Venture Brothers - Season 7 Episode 3 (Review)

By: TheJewphinMiss my review last week? You can find it here!Arrears in Science, an aptly named episode of the Venture Brothers, focuses primarily on scientific setbacks with an emphasis on the Gargantua 1, the space station that featured heavily in the similarly named episode Careers in Science. In this week's episode, we learn a little more about Dr. Jonas Venture and the Blue Morpho while satisfactorily removing their presence from the show. It's an exciting episode which references events throughout the show, even harkening back to events in season 1.

Spoilers ahead!

Summary

Arrears in Science begins with the arrival of the Blue Morpho who is revealed to be Vendata, the villainous cyborg last seen critically wounded by Brock Sampson in season 5. Over the course of the episode we learn that Vendata was a robot named Venturion that was originally created by Dr. Jonas Venture using the brain of his recently deceased friend, the Blue Morpho. Over time, Vendata was killed, rebuilt, and programmed for evil.Even with a single plot thread, Arrears in Science splits its time between multiple characters. In the virtual world, the Blue Morpho slowly regains his memories of his checkered past with Dr. Jonas Venture. Meanwhile, Brock meets with the Guild of Calamitous Intent at a nearby diner to decide the fate of the robotic Blue Morpho. The Monarch, having switched out of his Blue Morpho costume, arrives just in time to learn that the cyborg is his father and to subsequently re-kill both Vendata and Dr. Jonas Venture.

Review

Venture Brothers has always had a strong sense of internal consistency. Arrears in Science maintains that internal consistency perfectly. We get to see Dr. Jonas Venture's perspective during the events of Careers in Science, learn how Dr. Jonas Venture really died, and gain an alternative reason for Kano's silence. These internal references add depth to the Venture Brother's universe, making the episodes feel more interconnected as the seasons progress.Both the strongest and weakest part of the episode was the death of Vendata and Dr. Jonas Venture. On the one hand, it would have been awesome to see the affect of both characters on their respective children. That said, the episode also made it clear that both characters deserved to die. Vendata was responsible for the Movie Night Massacre which then led to more deaths in the Pyramid Wars. Meanwhile, Dr. Jonas Venture is shown to be even more terrible than previously shown, having impregnated the Blue Morpho's wife, taken his bodyguard, blackmailed him with a sex tape, and turned him into a robot lacking any free will. Also, there is some beautiful tragedy in the Monarch having to take credit for killing his own father while also getting credit for defeating Dr. Jonas Venture.These past three episodes have been more exciting than funny, though the snappy dialogue has kept the episodes amusing. While this week's episode closed out some major plot threads, it also felt like it was setting up new ones. For instance, the Action Man's stroke came out of nowhere and likely only existed to set up for a later episode. With the Blue Morpho dead and the Red Death having fulfilled his bargain, we have two likely new members of the Guild's Council, which also sounds exciting. While I have thoroughly enjoyed the plot focus of these last few episodes, it will be nice to have an equilibrium again so we can have a few more standalone episodes.