Review: The Venture Bros. “The Inamorata Consequence”

Politics abound, as heroes and villains face each other down with some good old diplomacy.

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

OSI and The Guild of Calamitous Intent meet on neutral ground, the old Venture compound, to set the new rules for interaction between their two organizations. Dr. Venture is set to mediate, but OSI and The Guild can’t seem to agree on anything.

Meanwhile, Hank and Dean get up to their own adventures, with Hank meeting up with Dermitt who is now an OSI grunt, and Dean running into an old helper model in the woods, who he spends time with learning about his and his father’s past.

Eventually, with Dr. Venture’s scolding, OSI and The Guild are able to come to an agreement, while Dean also gains a new appreciation for his dad and the struggle he went through being the son of a neglectful superscientist.

Our Take:

This week, The Venture Bros nails a solid episode that brings back a lot of old faces to commune and argues over the ever-arbitrary rules that The Guild and OSI abide by. We get an episode that gives us some quality time with Hank and Dean, all set to the backdrop of this conference that brings a lot of fun and interesting character dynamic to the fray.

The “Animosity Conference” that our loveable cast of losers find themselves in is a pretty great setup for the episode and one that works out really well. I love the protagonist-antagonist politics that go on between these agencies. They go at each other with the venom and visceral language of the United States Congress, and it works fabulously. This absurd ritual is exactly the kind of meta-tropery that Venture Bros does so well.

Something I’ve noticed in the latest episodes of Venture Bros is that there’s been a definite diffusion of tension between the “heroes” and “villains” within the Venture Bros universe. While its certainly a part of the episode scenario that we have OSI and The Guild being amicable with each other, there’s a feeling of levity that sillies up the tone a bit. It’s not a bad thing necessarily, but seeing Brock Samson and Phantom Limb palling around over a couple glasses of champagne when a few seasons ago they wouldn’t even be caught in the same room with each other creates a bit of dramatic whiplash.

While there were plenty of good laughs to be had on this episode, it was Dean’s time with the refurbished helper that was leftover at the Venture compound. While Hank and Dermitt were busy ogling a couple of carnally invested henchman, Dean shares some real moments with a new friend. Helper is usually a good laugh when he ends up getting horribly maimed or injured, but giving a voice to him really added another layer to this character. He gets some of the best lines of the episode, and also acts as a great emotional projection for Dean’s own adolescent struggles.

It’s nice to see that Venture Bros can still give us the high-concept storytelling that it’s been built on for seven seasons. You would think that after a while this show would start running out of ideas, but things still feel as fresh as ever, while also telling a great story.