TVSquad

(S02E13) What a beautiful way to wrap up a season. Even the weakest parts of the episode were tremendously enjoyable.

There's a whole new order set up for the third season (which Adult Swim should greenlight, if they know what's good for 'em)... The Ventures and The Monarch have become friends (and if not "friends", then "non-enemies") and Phantom Limb is now a completely rogue villain (he has strayed from the Guild). Maybe P. Limb will recruit Triana's friend, Kim, to do his bidding. Maybe Brock will continue to train/work with the henchmen. Maybe, now that the Cocoon has been destroyed, The Monarch will start renting space in the Venture compound, like Doctor Orpheus (hilarity would surely ensue). There's a whole world of possibilities and I couldn't be more excited.

The episode started where the last one left off. Right after Phantom Limb threatened to kill everyone, the wedding guests all panicked and escaped. Dr. Girlfriend was absolutely furious and, despite a few attempts to talk to Phantom Limb, she was taken away by his minions -- surprise, surprise -- Klaus Nomi and Iggy Pop. David Bowie called them traitors and he, with The Monarch and Brock, led a pretty cool fight. Klaus used his super-high singing voice and Iggy used a glowing ball thing that he could throw and command to create an explosive "pop" (haw-haw). Bowie became the victim of Iggy's pop and left nothing but a pack of cigarettes in his place. Iggy pocketed the free smokes, Klaus pulled an unconscious Dr. Girlfriend away, cave-man style. I wish Iggy sounded a bit more Iggy-like... I was reminded too much of Hank, and it was kind of distracting.

Dean, still stuck in the engine room, desperately tried to contact his family, but to no avail. I liked how, during his call to Brock, he felt the need to clarify that he was "Dean... Dean Venture". What a Dean thing to do. Then, something weird happened. He found a soda pop pull-tab on the floor, put it on his finger, and it started glowing. A massive Billy Quizboy appeared (with no eye-patch) as the Giant Boy Detective. The two of them embarked on a super-awesome adventure. It was... strange.

Dean: You're a short giant... Aren't you, like, 30-feet tall in the books?
Giant Boy Detective: Oh! You think I'm a disappointment, you should see Clifford. He's, like, the size of those little dogs that rich ladies drag around. Plus, he's more pink than red.

Only The Venture Bros. can make a freakin' Clifford joke and still be bad-ass.

Meanwhile, the Order of the Triad -- and the creepy guy that they materialized in the last episode -- hopped on the X-1 to save the Ventures.

On P. Limb's craft, Dr. Girlfriend angrily bitched at him and his two stooges (Klaus: "I wasn't in The Stooges..."), reminding P. Limb of all the shit he was going to get from The Sovereign. Then, he let a bomb drop... He IS The Sovereign! I'm not gonna lie, I totally gasped out loud. But then, around the time I started wondering the same thing, Dr. Girlfriend said this wasn't possible because she had seen The Sovereign talk to P. Limb over the telescreen. Then P. Limb explained that he held the position of The NEW Sovereign because he had killed the old one... Bowie. Okay, that makes sense now. Kind of. P. Limb ordered Iggy to smoke his new cigarettes outside of the craft and he begrudgingly agreed. Apparently, Bowie had the power to morph because he popped out of the cigarette pack and beat the shit out of Iggy. "Make way for the Homo Superior!" Cigarette-Bowie? Double-you tee eff?

Back in the Cocoon, Brock Samson, the only man to ever make the henchman uniform look cool, rallied the "murderflies" together and got them pumped for battle. I loved that, despite being repeated attacked by Brock in previous years, the henchmen were still totally fanboy-ing over him (Henchmen: "I forgive you, Brock Samson!"... "I was asking for it!"... "I love you, Brock Samson!"). The best part of this was when the henchmen found out that the wings on their uniforms actually function as working wings. Awesome. Brock then led them straight into action with P. Limb's armada. In order to bypass Brock and get into the battle, Hank put on his goggles and Russian Guyovich gear ("I am exchange henchman... from Russian super-villain!"). Brock caught on, but it wasn't until Hank was already in mid-air and about to die.

Dean was still in his trippy Insectia world. He encountered the White Oracle (Pete White with a beard) and the Lab Rat (Doc Venture as a snippy rat in a lab coat). He, Dean the Warrior, was charged with the mission to save Princess Tinglepants, ruler of Insectia. In order to do that, he had to face the Insect King (a golden Zorak-looking guy with The Monarch's voice) and destroy his black heart and evil machinery. I seriously didn't "get" this storyline. It's, like, it was there just so that the Cocoon would have a reason to fail (which it did, when Dean destroyed the "evil machinery" in the engine room). I guess his cries after setting the orphans free also revealed that Dean doesn't really love his life as a Venture. But still, I thought this storyline was the weak point of the episode. Oh! And Princess Tinglepants (Triana with long hair, pretty much) was at the wedding. Did anyone else notice? She was one of the panicked wedding guests that ran across the screen when P. Limb appeared. I don't know if that was intentional or not.

Anyway, the Cocoon lost power, so The Monarch and Doc Venture scrambled into the bedroom/escape pod. Bowie (in the form of Iggy) killed Klaus and went on to P. Limb. Brock, Hank 21, and 24 were on the roof of P. Limb's craft, attempting to get in. Suddenly, the X-1 flew in, bumped into P. Limb's craft, and crashed into the Cocoon's engine room. The Order found Dean inside, still on his weird trip. Orpheus took Dean outside to the canyon, where everyone else was. The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend were reunited, the Ventures came together once again, and 21 and 24 found out that their wings also served as flotation devices. Apparently, P. Limb escaped just in time, but lost one of his invisible parts (one that The Alchemist was very happy to find). Bowie stopped by one more time to offer his final congratulations to The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend. Then, morphed into an eagle and flew away.

Hank: That guy from Labyrinth just turned into a bird!

Credits. At the very, very end of the credits were the words "THE VENTURE BROS. WILL RETURN..." Phew. That's comforting to know.

As the Ventures ventured home, the new couple in the Cocoon took a break from some heavy bed-activity. Dr. Girlfriend (Dr. Wife?) turned to The Monarch to tell him a big secret. This is all we heard...

Dr. Girlfriend: [to self] Sheila, you've been rehearsing this. [sighs] Monarch... I'm... [no audio]
The Monarch: WHAT?!

Damn it. "WHAT?!" is right! "I'm..." pregnant? A post-op? Your father? Going to have to kill you? David Bowie? So... yeah. That was the big cliff-hanger. Obviously, it wasn't as huge as the first season's finale, but it was still enough to drive us fans absolutely crazy. Oh, and Sheila?! This was so much better than learning Henry Gale's real name.

And a quick message from me, on behalf of Venture Bros. fans everywhere, to Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer (pictured below, from the final Astrobase-Go!odbye)...


We love you, we love you.