THE VENTURE BROS. (S07E10): “The Saphrax Protocol”
The Venture Bros. doesn’t care about your conventions or going for the big finale (except when it does). This is a show that is telling its story at its own pace and in its own way, and that’s why we get a finale that’s low on action and Peril Partnership-related pay-offs and high on character’s reaching their goals or going their separate ways.
Character is King
The thing that elevates The Venture Bros. over some of its contemporaries (Rick and Morty to name one) is that it has taken its time to make each character multifaceted to the point where you can watch an episode that splits events between the titular brothers and the main villain of the show, and each has a lovely sense of fulfilment and growth.
The big fallout from the previous episode was Hank discovering Dean in bed with Sirena. For this finale we don’t even see Sirena, instead focusing on the fallout between the two boys. It would have been easy to set it up as a big scheme by the villains to separate the brothers but what feels more real is that Dean was jealous of Hank and took something he loved from him. That’s what human beings do, not characters on shows about super science and costumed villainy. And it made the episode satisfying as there was nothing Dean could hide behind. He had to face up to the fact that he had been a bad brother and live with it.
Villains
On the other hand, we had The Monarch having his final audition to move into level 10 villainy, meaning he could arch Venture and finally be as powerful as he believes he is. And with this being The Venture Bros. that audition isn’t some action-packed McGuffin search or suicide mission. No, it’s some weird ceremony that basically boils down to whether or not The Monarch and Gary realise how important their relationship/friendship is.
It sounds cheesy written down like that but this is another relationship that the show has carefully cultivated over the years. The Monarch and Gary had a very strict employer/employee relationship for many years (Gary was known as 24 until pretty recently).
The past two seasons have shown how important they are to each other so making the final Guild test be a test of their loyalty was a masterstroke and a natural progression of their characters.
Final Thoughts: The Saphrax Protocol
There were also some great Brock moments tonight and Dean’s time in purgatory mixing up Empire Strikes Back and Barbarella was classic The Venture Bros. but the main thing that made this an excellent episode was that it managed to wrap up a few seasons of plot while also opening up the future with Hank going out on his own and The Monarch finding out his familial connection with his arch enemy.
It will be a few years until The Venture Bros. comes back and it will be worth the wait.
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