What? We’re reviewing The Venture Bros now? You betcha, sport! With Game of Thrones winding down and not too many TV shows left to hold our attention, we felt it might be fun to tackle one of the most entertaining and comic-y shows around, [adult swim]’s Johnny Quest send-up The Venture Bros.
So sit back, relax and dig in with us as we look at last night’s episode (and relish in the thought that you got to sleep on it and think on it, as opposed to writing out your thoughts at 1 in the morning after the episode aired!).
1. The Morning After
Despite the Halloween episode we got last year, this episode takes place directly after the finale of Season 4’s finale, “Operation P.R.O.M.” In fact, the Halloween special apparently happens after the first commercial break of the episode — which, given how dense this show is, causes a bit of a headache in trying to remember what all is supposed to be happening where and when. (I can remember broad strokes, but I haven’t watched season 4 since it aired if only because of that annoying split-DVD release stuff.)
However, it stands worth celebrating that this show more than most does a good job of really sticking to its canon and delivering pay-offs based on what we like about characters in the first place. The only other cartoon that is this good at celebrating its dense continuity is Archer, and even then Venture Bros is usually better at bringing back obscure aspects from the past and shining new light on them in one way or another. The show continues to celebrate ineptitude and vanity, allowing egos to run rampant in new situations with sleek comical timing. If there’s one thing that Venture Bros‘ season 5 premiere gets absolutely right, it’s that it’s the fucking Venture Bros.
If you missed these characters, it’ll feel like they never left — and if you didn’t miss them, you might be asking yourself why not.
2. The Problems of Hour-Long Episodes
That said, Venture Bros doesn’t really carry hour-long episodes that well. They’re ok every now and then, and certainly work as season finales — but a season premiere? For whatever reason, it just felt like too much. One of the best things about Venture Bros is how easily it condenses its stories down into bite-sized segments of eleven or so minutes (counting those commercial breaks), never really feeling like anything too important was jeopardized or lost in order to accomodate the timeframe. Obviously there was a good deal of stuff happening in this episode that made it clear why it was an hour long, but at the same time it didn’t really kick off until the latter half anyway; the first half was amusing, but the second half was hilarious. And, really, it was just two episodes anyway.
So while this is just a big way to kick off the new season and I’m happy with the amount of time spent with these characters, I also am looking forward to next week’s more condensed episode. The show is arguably more funny when it is comprised of little seeds for the finale and rapid-fire jokes/storytelling.
3. The Passage of Time
One thing that the new episode got really right in relation to the aforementioned extra length was that, while other things were drawn out, it condensed months worth of events into that hour. We went from spring to winter essentially, which is great because it allows us to reasonably believe all of the intense changes that the characters (like Dean) have undergone. Everyone is basically the same, sure, and they’re all still clearly insane and egotistical, but that showing of growth — from literally the seconds of the last episode to the launch of the Venture Brothers (not Hank and Dean) latest venture (heh), we’re given quite an interesting span of time.
4. So That Was Basically The Venture Bros Version of “The Manhattan Projects”
The one thing I couldn’t help but thinking in this episode was that it was basically the Venture Bros version of Hickman and Pitarra’s “Manhattan Projects”: science bad. Featuring Aziz Ansari as one of the new hires (in perhaps the one new voice I recognized this episode), we’re moving away from the show’s Johnny Quest spoofing into this territory of pure mad science, which is fun in its own way and just as endearing. It also happens to match the tone of that brilliant Image comic, for better or for worse, in its use of dark humor and insane science all interweaving in a rather twisted fashion for a dark finale.
Continued belowAnd that’s “The Manhattan Projects”, is it not? Not as much as real science to it, surely, but it’s still BAD SCIENCE DONE BADLY! And that’s funny in its own way.
5. Best Game of Thrones Reference Ever?
In an episode full of references and Easter Eggs (as is par for course with every Venture Bros episode), the obvious favorite was Monarch and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch roleplay session in which Dr. Mrs. The Monarch confused Drogo for Ivan Drago. It’s worth mentioning if only because this episode aired after the catastrophic events of Game of Thrones ninth episode of season three, and it is nice to have some levity in the dark times. Monarch’s subsequent little screamfit about how good Game of Thrones is was also a rather hilarious moment for him.
Second best is Sgt. Hatred’s “IT’S A MADHOUSE!” moment.
