cause to V.E.N.O.M. A flying windmill, which is Switchblade in disguise, leads Matt's Thunderhawk into the sea, and the team later follows a signal to a Venom ship posing as an oil rig. Wellick wants the prime minister's job and only meant to bluff, but Mayhem does not bluff, and Matt jams the frequency to save the dikes.

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A Dutch millionaire named Wellick hires V.E.N.O.M. to steal the machine inspectors use to listen for weak spots in a dike, and then pays Miles Mayhem to turn it into the opposite: a device that shakes a dike apart with a pitch only animals can hear. He wants the top job in the country, and he has never wanted a drowned one. It is a clever inversion, the safety instrument made into the weapon, and the episode opens with a tour guide assuring Scott and T-Bob that the dikes will stand for fifty years, so we know what is about to be proved wrong.

What the episode is really about is a bluff called by the one person who does not make them. Wellick tells the prime minister that unless he steps aside every dike in Holland will go, the prime minister does not believe him, and Mayhem, who says he despises unreasonable people, decides the only way to make his client credible is to prove it. Wellick protests that it is his own country and that he only meant to frighten, and Mayhem answers that he never bluffs. A man has hired a threat he cannot control, and V.E.N.O.M. is the wrong firm to hire for a threat you do not mean.

The writing is a pun factory, and most of the puns are good, because the Netherlands lends them out so freely. The guide's reassurance that dike accidents are all water under the bridge, T-Bob's decision to wave bye-bye once he learns the water is the ocean, and a lesson in what a windmill grinds that ends in a wheat-and-barley pun are the kind of thing the show does with a straight face and a rim shot. The clue that unlocks the mystery is planted fairly, too: dogs make a racket and T-Bob acts up just before the water gives way, and a late line that animals can hear ultrasonic vibration is the answer to a question the episode had already asked.

The windmill is the episode's best gag in design terms. Switchblade, dressed as one, takes off, and someone spots that its sails are turning the wrong way, which is the clue that tells Matt's side which windmill is not a windmill.

The standout is Thunderhawk's ditching. Matt, caught in the sea with Spectrum's lasers dead, the doors jammed and the jets unable to fire under water, observes that this could be a slight problem. It is the episode's best stretch of comedy, and it gives the show its customary pleasure of watching Matt solve a problem from the least convenient place possible.

The weak link is Wellick himself. He has no shape beyond wanting the job; the Mayhem he hires is a more developed character than he is, and his comeuppance is a scene of a man being lectured by his own contractor. The long middle is the other soft spot: M.A.S.K. flies the length of the Dutch coast looking for a Venom ship that is, as Matt eventually puts it, under their noses, and the problem is then solved by a sonic disrupter that is announced in one sentence and used in the next. The danger to the dikes is real in the first act but mostly abstract after that.

It all ends with a pun, naturally! Dusty brings Wellick in, and Matt observes that here is one guy who is really going to be in Dutch. In Dutch is a modest, well-built mystery with a small villain and a good problem, and it keeps its best idea for the middle, where the same machine that proves a dike safe is shown to be able to break it.

The M.A.S.K. wiki credits Brendan McKane as the voice of both Miles Mayhem and Wellick, and Sharon Noble as Gloria Baker, Vanessa Warfield, the M.A.S.K. Computer and Wellick's cat.
According to the M.A.S.K. wiki, Mayhem hitches a ride with Manta after Thunderhawk disables Switchblade.
The M.A.S.K. wiki lists a goof in which Matt uses the spoken command Mask to lower his mask and Dusty later uses the same command while already masked, to launch the boat section from Gator.
The M.A.S.K. wiki describes the closing safety tip as T-Bob copying a stunt from television, jumping off the Trakker mansion roof and yelling like Tarzan, after which Matt explains that stunt performers are trained and that some stunts are camera tricks.
The fan site maskforce.com lists the Ultra-Sonic Sound Wave Analyzer and the flying windmill, which is Switchblade, as the V.E.N.O.M. tech in this episode.
Wikipedia's list of M.A.S.K. toys and characters says Shark, which Gloria Baker drives in this story, appeared only on the show and was never released in the toyline.

Matt Trakker

Brad Turner

Dusty Hayes

Gloria Baker

Miles Mayhem

Sly Rax

Vanessa Warfield

Scott Trakker

T-Bob

Matt Trakker stands with Scott Trakker, T-Bob and a man in a tan uniform on a tulip-field hill.

T-Bob looks out over a wide blue sea from a grassy bank.

Scott Trakker gestures with an open hand beside T-Bob as a man in blue stands behind him.

A man in a tan cap and tie smiles with a satisfied look.

A purple truck carries a gray drilling machine as a man in tan stands beside it.

The rear of the purple truck shows a gray machine with two discs and a man in tan.

A man in a tan cap and tie smiles behind a truck windshield.

T-Bob stands on robot legs in front of a tulip field with his arms spread.

T-Bob blurs as he digs into the ground in a swirl of sand.

T-Bob spins with arms outstretched through a patch of red tulips.

A man in a tan cap and tie grimaces as a hand rests on his shoulder.

Matt Trakker looks upward with a worried frown against a sandy background.

Scott Trakker, Matt Trakker, T-Bob and a man in tan cling to a tree above the flood.

Floodwater sweeps people and a floating log around a hill.

Scott Trakker stands on the mud bank looking at rippling water.

T-Bob stands covered with tulips on a bank beside the flood.

T-Bob shakes tulips off himself beside the flood.

T-Bob sits on a wooden floor beside a bedpost with the sea behind him.

T-Bob peers through a window pane with raised eyes.

Scott Trakker smiles with a hopeful look at the viewer.

T-Bob looks up with his arms hanging at his sides next to a thatch-roofed building.

T-Bob lifts his arms with his hands up beside a thatch-roofed building.

T-Bob hops over a canal in front of two windmills at sunset.

A computer screen shows diagrams of a gray drilling machine.

Men in blue and a man in green stand around an open gray machine with a cannon.

Miles Mayhem and Nash Gorey stand beside the gray machine as Vanessa Warfield stands at the right edge.

Miles Mayhem holds up a gloved hand while Nash Gorey stands behind him.

A group of figures stands on a platform in a purple chamber under a huge machine.

Scott Trakker and T-Bob talk with a man in a red beret and pipe in a barn doorway.

A man with a gray mustache in a red cap and neckerchief looks surprised.

A man in a navy suit smiles as he holds a white cat by a car door.

A man in a navy suit strokes a white cat in his arms.

Scott Trakker walks down a dirt road beside a white fence and a house.

Scott Trakker pushes against a windmill sail beside T-Bob.

T-Bob clings to a windmill blade high in the air.

A gray armored tread and wheels roll in front of a blue pipe-lined wall.

Large work barges with orange cranes sit beside a dike and a construction site.

A man in a blue jacket and a man in a yellow hard hat and glasses talk.

Two men in work clothes stand on a muddy flat in front of a flat horizon.

Scott Trakker looks worried beside T-Bob, who holds a long staff.

A windmill with four lattice sails stands in front of a second windmill.

A brown windmill stands tall with its sails crossed in front.

A windmill's sails blur as it spins, with dark bits flying off.

Scott Trakker and T-Bob stand on a dirt road under trees with downcast faces.

A red muscle car with purple hood stripes drives along a road beside a dike.

Matt Trakker smiles in a car seat in a racing suit.

A one-man helicopter with log cargo flies over a patchwork of flower fields and windmills.

Matt Trakker grips the wheel of a car as a helicopter hovers ahead.

A driver in a red helmet and gray visor sits belted in a car.

A driver in a red helmet looks sideways with a red collar and white harness.

A pilot in a blue cap and golden visor grips a controller in a cockpit.

A driver in a red helmet and white harness grips the wheel with both gloves.

A red car with purple stripes floats on the water.

The floating red car rocks in whirling water.

A dark blue and red jet marked V.E.N.O.M. flies through a light sky.

A driver in a red helmet sits with water streaming off his head and shoulders.

Matt Trakker sits in a car with water up to his chest and his eyes ahead.

Matt Trakker looks alarmed with his mouth open as water reaches his chin.

The red car skims on water with white spray and a cannon on its roof.

The red car flips upside down off a ramp near a gray building.

Matt Trakker holds Scott Trakker by the shoulders beside a house.

Matt Trakker works at a laptop while Scott Trakker and T-Bob look on.

A green wireframe drawing shows a man in sunglasses from several angles beside a helmet.

Red outlines show the front and side of two cars on a blue screen.

Matt Trakker raises a hand in front of a console in a lavender room.

A brown-haired man in a red vest and blue shirt looks off to the side.

Scott Trakker, T-Bob and a man in tan stand in a barn beside a round stone mill.

Scott Trakker looks up at a man in a red cap who holds a pipe.

Four masked M.A.S.K. agents in yellow, red and green gear walk across a golden field.

The four agents walk close together across the same yellow ground.

A masked agent in a red helmet and a yellow-helmeted agent stand in front of a blue building.

Four agents walk in a line past a large yellow-suited agent in front of a gray wall.

A masked agent in a red helmet stands beside a large yellow agent by a gray wall.

A red car with gull-wing doors raised launches with a blue blaze trailing behind.

A purple metal hatch with round vents fills the frame.

Four figures stand in a lit control room behind glass as a purple truck bay sits below.

Miles Mayhem stands beside a man in a navy suit who holds a white cat.

The dark blue bow of a ship cuts through white-capped water.

A purple rocket launcher with two dishes sits on a gray hull.

A gray gun mount with a red-banded barrel sits against a blue sky.

A black and red banded cannon points from a gray block against a blue sky.

Gloria Baker grips a steering wheel and looks ahead in a car seat.

Miles Mayhem sits with his back to us as Vanessa Warfield and Nash Gorey stand in the cabin.

A man in a navy suit holding a white cat talks with Miles Mayhem in his chair.

A purple cannon with two round dishes sits in an open deck hatch.

A man in a navy suit with a white cat stands facing a lit round hatch.

Miles Mayhem scowls with his hand on his hip in the cabin.

A brown-haired man in a red suit stares straight ahead in a cockpit.

A brown-haired man in a red suit sits at the controls of a red and orange vehicle.

Matt Trakker looks to the side as a seagull flies past the canopy.

A driver in a red helmet faces a yellow helicopter-cycle flying beside him over the sea.

The underside of a dark flying vehicle crosses a clear blue sky.

A driver in a red and white suit sits in an orange speedboat splashing across the water.

The driver in the orange boat looks to the side as white spray flies.

A parachute drops a gray metal canister through the sky.

A radar console glows with a scope and colored panels.

Miles Mayhem sits at a radar console beside a man in a navy suit.

Nash Gorey and Vanessa Warfield wait on a platform beside a red scaffold.

A black jet-like vehicle hovers above a blue ocean horizon.

A driver in a red helmet reaches forward as a yellow helicopter motorbike flies alongside.

The driver raises a red-gloved fist as the yellow helicopter motorbike flies alongside.

A red craft crash-lands on a platform, trailing black smoke.

A man in blue runs toward a purple sports car parked on a platform.

A pilot in a yellow helmet and suit with a green strap looks forward inside a cockpit.

A cargo net hangs over a dark rock at sea near a tiny helicopter.

A pilot in a yellow suit and visor sits in a white cockpit seen from the side.

A yellow-suited pilot leans forward in a cockpit with a blue visor on his helmet.

A yellow motorcycle sits atop a white craft while a pilot in yellow looks from a window below.

A rider in a yellow suit and blue visor sits on a green and yellow motorcycle.

A big net covers a dark craft in a cloud of white foam.

Water bursts through splintered wooden boards.

A man in a navy suit holds a white cat and shouts in alarm on a tiled platform.

A red-gloved hand pulls a man in a navy suit from the water beside an orange boat.

Matt Trakker smiles with a hint of mischief behind a car's seat.

Scott Trakker points to the side as T-Bob stands next to a house.

Scott Trakker and T-Bob stand on a tennis court facing Matt Trakker across the net.

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