Jun 2, 2013

The five most mentally unstable women in the "Venture Bros."

[Adult Swim's The Venture Bros. created by Doc Hammer and Jackson Public has been delighting fans since 2004 as an intelligent pastiche of the adventure fiction and teen sleuth genres. With each passing season, this popular animated series, which exposes the dark future of the Detective Boys and the frustrated dreams of the 1960s space race, has joined an ever-evolving collection of characters from the male-dominated catalog of secret agents, boy geniuses, and action figures.

Women, however, are often portrayed as cynical sex workers, emotionally unstable shut-ins, and shifty bystanders, although this is appropriate to the tone of the show. A handful of female characters, however, have walked the line between masculinist fantasy and post-feminist strength, rising to the top as fan favorites. For those in need of a refresher before "The Venture Bros." returns for its fifth season tonight at midnight, here's a look back at the show's previous seasons through the eyes of some of Venture Verse's sometimes misunderstood and always popular women.

Dr. Girlfriend Occupation: aka Lady Au Pere, Queen Etheria, Dr. Fiancee, Dr. Mrs. The Monarch First appearance: episode 101, "Dia de los Dangeras". The mistress/second-in-command of Dr. Venture's obsessive nemesis, Monarch, she is the most prominent female character in the series. Her low, gravelly voice has led to rumors that she is an MTF with a surgically implanted baboon uterus, and her actual gender has been questioned many times.

In episode 102, Midlife Chrysalis, she goes undercover for the monarch to seduce Dr. Venture and infect him with a deadly serum, but is ultimately slut-shamed by her boyfriend and driven back into the arms of her old boss, Phantom Lim But in the end, the boyfriend is not enough to stop her from going undercover. However, she was eventually slut-shamed by her boyfriend and driven back into the arms of her old boss, Phantom Limp. After putting her mind at ease, she and Monarch are reunited and given duo status by the evil bureaucracy, the Guild of Calamitous Intent. Their villainous bliss seems to be at stake when they discover her flirting with henchman 24 in episode 414, "Assisted Suicide," but when Monarch discovers it, he simply shrugs it off, noting that the bad guys are almost all swingers.

Sally Impossible AKA: The Visible Woman First appearance: episode 109, "Ice Station Impossible The wife of a rival scientist, Professor Impossible, has long been oppressed. Due to an accident in his lab, she is hidden from the outside world and her husband's investors because of her translucent skin. Trapped in a loveless marriage and desperate for sexual intimacy, she is constantly looking for a way out through the few men she comes into contact with. For example, in episode 205, "Twenty Years to Midnight," she mistakes Dr. Venture's selfish behavior for affection for his desire to rescue her from captivity.

Finally, in episode 309, "Now Museum - Now You Don't," she lives with Dr. Venture's parasitic twin brother JJ as part of his legal team on Spider Skull Island. Her absence drives her husband into a deep depression and, as seen in episode 411, "Every Way but Zeus," he is so emotionally compromised that he is recruited into a new guild of evil, the Vengeance Society.

Molotov Cocktease Occupation: Siberian Mercenary Group Affiliation: Black Hearts First Appearance: Episode 104: Eeney, Meeney, Miney... Magic. She engages in tête-à-tête with Brock Samson, the Venture family's bodyguard and nanny, before sexual intercourse, but she always wins in the end because she wears a titanium chastity belt. This is evidenced in Episode 207, "The Killer," where she babysits the Venture family in Samson's absence and discovers that Samson has kept her eyes as a memento.

Pavlik and Hammer make up for Molotov's shameful underuse by having Molotov appear in major plot points in the most covert ways. For example, in episode 313, "The Family That Slays Together, Stays Together, pt. 2," she orchestrates an elaborate assassination attempt on Samson to ensure the success of her mercenary unit, the Black Hearts. In the season 4 finale, "Operation P.R.O.M.," she reveals that although no longer chaste, her heart belongs to her new boyfriend, Monstroso, and she clearly would rather fall to her death than be with Brock.

Triana Orpheus Relative: Dr. Byron Orpheus (father) Tatiana (mother) First appearance: episode 104 "Eeney, Meeney, Miney... Magic". Daughter of the sorcerer Dr. Orpheus, she rents an apartment with her father on the Venture Corporation property after her mother leaves a young necromancer named Outrider. She is unaware that her father's involvement in the dark arts has nearly destabilized her own sanity. This is most clearly depicted in episode 204, "Escape to the Mummy's House," where she suggests that her father must wipe her memory every time he enters her bedroom closet.

When faced with the future of marrying Dean and becoming the mother of his deformed child in episode 407, "The Better Man," she decides to move in with her mother, where she finds a dreamy, paralyzed new boyfriend named Raven.

Colonel Hunter Gathers Occupation: secret agent First appearance: episode 207 Assassinanie. Brock Samson's mentor as a government agent. After devoting his life to the secret agency OSI, he goes AWOL and undergoes gender reassignment surgery to escape assassination.

He is often seen giving Samson professional and spiritual guidance in flashbacks and, in the case of episode 211, "Showdown at the Crematorium," in a fever dream caused by peyote. After spending some time as an exotic dancer and undercover in a women-only mercenary unit, it is later revealed that he has been infiltrating the splinter terrorist organization S.P.H.I.N.X. all along, and Samson rejoins him as his charge. Although no longer living the life of a woman (from the waist up), he reveals in episode 415, "The Quiet Partner," that he misses his chest: "In my heart, a woman's voice is screaming to be heard."

The Venture Bros. Season 5 debuts Sunday, June 2 at midnight on Adult Swim.

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