Venture Brothers – “Return to Malice” Venture Bro
As for 24, it looks like it’s worth reviewing the specifics of his death. If you’ll recall, he died in last
season’s finale, “The Family that Slays Together Stays Together”. But it looks like the specific details will be important. The Monarch captured HELPeR and flew his cocoon to the Venture Compound for a massive attack. HELPeR freed himself, not realizing that plastic explosive and a detonator had been attached to his back. 21 and 24 hid from the battle in the Monarch Mobile, eating chips. HELPeR crawled into the car and started it, driving it right out of the cocoon. 24 had buckled his seatbelt, and he couldn’t get free before the car started moving. When the Monarch joined the battle, Dr. Mrs. The Monarch was holding the detonator, but she left it behind when she ran out to stop him from getting himself killed. Just as the battle wraps up, the Monarch Mobile cuts through all the carnage, and HELPeR and 24 emerge. Brock announces that he’s taking the Monarch’s car. When he advances toward it, the bomb goes off, killing 24 and embedding HELPeR’s head in Brock’s chest.
season’s finale, “The Family that Slays Together Stays Together”. But it looks like the specific details will be important. The Monarch captured HELPeR and flew his cocoon to the Venture Compound for a massive attack. HELPeR freed himself, not realizing that plastic explosive and a detonator had been attached to his back. 21 and 24 hid from the battle in the Monarch Mobile, eating chips. HELPeR crawled into the car and started it, driving it right out of the cocoon. 24 had buckled his seatbelt, and he couldn’t get free before the car started moving. When the Monarch joined the battle, Dr. Mrs. The Monarch was holding the detonator, but she left it behind when she ran out to stop him from getting himself killed. Just as the battle wraps up, the Monarch Mobile cuts through all the carnage, and HELPeR and 24 emerge. Brock announces that he’s taking the Monarch’s car. When he advances toward it, the bomb goes off, killing 24 and embedding HELPeR’s head in Brock’s chest. After Dr. Mrs. The Monarch left the detonator behind, we never saw it again. However, it appears she was still in cocoon at the time of the explosion. More importantly, the Moppets weren’t present at the battle, so you can assume they were running around inside, causing mischief. To me, they’re the most likely suspects for detonating the bomb. It’s worth noting that the bomb doesn’t go off until Brock moves toward the car, so it’s clear that he was actually the target, and 24 was most likely collateral damage. Except that the Moppets really hated 24. Damn Moppets.
And now, it’s recapping time!
“Champ is a picture of a log. Nessie is a toy submarine with a head made of plastic wood. Ogopogo is a plesiosaur.” – 21
In a bar (inside the Monarch’s cocoon), two henchmen argue which sea monster would win in a fight, Champ or Nessie. From the shadows, 21 offers up the opinion that the toughest sea monster is, in fact, Ogopogo. He gets quite angry about this and pops his claw on one of the arguing henchmen. One of them then mentions the “accident” that killed 24, and 21 demotes that henchman then and there.
–The sea monster argument is just the kind of conversation 21 and 24 used to have, not so long ago. 21 is really kind of scary here, even if he is exerting his influence to settle an argument about cryptozoology. One of the henchmen says that 21 is actually Henchman 1 now, but he refuses to change his name. (Their numbers are their rank, which 21 didn’t actually know for the longest time…) The loveable, dopey 21 is long gone now, isn’t he?
“Mr. Mostly-Mittens was my best friend. That cat could fetch a rubber band – he’d bring it back every time!” – The Monarch
The Monarch and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch have a nice dinner. The Monarch is happy with 21’s new efficiency, but the Mrs. thinks he’s gone over the edge. We see 21 in his room, bragging to 24’s skull about the girl who was “way into” him. Also, he seems to be arguing with the skull. Back in the dining room, Monarch worries about an impending zit and yells at Dr. Mrs. for feeding the Moppets table scraps. The Monarch also does not like the meal that the hench-chef prepared. This will be important.
–Damn, 21 really has gone crazy. That’s the skull of his best friend! Nice touch that the Monarch has to be reminded of who 24 is, as he tended to forget him. (“You know how, usually when you talk to me, there’s another guy right there?”) Actually, the Monarch and 24 both started out as henchmen for the Phantom Limb, so Monarch’s been forgetting him for years. Also, we see the stuffed body of Monarch’s cat, Mr. Mostly-Mittens. While we’ve never seen him before, 21 mentioned accidentally crushing him in Season Two’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Kills”. Continuity!
“I just thought it sounded cool. I also have ‘Avenging Angels’, ‘Dragon Thunder Undertaking’, and my second choice, ‘An Eye for an I’. The second ‘I’ is the letter ‘I’. That’s pretty cool.” – 21
21 explains “The Lazarus Project” to 24’s skull. He’s made a list of 24’s possible murderers, and he intends to kidnap and interrogate every single suspect.
–It’s amazing how conversational 21 is with the skull, and I love how the camera cuts to it whenever it’s supposedly responding. And 21’s list of possible murderers is as follows:
-The Ventures
-Brock Samson
-The Moppets
-The OSI
-A shape-shifting nightshade
-Suicide
-Happenstance
The nightshade is, I believe, a Dungeons and Dragons monster, and it’s unclear how 21 thinks he’ll interrogate ‘suicide’ and ‘happenstance’. But, you know, he’s crazy now. And we know that both the Ventures and Brock aren’t at fault, since they were outside when the bomb went off. As far as we know, there weren’t any OSI agents in the cocoon who could have pressed the detonator. Really, the Moppets are the only possibility on that list.
“Good morning, Mr. Sleepy Kill-Me. I just murdered your brother and had time to rip his leg off and beat you with it.” – Sgt. Hatred
At the Venture Compound, Sgt. Hatred ambushes the boys at night to prove how vulnerable they are. The boys think he’s being ridiculous, and Hank points out that they didn’t need to worry about being ambushed when Brock was their bodyguard.
–Sgt. Hatred tries so hard. He’s really trying to run the family like a military unit, but he’s also over-protective. In a good gag, we find out that he’s really getting into Dean’s Giant Boy Detective books. And notice that the boys no longer sleep in the Learning Beds – the controls are still there, but the domes are gone. That makes sense – not only did the Learning Beds mostly serve to copy the boys’ memories every night for the next set of clones, but Doc offered to give the lesson tapes to the underdwellers last season. These guys really don’t forget anything.
“I didn’t think you’d let me do that the first time. I’m not gonna push it.” – The Monarch
In the bedroom, the Monarchs are getting frisky under the covers. When the Monarch emerges 
from the blankets, Dr. Mrs. The Monarch is horrified. He thinks it’s the zit he was worried about, but in fact, his entire face has swelled up. Meanwhile, 21 (wearing Sgt. Hatred’s clothing) enters the boys’ bedroom. Hank, to show off prepared he is, hits the panic button and slides down the chute… into a sack. Dean keeps sleeping, so 21 hits the button for him. Back in the Monarch bedroom, Dr. Mrs. makes fun of his deformity, and calls him “Globface”. She tells him he had an allergic reaction to dinner, and when he finally leaves the bathroom, we see that his face is hideously swollen.
from the blankets, Dr. Mrs. The Monarch is horrified. He thinks it’s the zit he was worried about, but in fact, his entire face has swelled up. Meanwhile, 21 (wearing Sgt. Hatred’s clothing) enters the boys’ bedroom. Hank, to show off prepared he is, hits the panic button and slides down the chute… into a sack. Dean keeps sleeping, so 21 hits the button for him. Back in the Monarch bedroom, Dr. Mrs. makes fun of his deformity, and calls him “Globface”. She tells him he had an allergic reaction to dinner, and when he finally leaves the bathroom, we see that his face is hideously swollen. –The Monarch has some hilarious bedroom talk, with the two of them playing erotic “This Little Piggy” under the covers. For the record, he does not get to go “wee wee wee”. 21 actually does a really good job with his plan, but it’s nice to see that no matter how badass he gets, he’s still freaked out that Dean has a sleep boner. I like how the henchmen helping 21 refer to Hank as “mint in box” when they catch him. 21 is a toy collector, after all.
“Seems you illegally took the boys. So hand ‘em over or I’ll have to come over to your house and blow it up. Probably have to kill the both of you, too.” – Sgt. Hatred
Sgt. Hatred wakes up Dr. Venture – he tells Doc that he was shot with a poison dart and woke up to find his clothes and the boys gone. He explains that this abduction is completely against Guild regulations. Hatred calls the Monarch’s house to complain – Dr. Mrs. The Monarch takes the call and tells Monarch that it’s actually a request for an interview. Sgt. Hatred threatens her and says they have one hour to return the boys, and Dr. Mrs. says to meet her at the old observatory.
–This is as good a place as any to mention that the Monarchs have a home in a gated community for supervillains, called Malice. (Hence the title.) Sgt. Hatred used to be their neighbor, but he lost the house when Princess Tinyfeet left him. Dr. Mrs. The Monarch really doesn’t want the Monarch getting in on this lunacy, which is really sweet of her. She was making fun of his swelling before, but she’s trying not to put anything else on his plate while he deals with it. And even though I still miss Brock, Sgt. Hatred is really funny here. From the bit where he tells Doc that he got drugged while he was “masturbating in front of the computer” to excitedly summarizing Giant Boy Detective stories while he waits on hold, it’s all good stuff. I also like that he always uses that giant walkie-talkie instead of a cell phone. And if you’re new to the show, this is the first time that you’ve seen that the entire word “HATRED” is tattooed down his body. Go on, just guess where the “D” is…
And I don’t want to be that creepy guy, but Dr. Mrs. The Monarch is ridiculously hot in this scene. Yeah, I know.
“That would be more impressive if I hadn’t already been here, like, fifty times.” – Dr. Venture
The boys wake up, tied to a table, with buckets of water slowly dripping onto their foreheads – Chinese water torture. Then we see Doc and Hatred pull up to the entrance to Malice – Sgt. Hatred has some gear at his old house that he’ll need. He short-circuits the robot security guard with a stream of nonsense and drives through the gate. Back in the treehouse, 21 explains his plans to the boys. He explains that they’ve gone insane from the torture, but Dean insures him that they haven’t. Hank doesn’t even think he’s really that tortured, just wet.
–As the only person who is a fan of both Venture Bros. and Gilmore Girls, I was tickled that Doc pointed out how much Malice looks like Star’s Hollow. I also enjoyed Sgt. Hatred pulling the human face off of the robot security guard for a souvenir. (“Maybe Dean can be a middle-aged security guard for Halloween.”) As ever, the boys are not in any way threatened by 21, despite his insistence that they’ve been driven mad. He assumes that they’re hallucinating, and thinks they see him as “half Sin-Eater. Or Wolverine.” We all know who Wolverine is, but Sin-Eater was a one-shot Spider-Man villain, which might just be the most obscure reference of the season too date.
“I think they’re rehearsing for a play. Is there a non-musical, mostly nude version of Oklahoma?” – Dr. Venture
The Monarch checks in with Dr. Mrs. The Monarch – he still believes she’s going off for an interview with Modern Enemy Monthly. He says he’s going to go arching without her, so she asks the Moppets to keep him away from the cocoon. She has to specify that they not kill him. When Sgt. Hatred and Doc arrive at his house to pick up his gear, Hatred is horrified to see Princess Tinyfeet in a gangbang. The Monarch tries to leave the house, and when the Moppets try to stop him he threatens to kill them and feed them to the dogs. Duly chastised, they back off.
–Nice to see the Monarch striking fear into the Moppets. The guy’s still got it! By the way, the dudes who are in the house with Princess Tinyfeet are Sgt. Hatred’s old henchmen. Doc recognizes Private Schwa who showed up in last season’s “The Buddy System.” (Hatred named all of his henchmen after punctuation and typography artifacts.)
“Wasn’t that the same day a hundred gooey copies of me and my brother got mowed down by a lunatic in a spinning laser suit? And the day that my best friend Brock left us forever? Oh, how could I forget one of like a million guys who died on my lawn?” – Hank Venture
In the treehouse, the Ventures still haven’t gone crazy. Dean points out that this is a violation of Guild procedure. 21 explains that he’s not working under Guild sanction, and this is a solo operation. He tells that that he’s seeking revenge, and in a flashback, we see him bury 24, and then find that he went home to live with his mother again. Next, we see him running in the woods with his LARP crew, beating up a pretend wizard. Then we see him ascend to the top of the ranks of henchmen. 21 says that he vowed “never to lose another man to my cowardice”. Once he says that, he says “I killed 24. It was me.” Dean consoles him, “We all did, Gary. We all did.”
–I love this scene. There’s real emotion to it, and I think it was really executed. In the flashback to 24’s burial, the honor guard fires poison darts into the air in a salute, and several of the darts hit 21. You have no idea how hard I laughed at that. In a nice continuity touch, when 21 is recording a podcast, he mentions being abducted into a life of crime on an 8th grade class trip. In his very first appearance (Season One’s “Home Insecurity”), he mentions that he became a henchman when the Monarch kidnapped him as a child. That’s a little out-of-character given how everybody involved developed, but it’s still good continuity. Plus, it’s not like 21 has ever been known to be over-dramatic or anything…
“Clearly he’s deformed. Probably the kindly old groundskeeper.” – Dean Venture
The Monarch drowns his sorrows in a bar located inside his cocoon. The bartender cuts him off because nobody recognizes him with his swollen face. Sgt. Hatred weeps outside his house as it starts to rain. (“What would Giant Boy Detective do?”) Hank and Dean, now free, encounter the Monarch in the woods. He’s wearing a hood and his face is still swollen, so they don’t recognize him either. He tells them to go home and skulks away, offering to call them a cab. At the old observatory, Doc Venture and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch are waiting for Sgt. Hatred. They make small talk, and then Dr. Mrs. asks if Doc bothered to try calling the boys on their wrist communicators. He realizes that’s a pretty good idea, and he reaches them, only to find that they’re safe at home.
–It’s a nice scene between Doc and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch. She mentions being a fan of the old Rusty Venture show, and Doc is inappropriately flirty. For the first two seasons, at least, he was convinced that the two of them had sex (in Season One’s “Mid-Life Chrysalis”), even though they most definitely didn’t. He even brought it up at the wedding. However, by Season Three he seemed to accept that reality.
“You had them here. I can smell them. Hank wears more Stetson cologne than a gigolo, and Dean reeks of Selsun Blue.” – The Monarch
The Monarch climbs up to 21’s treehouse, where 21 is trying the water torture on himself, to no avail. Monarch accuses 21 of trying to win over his wife, which 21 denies. He explains that he wanted revenge, but he doesn’t have enough hate. 21 asks him to hang out, but Monarch compromises by not having him executed for treason.
–Hey, you want to get to the core of the Monarch? Well here it is, from the man himself. “I hate everything. Seriously. I hate myself more than most villains hate their archenemies. I’m all hate.” And he doesn’t say it in a way that’s prideful or pitying, he’s just stating a fact. Man, the script this week was fantastic!
“Hey, where’d you go?” – 21
In the final scene, we see a hand in a henchman glove checking the Ventures off of 21’s list of suspects. And then, 21 comes into the room, announcing to 24’s skull that Dr. Mrs. The Monarch did a photo spread for Modern Enemy. He then realizes that 24’s skull is on the other side of the room from where he left it.
–The hell? Somebody’s messing with 21! The glove we saw means it either has to be another henchman or possibly the Moppets. They wear the same gloves, after all. They’re probably more likely, since they’re nasty and unlike the henchmen, they’re not afraid of 21. Or it’s 24’s ghost. You really can’t rule that out on this show.
And here’s a preview for next week’s episode. The Guild of Calamitous Intent invades the Venture Compound, and it’s the return of “an old foe with a new name”. And that old foe looks a heck of a lot like a disguised Phantom Limb. This is going to be awesome.
