“I’m 90% sure I just punched a man to death.”
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
Aside from the ever-present theme of failure, one of the prevailing ideas that drives The Venture Bros. is that there’s a very thin line between being a hero and a villain. Whether you count yourself good or evil, it boils down to putting on an outlandish costume and taking part in a never-ending game that has little impact on the world at large. And as we’ve seen several times over the course of the series, it’s not uncommon for characters to bounce between one side and the other as their arcs unfold. That’s very true of The Monarch this season in general and in “Rapacity in Blue” in particular. In order to reclaim his status as the officially sanctioned arch-villain to the Venture family, Monarch is willing to play the hero.
This episode perfectly spelled out the absurdity of the situation with the retro Super Freinds-style introduction of Monarch and Henchman 21 in their new roles as Blue Morpho and Kano. “”Their mission: to beat up on villains that beat up on Dr. Venture until they alone can beat up on Dr. Venture.” Monarch is pathologically unable to want anything out of his life other than arching Dr. Venture. And even as his marriage is falling apart and a whole new world of costumed tomfoolery is opening up to him, that’s all he can fixate on.
Needless to say, there was a lot to love about Monarch’s storyline this week. Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer crammed in one of their better Star Wars parodies when Gary sent his boss on a Dagobah-style vision quest. Between henchman 24 playing the Obi-Wan role and JJ’s video alarm clock, it was a good week for dead characters making brief returns. It was fun to watch Monarch flip-flop between wanting to construct his “Egg Sac” and embracing the family heritage. His interaction with Manolo the handyman was especially entertaining, especially with Manolo’s line “You know, I’m not Mr. Feeney from Boy Meets World. I don’t care about this. Do what you want.” It was only appropriate that once Blue Morpho and Kano did hit the town, they were about as bad at their new job as they were at the old. Those old Batman and Green Lantern comics never reflect just how hard it is fight crime when you’re dealing with New York traffic.
Brock is in need of a confidence booster.
It’s also worth pointing out that Monarch had an unwanted glimpse into the past as he watched a recording of his father and Jonas Venture fooling around with prostitutes. On one hand, that scene further highlighted how silly Monarch’s eternal feud with the younger Venture is. On the other, it only further raises the question of just how far back the connection between Monarch and Dr. Venture goes. It’s surely no coincidence that Billy mistook Monarch for Dr. Venture while he was in his Blue Morpho getup. The resemblance between Monarch and Venture has always been suspiciously high. Now seeing that their fathers used to pal around together suggests that we’re finally going to learn about the shared history. Maybe the name “The Venture Bros.” is about to take on another new meaning?
As for Dr. Venture, he spent most of this episode trying to Steve Jobs his way into inspiring technological brilliance out of Billy and Pete. That only further highlighted the nebulous boundary between good and evil on the show. Dr. Venture may be “good,” but that’s never stopped him from cutting every corner he can and pushing out inventions with seriously harmful effects on the user. It did feel like the show was treading water a bit with this storyline after such a heavy Rusty/Billy/Pete focus last week. But at the very least, the sight gag of watching the lab mice build up their own religion around Billy while the humans tinkered with their toys made it all worthwhile. The “God Gas” was also crucial in helping the episode reach its big climax – that point where all the subplots dovetail into one crazy mess of hilarity. This episode didn’t disappoint, with Blue Morpho and Kano arriving just in time to rescue Billy from Haranguetan and everyone went a bit loopy from gas exposure.
The most amusing outcome from this kerfuffle was the fact that Brock gave into his attraction to Warriana. As disappointing as it was initially to see Brick revert to his old role as Venture family bodyguard, it’s been a treat to see him in the spotlight so much more this season. Whether he was schooling Hank in the art of kissing or wrestling with his masculinity in the form of a hairy, deranged Australian man, Brock was a hoot this week. I just wish the same could be said for Hank and Dean. Hank’s efforts to prepare for his date were amusing, but at some point he was forgotten in the chaos. As for Dean, he barely even factored into the plot this week. He’s on the cusp of a potentially interesting new status quo as he prepares for college life, but that requires him to actually start attending classes.
The Venture Bros. has been consistently strong so far this season, and “Rapacity in Blue” doesn’t break that streak. The Monarch and Henchman 21 formed the backbone of the episode as they embraced their new costumed roles. And between Brock’s masculinity crisis and the God Gas outbreak, this episode delivered on multiple fronts. That said, Hank and Dean could use a little more attention in the second half of the season.
