The Venture Bros, S7E4 “The High Cost of Loathing” – Monarchs Never Quit

Dean has a little heart-to-heart with his Science adviser. “The Venture Bros” [Credit: Adult Swim]

Coming down off of the massive reveals that were the three-part season opener, The Venture Bros left us with one looming question above the rest: Where do we go from here? In the latest episode, “The High Cost of Loathing,” we get our answer: Back to basics. The fourth episode of Season 7 may be the least-heavy thus far, but that still doesn’t make it unengaging.

We open on the scene of a crime – The Monarch, his newly-rebuilt henchman, and an impressive new Cocoon ship commandeering a sea freighter. Its cargo is not bombs, nor the Ven-Tech watches they appear to hide in, but the gel our villain needs to keep his brows and beard so elegantly shaped! Score one for the newest incarnation of THE MIGHTY MONARCH!

The Monarch reigns SUPREME! “The Venture Bros” [Credit: Adult Swim]

… But of course we find that’s all a dream, as The Monarch is actually being re-classified by Dr. Z… as a measly Level 5 villain. Too bad – looks like even after “defeating” the late Dr. Venture, Sr. and the Blue Morpho, he’ll still have to grind his way back up the ladder.

Back over on the Venture-side of affairs, the Venture boys are sliding into their new living arrangements. Hank quickly takes over his brother’s abandoned room, only to get shot down on a date with Sirena, while Dean has a bit of a messy move-in with Brock at his side. Dad isn’t doing much better, as it seems Rusty has his own bureaucratic foes to defeat – namely the other board members and investors of his super-tech company. He runs off the table, leaps out the window, and shows everyone present the latest development from their R&D team: personalized hover-devices! Too bad it’s a re-purposed version of Jonas Venture, Jr.’s similar device… and Rusty is bleeding out from the glass shards. “The theme of Venture Bros. is failure,” indeed.

Things only get worse for both parties, along the way: The Monarch discovers that he’s bled his funds dry trying to renovate his house (and robbing his bank doesn’t quite float, either), Dean has to fight to get out of the slew of science classes his dad forced on him, and Hank struggles with his father’s dispassion and girlfriend’s busy schedule. The Monarch, at least, starts to pull himself out of his depression, however, as Dr. Mrs. reminds him how far he’s come and how easy it will be to rebuild his name, if he just perseveres like his namesake and parentage. Thus he and 21 embark on the hunt to arch Prof. Von Helping (Gary Cole), son of the apparently infamous Vigo Von Hellfire.

Of course, the good Professor turns out to be Dean & Sirena’s Botany lecturer. He keeps a strong front until his new arch threatens the students, which causes his skin to melt in rage as he transforms into Victor Von Hellfire, unleashing his true power on the hapless insectile villains. But Dean gets fed up with Super-Science constantly cutting in on his attempts at a normal life, and offers to pay The Monarch off, in hopes that it will make them all go away.

Dean and The Monarch stare each other down. “The Venture Bros” [Credit: Adult Swim]

“The High Cost of Loathing” isn’t an extremely heady episode for The Venture Bros., but it’s the kind of pleasant return-to-form that can streamline the heavier bits of the show. We love the series for the way it makes fun of super hero tropes by placing them against real-world struggles, and that’s really what this one’s for. Dean’s angst to be normal against Hank’s fight to win his father’s affection are incredibly relatable stories, despite their larger-than-life setup. We’ve all had those times of struggling with where we are and hating our jobs, and The Monarch gives us that moment, with a twinge of the surreal. The empathy Doc and Jackson build into the show is what has helped it stand the test of time, even between impressively long off-seasons.

Still, there are nuggets of foreshadowing to be had among the simpler joys. When Hank goes to check up on Dr. Venture in the hospital, we find that his roommate is one Think Tank (Jeffrey Wright), still recovering from his run-in with The Blue Morpho (or rather, The Monarch dressed as such), and his notable visitor is Prof. Tosh Tompkins, better known as the hero, Stars and Garters (Mark Gagliardi). Does that mean that the hero knows his coworker is a super-villain, or is he just making the call for a work-friend? Speaking of The Monarch, how will he use the million dollars Dean wrote him, and what ramifications might this have for the two, going forward?

Perhaps the funniest moment (and honestly, disturbing, in many ways), is Hank’s attempt to make some quick cash, as it turns south. From starting up the band, Shallow Gravy, to inventing the Hank Co. store on his father’s old driveway, we’ve always known the blonde Venture boy to be quite the entrepreneur. This time, he takes to renting out his old room as an Air BnB (although the vacationers almost catch on, asking “Ist das ein Kinderzimmer?” (“Is this a child’s room?”), which he mentions is “a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hank Co.” Does that mean that, in the Venture Universe, Hank started the idea of Air BnB, or is this just an off-hand joke at their expense? But we barely get to contemplate this before Sgt. Hatred and Brock storm the room at night, believing the visitors to be intruders and lighting them up without a second thought. Ouch!

Finally, everything seems to come back to Sirena. She spends the whole episode putting Hank off, as she’s busy with starting college, but she seems to expressly make time for Dean, as she runs into him again and again. Heck, when her “Bottany Budy” pays off The Monarch, she jokingly calls him her “hero,” and kisses him on the cheek. Is she playing some devious game with the Venture boys, or will this simply be played out as a way to pit Dean and Hank against each other? The writers have shown themselves to be pretty progressive with their writing, so either could be an ample spin – what’s to say Sirena is just sending mixed signals from our limited perception, when she’s actually being completely honest with Hank? We haven’t had a reason to doubt their relationship in the slightest, until now.

Hank gets rejected (again) for a night out with his lady. “The Venture Bros” [Credit: Adult Swim]

Like I mentioned at the top, this is no big, revealing episode, like the last few, but it’s always nice to have things slow down a bit and flesh out the rest of the world. Doc & Jackson keep the plot light, yet still tied to the ongoing narrative, so “The High Cost of Loathing” remains the perfect balance of easy-going jokes and character development. Not every entry needs to be an earth-shattering event, and returning to form with a new spin on the tropes is always a refreshing and necessary bit of The Venture Bros experience!

 

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