The Venture Bros. review: “The Anamorata Consequence”

Was…was Rusty Venture just the grown-up in the room?

That was the most surprising moment in an episode full of fun surprises. I liked how “The Anamorata Consequence,” which sounds like a Big Bang Theory episode, started in the middle of things, with Rusty, Brock and the boys driving through a Close Encounters of the Third Kind reference to attend a summit between the O.S.I. and the reconstituted Guild of Calamitous Intent…in the ruins of the old Venture compound.

That was the first surprise. The setting is used to good thematic effect, too. The Guild and the O.S.I. are, at their core, deeply silly organizations, both dedicated to legitimizing a never-ending game of Cops and Robbers between grown adults. Where better to meet than the ruined home of the brilliant man-child who started it all?

“The Anamorata Consequence” underlines how silly the whole venture is, with the two sides unable to agree on anything and at one point settling a dispute by donning inner tubes and flippers and fighting as if they were a pool…but they’re not. There are recitations of titles and pen-throwing and badly played bugles. It’s all petty and childish. That’s not particularly surprising, but Rusty calling everyone out was. “Look, you won’t get everything, but you’ll get something,” he says, exasperated. “Stop with this fairness crap and make some compromises! Then go home to your friends in your goofy costumes and brag about how much you got ’em.”

Even more surprising: playing dad actually works. The Guild and the O.S.I. sign on to Rusty’s changes, and silly their business is, it looks like they’re back in it. Rusty can’t help but congratulate himself on a job well-done — this is still Rusty, after all — but the fact that he put forth effort at all rather than go to pieces working on something he dad started is a big step for him.

A couple of weeks back, I wrote that The Venture Bros. seemed to be circling an ending; Rusty chipping away at his inferiority complex could certainly be part of that. Dean, too, is growing up, shaking off the last remnants of that goth phase he went through a couple seasons back. While the Guild and the O.S.I. have their summit, he sneaks off to visit Ben, the guy from “A Very Venture Halloween” who told Dean that he and his brother were clones. Ben’s gone, but his own H.E.L.P.eR. unit — a red model with legs and a working voice — remains. We get some fun backstory on Jonas’ attempt to mass-produce Helper robots for public consumption (The 50s-era newspaper stories and advertisements were great; “Get a Helper to help her!”), but Helper 2.0 is really here to teach Dean a lesson about finding his heart’s desire in his own backyard.

Helper 2.0 has never left Ben’s cabin. Dean, seeing himself in the robot, tries to set him free and show him the wider world, but Helper 2.0 refuses, explaining that he’s happy with his life; he has his master, he has his work, and he has Skins on Netflix. This gets through to Dean, who’s been trying to escape his father’s world, with its death rays and arch-nemeses and speed suits, for a while now. Maybe he doesn’t have to try so hard. Maybe being Rusty Venture’s son has upsides, especially when you compare it to the hell that was being Jonas Venture’s son. Dean’s sincere “I love you, pop” at the end was another surprise, all the more affecting for coming right after Rusty’s posturing.

Of course, I could be way off; characters can backslide, especially on this show, and character development can set up new stories. “The Anamorata Consequence” plants a few seeds, actually. For one thing, Helper 2.0 mistakes Dean for Rusty; he’s under that impression for the length of their time together. But he’s also aware that Dean is a clone. So…does that mean that Rusty is a clone?

Rusty was just as susceptible to death as Hank and Dean were, and I can’t imagine Jonas Sr. would have had a problem cloning his way around the issue. It would also explain how Rusty was able to clone his own children so often despite being a terrible super-scientist; maybe he was using what his dad had already prepped. Between that and the revelation from “Arrears in Science” that Rusty and the Monarch are half-brothers, the show is lining up a bunch of shoes that will hopefully drop in the near future.

AND we get the news that the Guild has been infiltrated by the Peril Partnership, a rival organized villainy organization we’re only heard about in passing. The mythology of The Venture Bros. is already very expansive, but as long as Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer remain interested, there’s no reason it can’t keep growing forever.

It’s Hank and Dermott who stumble on that bit of information, by the by. They do it by accident, which is the only way they stumble on anything. Dermott returns in this episode as a private in the O.S.I. He’s a touch leaner and he’s gotten a haircut, but otherwise he’s exactly the same, racing Hank up a pile of jackets and claiming he lost because he kept slipping on the raincoats. But he can grow, too, I’m sure of it; just give him time.

But how far he grow? Wouldn’t it be fun if the show went on long enough to see Dermott Fictel become a general in the O.S.I.? As far as The Venture Bros. has come, it’s still got plenty of ideas, as this episode proves. Anything is possible.

Episode Grade: A-

Nothing But Bullet Points

• Gotta love the sound effect the (fake?) steer makes when Brock tossed in off the side of the rode.
• “Eat it, Lincoln!”
• Phantom Limb is the victor at the Battle of Cremation Creek now? Surprised no one objected to that title.
• Dr. Girlfriend is very open with her opinion of Rusty, calling him a “petty little asshole” to his son’s face. Of course, that was before Rusty schooled the lot of them at the summit.
• Brock: “Why would James Bond have a BB gun?” This is a nice little moment at the top of the episode; Brock, and Phantom Limb are all incredulous after learning that James Bond isn’t as cool as they thought he was. Children, indeed.
• Was Hank and Dermott’s weird handshake a reference to something? If so, it went over my head.
• If I’m understanding what Dermott said correctly, Rusty put in a good word for him with the O.S.I. on the condition that Dermott not admit they were related, right?
• Red Mantle: “We’re talking a Level 5; that’s like a guy called Mr. Cold with a snow cone maker on high.” I also liked when Red Mantle and Dragoon high fived each other.
• “You’re throwing up in my hair and telling me it’s shampoo!” “You’re shoving your hand up my ass and telling me it’s Jim Henson!”
• A fun headline from the Helper flashback: “America has touched dirty doorknob of progress, and caught Robot Fever. Now we have to take our medicine.”
• “Would you like a stick of gum to make your mouth minty without providing nutrients?”
• “That’s a hot lick!”

To stay up to date on everything Game of Thrones, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Watch Game of Thrones for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels