The Retributioners – A Darkly Comedic Adventure Through Self-Esteem

The Retributioners is a webshow brought to you by Stephanie Faith Scott and Eric Rasmussen. It follows Stephanie on her quest to contact several people who did her wrong in the past, and… well, it isn’t generally clear what she plans do on these escapades. Give them what for, apparently. From ex-BFFs, to those who shoved her down in grade school and stole her imaginary unicorn, Stephanie muddles through encounters with people from all walks of life, and never quite manages retribution of any sort. On the other hand, sometimes she’s just drunk.

While the show’s website invites us to, “See what happens when individuals are confronted with explaining why they made the choices they made,” it would be hard to imagine an explanation that describes the actual events of these episodes less. Whether old BFFs turn out to be more than a little unstable, or Stephanie winds up trying to get a job from the guy who stole her cab, nothing comes within miles of working out the way she planned. Certainly no one is explaining anything, and it is only in a very technical sense that we might call these interludes “confrontations.”

The Retributioners is a prime example of the usefulness and vitality of internet television. While television networks continue to spew out one lazy, poorly-written homage to mediocrity after another, webshows are bringing new life to the entire theory of what television is, and might become. Often with little to no budget, and forced to rely on solid writing and entertainment value, webshows like The Retributioners throw themselves out to a more and more legitimate rating system… actual viewers.

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In the comedy arena of this internet world, The Retributioners continues to place itself on solid ground. There are 12 episodes to date, with a new one posted only days ago, and each is better than the last. As Stephanie digs her emotional hole ever deeper with the passing of time, a truer sense of her background materializes, and the audience becomes legitimately invested in her backward windmill-tilting. Yes, this is a show with episodes running roughly six minutes, and we aren’t talking about the greatest show to ever be viewed by man. Still, the entertainment per minute destroys mainstream television, and the fake reality with underlying depth is a welcome relief from the ad naseum efforts of real reality’s lack of real humans.

I highly recommend checking the show out. A list of avenues for connecting with The Retributioners follows, as well as the video of the prologue.

Be sure to come back tomorrow for an interview with Stephanie her own self and Eric Rasmussen.