Wait, the "Venture Bros" Season is Over Already?

This Sunday marks the fifth season finale of Adult Swim's "The Venture Bros." after a quick season comprised of only eight episodes. Well, and the Halloween special that aired last year and the premiere was an hour long, but still, it all went by awfully quick. Considering we had to wait well over two years for the show's return, it's hard not to want more. Just getting to spend more time with these characters these past few weeks has been great, and I didn't realize how much I'd missed them. I debated waiting until after the finale had aired to write this post, but there's been plenty going on this season to talk about. So spoilers ahead!

The major new character of this season (okay, technically introduced in the first season, but still) has been Augustus St. Could, the new arch-nemesis of Billy Quizboy. He's popped up in three episodes so far, and I'm not sold on him. He's an uber-fanboy, who has dedicated his life to proving his superiority over everyone else in the most odious and annoying fashion possible. He's got potential, and I trust Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer are going somewhere interesting with this guy, but I'd rather be spending more time with the Monarchs or Phantom Limb. Of course, this is how I felt about any number of "Venture" characters who I now consider indispensable, including Billy and Pete, Sgt. Hatred, and even Dermott's kinda growing on me. At this point I know better than to draw conclusions too quickly.

The screwed up Venture clan has been a little less screwed up this year, for the most part. Sure, Doc enlists an army of interns as cheap labor at Venture Industries at the start of the year, who all end up dead or horrible mutants, but he's treating his kids noticeably better. Hank and Dean are slowly but surely growing up. Hank had his rebellious phase earlier, and has now mellowed out into a more positive go-getter, while Dean has gone broody and cynical after losing Triana, but seems to be growing a spine too. Sgt Hatred's latest personal challenge is a set of gargantuan mammaries, thanks to a bad drug interaction, but otherwise his emotional problems have been kept in check. Meanwhile, Brock has been off fighting with the O.S.I., but is still a regular presence on the show, since he still crosses paths with the Ventures pretty often.

We still don't know who killed Henchman 21, we still don't know who the boys' mother is, and we still don't know why The Monarch hates Dr. Venture so much. But it doesn't matter. The current round of maneuverings between O.S.I. and the Guild and a new bunch of baddies called the Investors are only a distraction. The real meat of "The Venture Bros." has always been about the Ventures and their friends (and their enemies) dealing with the fact that they may technically be allowed to append "super" as a prefix to their job titles, but it doesn't mean that they're any good at what they've chosen to do, or that they'll ever live up to the ideals of heroism or villainy set by their predecessors, or that success at the game is going to solve any of their numerous personal problems. In the end, the best they can do is to just roll with the punches, like Henchman 24.

As always, I love the little details of the "Venture" universe. The insane themed characters. (Tank Top?) The digressions into ancient pop culture references (Teddy Ruxpin?!). The call backs and in-jokes that keep building and building over time. The utterly twisted logic that drives so many of the characters. The way they can take the shallowest concepts, and just keep mining more and more good material from them. I have no idea how Shore Leave is still as entertaining as he is, but he's carved out a nice little niche for himself as one of Brock's O.S.I. buddies and long ago transcended his one-note gay joke origins. The unexpected depth and complexity of this series still catches me off guard sometimes. It's one of the best written shows on television, animated or otherwise. And the animation? Consistently fantastic.

It looks like another two years at least until the next season of "Venture Bros.," which has already been promised by Cartoon Network and the creators. At this point the show has been running for ten years, and it's come a long way in that time. I'm sure they could go on indefinitely, but I'm getting to the point where I really want to see a conclusion. There's nothing specific that I'm hoping for, because this is a show that defies conventional plotting, but I'd just like to know that there will be a deliberate end point somewhere down the line. I've grown awfully attached to these characters over the years, and hope they get the chance to go out right.

In... a few more seasons? Pretty please?
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