REVIEW: Venture Bros - Season 2
Not only the funniest cartoon on TV, but the most clever spoof yet of "Johnny Quest", The Venture Bros., follows the bizarre mis-adventures of Hank and Dean, sons to super scientist "Rusty" Venture and bane to bodyguard Brock Sampson--an ambiguously gay duo.
A surprise hit in it's first season, Adult Swim's Venture Brothers returns for another batch of hilarious excellence; picking up from the first season's cliffhanger ending. The last time we saw Hank and Dean, they were, well, dead. A distraught Dr. Venture is drug back home by a now mullet-less Brock, as an even more distraught Dr. Orpheus prepares to go into the black arts to bring the twins back from the dead. The end result is simply hysterical. After all that, arch enemy Monarch escapes from prison, villains inadvertantly, and inappropriately, fall in love, and dangers abound for the Venture crew. And, just like the first season, the conclusion of season two of the Venture Brothers will leave you in stitches and begging for more. Easily one of the best shows to ever grace Cartoon Network's Adult Swim lineup, the Venture Brothers is still a just plain awesome treat.
Powerless In the Face of Death: Great season opener, as you find how the VBs Hank and Dean come back to life (and how they kept coming back to life) after their demise in the end of the first season. Plus the Monarch makes his daring escape from jail with the help of a...gay gorilla? 8.5/10
Hate Floats: Not one of my favorites, but still works. The Monarch makes his return to find an abandoned cocoon lair, and almost all of his henchmen departed and moved on. 7.5/10
Love Bheits: Disturbing, but hilarious. On the way to a costume party, the Venture family crashes into Underland and its head-honcho, Baron Underbheit, holds them hostage and plans to marry Dean, whom Underbheit mistakes in Dean's Princess Leia costume for a woman. 9/10
Escape To the House Of Mummies, Part Two: One of my four favorites from this set. After abandoning Brock and the rest of his family from a big "two-parter" adventure, he makes a bet that he can preform a task--shrinking--better with science than Dr. Orpheus can with magic. Pure hilarity. 10/10
Twenty Years To Midnight: Another one of my favorites, Dr. Venture reluctantly teams up with his brother Jonas Jr. to put together the four pieces to his father's "greatest invention". Fun from start to finish, as I love the character of Jonas Jr. This also contains my favorite Venture moment: Jonas and the ghost pirate captain encounter a middle-aged drug addict Johnny Quest ("WHOOOAAA!! Don't you talk about my father! OOWWWW!!"). Not to mention the returning debuts of the Impossible family and the ghost pirate captain, and a "Contact" spoof. 10/10
Victor. Echo. November: Lots of things happen in this episode: Dean and Hank on a date with Triana and a "surprise date", Dr. Venture renting the worst porno ever (in some of the episode's weakest spots), and Phantom Limb trying to impress Dr. Girlfriend by sending a fierce army to the Venture industries with hilarious results. (7.5/10)
Assassinanny 911: This explores Brock's past, and how he met mercenary Molotov C***tease. Brock puts Molotov in charge of guarding the Venture family as he hunts down an old friend of his. On a sidenote, Hank develops a crush on Molotov. 8/10
Fallen Arches: Dr. Orpheus is one of the best characters of the show, and this is my favorite story about him: Dr. O. realizes that he has a lair-screening from the Guild of Calamitous Intent, and all he needs to do is to bring back the Order of the Triad he'd departed 16 years ago. 9/10
Guess Who's Coming To State Dinner?: Heard this is one is the most underrated episode of this season. I think it's pretty funny. While in the Venture family's visit to the White House in reluctant celebration for a survivor of a spaceship crash, the ghost of Abraham Lincoln tries to foil a plan to assassinate the president with the help of Hank and Dean. 8/10
I Know Why The Caged Bird Kills: The third of my four favorites. The secret about the Ventures' mother is revealed as a mysterious man helps the Monarch in organizing the cocoon and #21 and #24 and not liking the changes one bit. 10/10
Viva Los Muertos!: Yes! I've been wanting to see the dull Scooby Doo gang wickedly satirized, and now my prayer has been answered! To bad it's just a B-story. The A-story involves Dr. Venture playing Frankenstein as he resurrects a dead corpse Brock has recently killed, and Brock not like himself since the resurrection. While having a disturbing hallucinogenic scene involving Hunter, this marks the fourth of my four favorites of this set! 10/10
Showdown At Cremation Creek, Parts 1 and 2: Having these two episodes together alone will make a great season finale, as it contains hilarious moments throughout, secrets revealed, action galore, and a great cliffhanger that'll set the stage for the third season opener. 10/10
An excellent season, by and large. In addition, all 13 episodes are presented in Dolby 5.1 surround as they contain commentary tracks by the creators of the show. Also included in this set a big batch of deleted scenes, and a neat tour through the studio AstroBase Go!