Venture Brothers - Season 7 Episode 1 (Review)
By: TheJewphin“The Venture Bros. & The Curse Of The Haunted Problem” is an excellent way to start a new season of the show by providing a classic mix of the mystical and the mundane. The episode finally brings Dr. Orpheus and team back into the fold for some mystical fun after a season-long absence. However, the real standout of the new season is the constant improvement of Hank Venture.
Spoilers ahead!
Summary
Episode 1 of Season 7 kicks off with a classic story of a haunted building and focuses primarily on the different ways the characters respond to it. Dr. Venture and Pete White, the men of science and technology, assume that it's an electric or computer problem while Dean is concerned enough about a haunting that he calls the Order of the Triad behind his father's back. Despite Dr. Orpheus's belief that the house is possessed by a demon, the real culprit turns out to be the original Dr. Venture, who has been hard-wired into the house—that is, until Pete cuts the connection.On the more mundane side of things, Hank continued his Romeo and Juliet story with Wide Whale's daughter, Sebrina. Rocko and Wide Whale have taken more of an active step in preventing Hank from getting close to Sebrina. But Hank being Hank, he's not going down without a fight. After drugging the guards with a sneakily-delivered pizza, Hank introduces himself to Wide Whale as Enrico Metasa, a new henchman who wishes to join Wide Whale's crew. Wide Whale relents on the condition that Hank kill a recently captured Blue Morpho.
Review
Venture Brothers has always done a great job of combining the fantastical with the mundane. It was a lot of fun to watch the extended cast each attempting to deal with the haunting in their own way. Dr. Venture and White's assurances that the problem could be solved with the right amount of science were juxtaposed perfectly with Brock's increasing dread over the situation and Dr. Orpheus' focus on a demonic possession. Each character perceived the events in their own way and every path led to The Problem. It's fairly beautiful.One thing that separates Venture Brothers from so many other shows is the subtle progression of the characters. Watching Hank and Dean grow over the last few seasons has been surprisingly rewarding. Dean is the epitome of a first-year college student, having gone vegetarian between seasons and accusing his dad of "mansplaining" the haunting situation. Hank, on the other hand, has become increasingly more adept at hatching his schemes, to the point where he his tricking the Wide Whale.
It was also great to see the Order of the Triad again. With Billy and White moving to New York last season and the arrival of the Order of Triad in this episode, the show is definitely working at re-consolidating its best characters. There is a lot to look forward to in next week's episode, especially given the open thread of the Monarch's capture and Wide Whale's order for Hank to kill him. Given the Monarch's conspicuous absence for most of the episode, the single shot of him bloodied and tied to a chair produced more hype in me for the next episode than I had for the start of the season.
