A new side to Mark’s character is revealed.
“Attack of Mark’s Clone” shows us a darker side of Mark’s personality by way of a genetic copy of him. Ironically, Callie is the one who made the clone – and she did it only to win a bowling tournament. Things go awry when the clone kills her cousin, Chad, and frames her for it. Now the real Mark needs to kill… himself. You know, in the clone way.
The episode attempts to shove a lot of gags together using the clone idea. The title is done in Star Wars font as to evoke the feeling of watching a Star Wars prequel – except unlike Star Wars it doesn’t take itself as seriously. That is the only Star Wars gag used and the rest of he episode takes refuge in Fight Club gags. The Mark clone even says he wants to turn his counseling sessions into a fight club.
I always wondered what would happen when you pit a fish-man against a Rock ’em Sock ’em Robot, and it’s surprisingly juicy. Lots of fish fluid spreads around in a robot vs. fish-man fight. The usual tropes about evil twins and clones apply in this episode. What Callie doesn’t receive sexually from the real Mark, she receives from the clone Mark and clone Mark is much more aggressive than the real Mark. Clone Mark smokes, tortures, and has the balls to shoot Frank. All these traits are the complete opposite of real Mark and they all come off cliche. These tropes are what the audience sees every time someone is cloned or has an evil twin. Ugly Americans does not go to any length to make the Mark clone character different from other cloned characters in other shows.
What does elicit laughs is how people react to the clone. Frank ends up knee-less whenever he discovers the real Mark and then winds up blinded in a wheelchair. These limitations on Frank set up visual and verbal gags as he continues to pursue the clone of Mark. Sadly, this is the most entertaining element of the episode. The only other part of the episode to provoke this sense of humor is when the death penalty is handed down to Mark’s clone. Even then, the joke doesn’t hit home until you see that Callie has a fetish for seeing people receive the death penalty. I guess that’s what you should expect from a demon girl.
Some stats and info about Ugly Americans, “Attack of Mark’s Clone”
TV SHOW – Ugly Americans
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 2, Episode 6
AIRED ON – August 4th, 2011
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – Comedy Central
GENRE – Animated Shows, Comedy
CREATED BY – Devin Clark, David M. Stern
CAST – Matt Oberg, Natasha Leggero, Kurt Metzger, Randy Pearlstein, Julie Klausner, Michael-Leon Wooley, Larry Murphy, Devn Clark, Pete Holmes
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.