It took a long time and other than a few specials on the way, 2013 saw the return of The Venture Bros. Writing duo Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer had a lot on their shoulders in order to prove any detractors, any doubters that maybe their best days were behind them and for the most part they did.

Venture Bros. has never been the most plot-driven animated series in the history of animated series, but this season provided a lot of entertaining arcs all the while providing quite a few shocking deaths that we will not re-print so as not to spoil for those who maybe need to catch up on their TiVos, but yea its a pretty legit list of deaths. One of the earlier criticisms is that Brock was not used nearly as much on this season of Venture, but really if you look at the totality of the season and the fact that there were only nine episodes (yea, NINE! One hour episode does not make TWO episodes) means there is only SO much airtime to go around and with the writers already having the unenviable task of building around the Ventures, one could see how it would be difficult. Want more Brock? Go to NY Comic Con and beg Doc and Jackson to have a spin-off series ALL around Brock then you can have him for 10 full episodes ALL to yourself. In the meantime, let’s be happy with what we get. What I did NOT like is the awkwardness of when the Venture halloween special originally aired and how the rather major plot points of that episode reared its head in the finale, that I think could have been planned just a tiny bit better.

Another major difference this season really is in the visual aesthetic as the series has never looked better and that’s all thanks to Titmouse. For some reason the drawings seemed to have more life in them and the backgrounds were fleshier and better detailed with the action effects looking as good as anything else on TV. We also got to see Stoopid Buddy Studios drop by and make a stop-mo appearance!

Venture Bros. always had one of the more talented voice casts with James Urbaniak, Paul Boocock, and Mike Sinterniklaas only to throw in rather hysterical guest contributions from Aziz Ansari, Paget Brewster, Wyatt Cenac, Kevin Conroy, Bill Hader, John Hodgman, Gillian Jacobs, Kate McKinnon, Tim Meadows, J.K. Simmons, and Brendon Small and you’ve got yourself some chicken soup.

Venture Bros. Season 5 showed one thing for Venturoos everywhere, Doc and Jackson aren’t going anywhere anytime.

8 out of 10