Review: Venture Bros. “The Devil’s Grip”

This is the season finale of one of this year’s most anticipated Adult Swim shows! How did this season end? Jump in to find out!

 

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Man, I can’t believe that the season is over already. It only feels like a few weeks. Shit happens. But this was a good shit.  I am warning you now, if you haven’t watched this episode, you should wait to read. You have been warned.

Spoilers Ahead!

So, what’s worse? Your father dying, or getting split up from your brother and getting set to some shitball of a spot with some old man from your Grandfather’s version of Team Venture? Well, Dean is sent to a Morocco type place with Horace Gentleman, and Hank is in Boca Raton, Florida with Action Man. I think Dean won out on this. They got sent out, because Hatred is planning for the worst, due to Rusty’s death last week. Speaking of which, turns out Rusty isn’t dead, but is about to get tortured by The Monarch and Mrs. Dr. The Monarch. Hatred gets the help of Gary, and they get into Gary’s old Henchman costumes.

So, The Monarch is trying every possible way to torture Dr. Venture, but nothing is working. Nothing is actually working, and Rusty needs to force himself to remember to play along.  As this is going on, Hatred and Gary infiltrate the Cocoon, and a henchman spots Hatred. Gary knocks one in the back of the head. The decide on splitting up trying to find him. Tim-Tom watches on. In something completely different, Dean is sitting in with Horace, trying to write his memoir. It’s filled with his sexual escapades with men 1/3 his age. Hatred is then caught by Tim-Tom, telling him that Gary gave him up.

Gary finds Tim-Tom in the throne-room, with him trying to tell Gary that Hatred gave him up. Gary turns the tables on him, getting the other henchmen to take care of Tim-Tom. Hench do not kill hench, fo sho. A defeated Monarch, lets Rusty go, and they have one of the most surreal conversations, about going at it for too long, maybe it’s time to give it up. The Monarch lets Rusty walk right out the front door. Even Rusty was taken back by this. Rusty was walking down a deserted road, when Hatred comes back, with his hovering tank, and he takes out the cocoon. That flaming wreck then takes out The Monarch’s home. The end of the episode shows The Monarch, his wife, and Gary moving into the house Monarch grew up in.

After the credits, the group gets together for the funeral for we seemingly get the end of Dean’s emo trip. Dean tells Hank that he’s been so pissy because he found out they were both clones, and they died at least 13 times thus far. Hank, in his own way, tells him that it’s awesome that they’re clones, which brings the first smile to Dean’s face all season. Thank fucking god.

I came into this episode expecting a lot. This is doubly so, since we only got 8 episodes, not counting the second half of the premiere, and the Halloween special. But, the supposed death of Rusty Venture could have been monumental. If they handled it clumsily, it could have been really bad. However, the way they kept him around was well-written. Who knew that a giant disco ball can only give you some cuts, bruises, and a dislocated hip? Shit, his glasses didn’t even break! I also thought  it was clever to let The Monarch just go buck wild trying to torture Rusty as it’s only been his one driving force for the better part of 5 seasons.

I touched on it during the synopsis, but I think it needs mentioning again. Generally, when a show does the “Maybe we’ve been doing this for too long” speech, it’s the death knell. Meaning, that the show will end very soon, or at the very least, some major changes will be coming. That theme has been carried throughout the second half of the episode. There is only so many times where The Monarch can try to capture, kill, torture, blackmail Rusty before the show jumps the shark. Hopefully, Doc and Jackson can keep everything fresh for season 6.

This episode overall is a fantastic conclusion to a mostly great season.

Overall: 8.5/10