​"The Terminus Mandate" – Venture Bros. S07E08 Review

"But when I became a man, I put away childish things."

The main part of this week's Venture Bros. episode, "The Terminus Mandate", is about growing up. As much as anyone can grow up in an adult cartoon series. After a meeting with the up-and-coming Peril Partnership where their representative Blind Rage demands the Guild pay the Partners to not bother them, Girlfriend discovers the Guild charter forbids active members from sitting on the Council of 13. Oh, and also the Council of 13 doesn't have to have thirteen members. That was a Sovereign thing.

So the Council members--Girlfriend, Phantom Limb, Wide Wale, Dr. Z, Red Mantle and Dragoon, and Radical Left--all get one last chance to arch their greatest rivals. Recently-added member Red Death (Clancy Brown) doesn't have an arch-rival or if he does, he or she is never mentioned.

What follow are a series of vignettes. The shortest one is Radical Left. The Two-Face like villain's greatest arch rival is his other half, Right Wing. The two of them play Clue in a battle of wits, and we find out the villainous Radical Left absorbed the heroic Right Wing during a past conflict.

Red Mantle and Dragoon can't bear to open their announcement, and decide to eat in bed and watch Downton Abbey. When they finally do read the announcement, they're relieved to find out all of their rivals have died. A pity that: they were looking forward to fighting Al from Home Improvement.

Wide Wale's rival is the real-life Curtis Silwa of the Guardian Angels. The Kingpin-like villain and the Guardian Angels leader have long since made peace, so Wide Wale tells his henchman Rocco to beat Curtis up and then take him out for some chops.

We get into more detail with Dr. Z. He goes after his old rival, Action Johnny, who is Johnny Quest in a universe that is a parody of Johnny Quest. We get a flashback to an old adventure where Johnny's dog Buddy ends up mistaken for Anubis, scaring off Z's henchmen. Z visits Action Johnny at a rehab center, and declares his love for him. Action Johnny says they shouldn't rush it and asks him for some cash.

Phantom Limb's rival is Hunter Gather. They agree to meet on Central Park's Bow Bridge at midnight and... measure dicks. Phantom Limb wins by an inch, as he proudly announces at the end.

The most involved sequence features Girlfriend. Monarch is none too thrilled that his long-time Number 2 will be retiring, but she has to do it for the job. She's going up against Novia, a bride-themed super-villain active when Girlfriend was Lady Au Pair, rocking a maid theme and accompanied by the Moppets, Tim-Tom and Kevin.

This ties in with the Venture side of the episode this week. Rusty has had it with his lack of a sex life, so he's decided to hook up with a black widow because at least he'll have someone who wants to be with him. It turns out the black widow is Novia. Brock, Hank, and Dean put Rusty through a training regimen to stay alive, and drug him with anti-venom. During their date, Rusty passes out in Novia's arms from the drugs and she seems charmed by his fearlessness.

Also, while going to meet Rusty, Novia meets up with Girlfriend. Girlfriend can't stand the fact of her rival looking so good, breaks into tears, and they hug. as Girlfriend drives away with 21, she reveals she stole Novia's wallet and successfully arched her after all.

During all of this, Red Death hunts down Blind Rage, punches him unconscious, ties him to some railroad tracks, and gives a chilling Clancy Brown-ish speech about traditional villainy and how gentlemen villains used to tie heroes to the track. Red Death tells Blind Rage--if he survives--to tell the Peril Partnership the Guild won't pay off anyone.

At the end, all of the Council members get back together and renounce their villainy. Except Wide Wale, who has too many grudges and refuses to settle. Although he says he'll stick around. The episode ends with everyone wondering if Girlfriend will retire as an active villain.

There are also hints Girlfriend is pregnant: Blind Rage picks up on her scent with his heightened senses, comments on her expanded breast size, and she has several mood swings.

Overall, "The Terminus Mandate" is a fairly in-depth exploration of its characters. We see the villains pretty much giving up their villainous ways to move into middle management. Rusty (and Dr. Z?) are looking for love. People are juggling their wants and their responsibilities, albeit with the typical Venture Bros.-style humor. On top of all that, you get Clancy Brown having fun with his character as usual. It's a perfect melding of voice actor and animated character that you don't see that often, and we didn't get last week with Mark Hamill's Presto Change-O. That's the problem with McCulloch and Hammer doing so many character voices: they all tend to blend together after a while. Not that they're bad voice artists: just that they don't reach the highs and lows of someone like Mr. Brown.

There was also some foreshadowing for the rest of the season. As noted, Girlfriend's pregnancy seems to be out there. Monarch still has the teleporter from last week. And the Guild/Peril Partnership is shaping up. Wide Wale doesn't return, but there's no mention of his daughter Sirena while Hank and Dean don't contribute much of anything to the episode.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?