Dan Vs., Season 1, Episode 1 Shows How Some Adults Never Grow Out of Adolescence; New Mexico is the First Target

Dan Vs., Season 1, Episode 1 premiered on The Hub Network Saturday night. This animated series follows the mean-spirited quests of a real loser named Dan (voice of Curtis Armstrong), who wants revenge on those he feels have wronged him, even if it's an entire state. For in Season 1, Episode 1 of Dan Vs., the main character goes after the state of New Mexico with the help of his gullible, "follow the leader type" friend Chris (voice of Dave Foley). Chris' enabling wife Elise (voice of Paget Brewster) is also one of the principal characters who comes along on the road trip.

Season 1, Episode 1 of Dan Vs. Sees Revenge on the state of New Mexico

The main character lives in a dumpy hotel, wears a t-shirt that proclaims "JERK." After waking up and injuring himself in his messy living quarters, he goes out to find his car's window has been damaged by an adobe brick. Cactus needles are around the vehicle, so Dan, with his twisted logic, connects the crime to New Mexico.

From work, Dan's good friend Chris gives him a factual run down on the state of New Mexico, but the former wants more information about the state's vulnerabilities. Dan and Chris go to the library, but get kicked out after scrapping (which Dan started). Later, when they visit the library again, the librarian will only help the duo find resources on how to get revenge on New Mexico if they do him a favor: get revenge on the patron "doing" his wife. Luckily, the duo avoid committing murder after the cheating man gets run over by a bus. They are led to a book which talks about the state's love affair with hot air ballooning on the Season 1, Episode 1 premiere. So the star of Dan Vs. decides to disrupt the hot air balloon festival in Albuquerque.

Chris' wife Elise joins the duo on their road trip, but Dan gripes that he can't sit in the front seat of the couple's car. Viewers find out on Dan Vs., Season 1, Episode 1 that Elise has a grudge against the state, too, due to childhood trauma suffered at a carnival there (her cotton candy was pinched by roadrunners and a cactus popped her balloon). En route to Albuquerque, Elise is dropped off so she can do something secretive: infiltrating a covert government installation called "Area 52." She wears a ninja-like costume, and gets access to a flying saucer after besting the security measures.

Dan plots to gets some hydrogen via roughing up the hydrogen truck driver who happens to cross their path. Now that they've hijacked the truck, they fill up the hot air balloons with hydrogen. Dan accidentally causes the truck to explode after he lights up, but the duo escapes injury. The balloons eventually explode, but a cult of balloon worshippers surrounds them. Suddenly, Elise saves them in time by beaming them up to the flying saucer, which is then used to zap a carnival, road runners, locals, and some city buildings while Chris sleeps. On the drive home, Dan gets to sit in front while Chris sleeps in the back seat...until he falls out of the car on the Season 1, Episode 1 premiere of Dan Vs.

Dan Vs. Shows How Some Adults Never Get Out of Their Adolescence

The Season 1, Episode 1 airing was fast-moving and rather outrageous, but it does cast some light on how some adults never get out of their adolescent ways. We have Dan, who is totally self-centered and expects the world to cater to his every whim, and has fits of rage when it doesn't happen. Dan is always complaining and harassing Chris, who takes the orders and punishment. The main character expects him or Elise to pay for everything. The miscreant is paranoid about everything, even seeing a plot in the library's Dewey Decimal System.

Then there's Chris, an adolescent-acting man himself, who doesn't have the mean-spiritedness of Dan, but who has no mind of his own when it comes to making good decisions. Chris' wife Elise is more like an enabling mother figure to her husband. A second episode of Dan Vs. followed the Season 1, Episode 1 premiere, which featured the cast go after an alleged Wolf-Man, who allegedly vandalized the main character's car.

Sources:

"New Mexico", Dan Vs., January 1, 2011, The Hub