SPOILER/INSIDER ALERT: If you're a Venture fan who hasn't seen Very Venture Halloween yet, I'll be spoiling it left and right. If you're unfamiliar with The Venture Brothers, (a) get on that and (b) you'll find this post pretty obscure.
So we got Rokus for each of our televisions and are on the verge of abandoning broadcast television altogether in favor of internet streaming. There are about seven hundred things in the "Pro" list on this decision and only three in the "Con" list:
1. The internet gets slow/buggy more often than the satellite. The bugs and occasional wait time for loading don't really bother me...I'm not sure the same can be said for my husband.
2. No local channels, so I can't watch channel 2 to see which counties are in red for tornado warning and which are yellow for tornado watch. Since
March 20, 1998 (for some of our more seasoned residents, since
April 6, 1936), we're all a little squeamish about tornados around here.
3. The new Venture Brothers episodes.
Regular readers know about my love of all things Venture, despite its pretty spectacular failing of the
Bechdel test (SRSLY, Tatiana, Y U NO HAVE LINES?); It's snappy and funny and I am really jonesing for new episodes. I suppose I could bite the bullet and spend the money on that Adult Swim Gold membership or whatever and watch them on my computer or just be patient and wait until they're released to Adult Swim's general-access site. But it's tough to wait, especially since I watched (on the satellite that we haven't abandoned quite yet) the Very Venture Halloween special, which was the first new episode in a long time - the Shallow Gravy special aired a year and change ago and the last season finale was over two years ago. The series was never cancelled and the next season has been repeatedly promised, though its ETA has moved several times - James Urbaniak (the voice of Dr. Venture) says it's coming soon and the Very Venture Halloween threw some weight behind all those promises by advancing various story arcs from the last season and introducing new plot points that presumably will be clarified in the new season. I'm in a sporting mood, so I'm going to make some observations and a few predictions about some of the weirdness going on in that episode and we'll see in the forthcoming season if I'm right!
1. Sergeant Hatred's "Costume."
It seems picayune on the surface, but it really bugs me that the only thing distinguishing Halloween Hatred from Everyday Hatred was a bosom. He was still in Venture blues, no makeup or wigs or anything. And we know he at least has access to face paint from "Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel," so he could easily have given himself fake lipstick or something if it were actually a costume.
My Prediction
He's going the Hunter Gathers route, not for undercover reasons as Hunter did, but because he thinks it will help him reverse his dark secret and also because Princess Tinyfeet likes it, seeing as how she's got a few secrets of her own.
2. New Dean
This one's obvious to any follower of the show. New Dean isn't really that new at all - he's morose, disillusioned and aloof, just like Rusty was at his age.
In "Every Which Way But Zeus," Rusty confesses to a disguised Hank that, "I see so much of myself in that kid that I want to apologize to him for his existence." [EDIT: Whoops! Rusty said this of
Hank, not Dean. But I think my prediction still holds water.]
My Prediction
Given the overall vibe of the show, which is all about glorious failure, Dean is most certainly
not going to be the Venture Who Makes It. No one is. But Dean also won't break his neck trying to make it because he's watched his dad walk down that tired road too many times. Rusty was right in the aforementioned episode
at the time when he said, "Dean believes this crap!" But by now, Dean has already started disbelieving all this crap. He will try to disappear. As soon as he's able, he will get as far away from Venture Industries, The Guild, OSI, Hank and Rusty as he can. He'll go from the trembling child who asked, "Why can't I just have a normal life???" to the bitter adult who will say, "I can, and I will."
But he won't. Hank and Rusty will always come around asking for money, people will stop him on the street because they recognize his last name - even later in life because of Jonas Jr. - and he will always grimace around Hot Topics because of Triana. Because (don't judge, Rusty said lots of good stuff in that episode!), "He's a Venture. He can't shake it." [EDIT: Again, this was actually said of Hank, but I'm pretty sure it holds true for Dean as well.]
3. Dermott and Doc
Never assume that any Venture thing is a one-off. Dermott himself is evidence of that. The Shallow Gravy special is neatly folded into this episode when Rusty tries to cultivate manners in Dermott, saying, "I have my reasons." Even though it comes with all these provisos, like the fact that Dermott's situation is Rusty's fault, I find it vaguely noble that Rusty is taking a little filial responsibility.
My Prediction
What we saw is what we'll get. Rusty will continue to insist that Dermott wipe his feet and put his napkin in his lap and ring doorbells and will never tell him or anyone else why. Because the same vague nobility that compels him to try and improve Dermott as a person will also compel him not to destroy the life Dermott knows, even if it is built on lies.
4. Rusty in General
Is it just me, or did Rusty seem more lethargic in this episode? I know he was drinking Hunchbacks all through the episode, but if they had any effect, it should have been copious vomiting. Rusty has never been one to get too enthusiastic about anything that doesn't stand a chance of making him rich or popular, but in this episode he was more crotchety and morose than usual.
My Prediction
Between the therapy sessions in "Self-Medication" and the psychological earthquake of "Assisted Suicide," Rusty is finally coming to terms with himself. Just as Orpheus's cheesy speech at the end says, Rusty is finding his true self. He's beginning to realize that he never truly was the Boy Adventurer, he was never a Super Scientist, he was never suave or popular. He was a neglected child star who was pushed into a career he had no aptitude for and as a result of his childhood abuse was never able to form meaningful relationships with friends, partners or his own children, hence his preference for making cloned copies of his boys over, you know, keeping them safe. But now the clones are gone, there's a new child in his life, and he's not getting any younger. He is realizing that he will never be like Jonas or Jonas Jr. and this realization will send him spiraling into depression. He won't do anything drastic - at least, nothing any more drastic than his existing bad habits - he'll just be less happy. But it will be a different type of unhappiness than his usual frustration over his failed get-rich-quick schemes and such. It will be a more genuine unhappiness born of realizing the giant lie that is his life. In a perverse way, this unhappiness will be the most grounded and secure he has ever been because finally, something in his world is based on truth.
5. Ben
Everyone will be making predictions about this because it was the biggest ERMAHGERD in the episode. Who the heck is Ben?
My Prediction
In the episode, Ben says that he worked with Jonas on cloning and later with Rusty, so this is what I think: Ben is Jonas's brother and the real super science muscle behind Venture Industries. Growing up, Jonas was more athletic and charismatic, while Ben was more scientifically gifted and withdrawn. Jonas took credit for Ben's work on cloning, rocketing him to fame and fortune and setting him up to found Team Venture and create the shows. Ben, upset but a generally laid-back guy, approached Jonas and threatened to out him as a liar if he didn't let Ben enjoy some of the trappings of his success. Ben was not extroverted and didn't want any of the fame and popularity - Jonas could have all of that - but Ben did want and deserve the money. So Jonas struck a deal in which Ben got a piece of the Venture property in which to live in solitude, a state Jonas helped ensure by turning the adjacent field into a mass grave for the various villains he killed as well as setting up Ben's home to appear "haunted" so that people would leave him alone. Ben supplied the super-science "discoveries" that were attributed to Jonas, got the profits from those discoveries and got to pursue his hobbies (which obviously include taxidermy as evidenced by his home) at length, while Jonas lived off of the television shows and superheroing around with Team Venture. On their combined efforts, Venture Industries became a media and science giant. Jonas, ever the opportunistic guy, tried to push Rusty into a science career so that he could eventually run Venture Industries with Rusty instead of Ben, but soon discovered that Rusty was just as inept at science as he was. Rusty, however, was unwilling to accept this and initially vowed that he would someday run Venture Industries entirely on his own, gaining even more fame than Jonas and making even more scientific breakthroughs than Ben. Jonas died before he could try to talk Rusty out of his mismatched aspirations. Through the years, Rusty would keep working toward his goals and continue to fail and would periodically have to go to Ben to keep the company afloat, always telling himself that he was including Ben out of altruism rather than desperation. Ben saw this behavior for what it was: the straw-grasping of a man so emotionally destroyed by his father that he might never be able to perceive reality. Since Rusty's visits occurred frequently enough to keep them both in homes and fed, and because he knew full well that it would be a long time before Rusty would acknowledge the truth, Ben chose not to rock the boat and kept Rusty and Venture Industries supplied with this and that product. But during the time period of the latest season, during Rusty's two big psychological events, Ben noticed the same sort of descending depression that I did and thought that it might be getting close to time to put everything out in the open and that he would take the next opportunity that presented itself.
And it presented itself at Halloween 2012, when Dean decided to see what was in that creepy old building that they called "The Potter Place."
So now let's all watch the new season, whenever it comes, and see if I'm psychic or what!
