Hostile Makeover

"Hostile Makeover"
	The Venture Bros. episode
Episode no.	Season 6; Episode 1
Directed by	Jackson Publick
Written by	Jackson Publick
Production code	601
Original air date	January 31, 2016
Episode Chronology
← Previous; "All This and Gargantua-2"	Next →; "Maybe No Go"
	List of The Venture Bros. episodes

Hostile Makeover is the first episode of Season 6 and the overall sixty-fourth episode of The Venture Bros.

Plot

After JJ's death in All This and Gargantua-2, Dr Venture faints when he learns, from his late brother's lawyer, that he has inherited a new home, a large fortune and company in New York city. The Ventures move to New York where upon taking control of the company Dr. Venture fires most of the company's board before he and the boys go on a spending spree with their new wealth.

On Meteor Majeure, the six members of the Council of 13 are wondering whether they should tell the other members of The Guild of Calamitous Intent about the previous The Sovereign's actions. Before they go into further details, they notice Dr. Henry Killinger is not present but Watch and Ward appear and tell them that Killinger has refused to be their new Sovereign and has left them a massive tome, the original Guild Charter, on how to properly run the Guild. The villains then share the news of the previous Sovereign's death and inform them of their plans to hold elections for the vacant spots on the Council. The Council later have an online conference where they decide to reach out for candidates in New York. It is then that they proceed to say Dr. Mrs. The Monarch will meet with the super villain Wide Wale and offer him a position on the Council.

Back in New York, the Ventures have nearly adjusted to their new lives with Dean even preparing to enroll in college, where he again meets Brown Widow. The Venture family are soon greeted by the Crusaders Action League who have come to offer them protection from local villains in the city in exchange for a protection fee, but Dr. Venture refuses the offer. When Sergeant Hatred then prepares to explore the security of the building Brock Samson arrives, revealing that he has been reassigned to work for the Venture family. These events lead to Hatred losing his position as the family bodyguard and being given a desk job by Hunter Gathers.

Later on, Dr. Mrs. The Monarch meets Wide Wale, where he reveals that Phantom Limb has already offered him a position on the Council. He states his meeting with her is one of an intimate concern; he isn't, however, trying to seduce her--he just want to be given the arching rights for his new neighbor Dr. Venture, who had destroyed most of the windows of his penthouse earlier that day. At first, Dr. Mrs. The Monarch is hesitant as her husband will be jealous over this but Wide Wale asks how far will she really go to protect the Guild.

Meanwhile, Henchman 21 and The The Monarch have discovered that Dr. Venture and his family have moved to New York and are now wealthy while The Monarch is still trying to fix up his home in New Jersey. The Monarch then decides to sneak into the building. They are caught in their attempt by The Pirate Captain and tranquilize him in their escape. The dart reawakens his addiction to tranquilizers, causing him to spend most of the day tranquilizing himself.

The Monarch and Henchman 21 soon infiltrate the VenTech Tower. The incapacitate security, fail at the retina scanner, and have a weird encounter with the Pirate Captain, whom they knock out with a tool box when their tranquilizers fail. They become trapped in an elevator with the unconscious Pirate Captain, but are able to use The Captain's in the retinal scanner to facilitate their escape. As they abscond, Sgt. Hatred appears and hits Henchman 21 with the butt of his gun. Just as he prepares to do more harm, Dr. Mrs. The Monarch appears. She explains everything to Hatred who allows her to take her husband and Henchman 21 home. On the way back, she tells The Monarch she has bad news.

Back at the VenTech Tower, Hank uses Brock's binoculars and spots a young woman diving in a pool in Tophet Tower across the street. He watches as she floats back up motionless, leading him to believe she is drowning. In a panic, he steals Brock's grappling gun, and shoots it across the street at the building in an attempt to rescue her. Brock attempts to stop him but is too late. The gunshot noise alerts the Crusaders to the building, and they mistakenly assume Brock is responsible. They leap to confront him, resulting in a battle. Hank manages to swing on the grappling gun rope to the other building, where, upon tapping on the window, he discovers the seemingly unresponsive girl is alive and breathing fine. It is then revealed that she possesses gills, which allowed her to survive being submerged. Hank soon falls off the building, but is saved by Night Dick, another member of the Crusaders, and brought back to his home. Dr. Venture arrives and informs the remaining Crusaders Brock is his bodyguard. The Crusaders and Ventures, having sorted out their mess, make amends before the Crusaders leave.

Episode Cast

First Appearances

Connections To Other Episodes

The Lepidopterists

The Pirate Captain's addiction to tranquilizers, which he developed in The Lepidopterists, is shown once more.

The Family That Slays Together, Stays Together (Part II)

Brock has returned to work for the Venture family, which he left after he quit in The Family That Slays Together, Stays Together (Part II).

Bright Lights, Dean City

Brown Widow mentions his meeting with Dean, which occurred in Bright Lights, Dean City.

The Devil's Grip

Sergeant Hatred still holds a grudge against Henchman 21, which began in The Devil's Grip and inadvertently lead to Hatred burning down The Monarch's Cocoon and home in Malice.

All This and Gargantua-2

Dr. Venture has inherited JJ's company in New York, which he received after JJ's lawyer told him in All This and Gargantua-2.
Dr. Venture urges Sgt. Hatred not to "burn the place down" while Hatred conducts a security check of VenTech Tower. This is a subtle dig at Hatred for allowing the Venture Compound to burn down during All This and Gargantua-2. (Venture is probably unaware that Hatred also burned down The Monarch's Cocoon and home in Malice in The Devil's Grip.)
The Council of 13 is trying to rebuild itself after many of its members were killed in All This and Gargantua-2.
- Its new members include Phantom Limb and Radical Left from The Revenge Society as well its previous members Red Mantle, Dragoon, Dr. Mrs. The Monarch, and Dr. Z.
Dr. Phineas Phage mentions the deaths of half the original Council and The Sovereign going crazy, which occurred in All This and Gargantua-2.

A Guild with no Sovereign

The Guild of Calamitous Intent undergoes a crisis of identity in this episode. The Council of 13 has been more than cut in half and The Sovereign has died without leaving a successor. The reformed Council calls a meeting at Don Hell's to discuss recruitment of new members to fill its ranks.

The New Council of 13

Guild Members in Attendance

"Rusty's back" song

An original song (based heavily on "The Power" by Snap!) plays over the montage of Dr. Venture moving his family to the VenTech Tower in New York City and taking over VenTech Industries:
Hit it
Hit it
Hit it
Rusty's back on top now(Ah, yeah!)
Rusty's back on top now
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh, whoa, whoa
Rusty's back
But you already knew that
He's back, and he's subtle as a heart attack
Hank and Dean coming up Fifth Avenue
Say their name, Ventures with attitude
Their crib is ill, it'll send you to dementia
Now gather 'round and give a "Go Team Venture"
Archenemies stay off their back
'Cause they've got skills
And Rusty don't play that
(Ah, yeah!)
Yeah, ah, oh

Cultural References

Boy Scout Jamboree

Sergeant Hatred clucks that the VenTech security team "wouldn't pass muster at a Boy Scout Jamboree", to which Dr. Venture responds "Well, you would know", referencing Hatred's past predilection for young boys.

Columbus Circle

Both VenTech Tower and Tophet Tower are shown as being located at Columbus Circle in Manhattan, NY, which is the real life location of the Time Warner Center. The Venture Bros. airs on Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. Cartoon Network is itself owned by Turner Broadcasting System, which is a division and subsidiary of WarnerMedia (formerly Time Warner).

Devil (2010)

Henchman 21 calls out the events in the elevator as reminding him of the film Devil.

Godspell

Dr. Venture refers to the CAL as the cast of Godspell, which is both a musical play and film in which the cast wear very colorful costumes with the lead wearing a Superman tshirt.

Justin Bieber

Brock says every time he sees Hank dressed up like Justin Bieber he wants to wring his neck.

Miss Firecracker (1989)

Rusty sardonically addresses Stars & Garters as Miss Firecracker, which is the title of a humorous film (based on a stage play) that concerns a patriotic beauty pageant.

Mark Rothko

The VenTech Tower living room features a Mark Rothko painting, No 1 (Royal Red and Blue), which appears to be hung sideways.

PATH train

The Monarch and Henchman 21 remark on the brutal commute from the Fitzcarraldo mansion in Newark, New Jersey to the VenTech Tower in New York City via the PATH train (Port Authority Trans-Hudson), a rail-based regional rapid transit system.

Pete Rose

Purple Rose, the purple-skinned Guild union member who shouts "and more people of color!" as Dr. Mrs. The Monarch addresses their grievances, resembles disgraced former Major League Baseball player and manager Pete Rose (aka "Charlie Hustle").

Rockstar (energy drink)

Tosh Tompkins throws a can of JOCKSTAR energy drink at Jared's head. JOCKSTAR is a parody of Rockstar.

Swing Kids (1993)

The back page of the newspaper (The Finance Times) read by The Monarch says "SWING HEIL!", referencing a historical catchphrase from the jazz and swing loving Swingjugend (Swing Kids) resistance movement in 1930s Nazi Germany, popularly dramatized in the 1993 film Swing Kids.

The Avengers / The Justice League

The Crusaders Action League--as Sergeant Hatred accurately calls out--are a parody of Marvel's The Avengers and DC's The Justice League.
- Stars and Garters looks like Captain America.
- Night Dick is a parody of Ghost Rider and The Spirit.
- Warriana is a parody of Wonder Woman, with Thor's helmet and an invisible chariot parodying her invisible plane.
- Fallen Archer is a parody of Green Arrow, though his costume features Hawkeye's purple. Green Arrow's non-lethal fist arrows from the comic books are lampooned with foot arrows in Fallen Archer's quiver.

The Kingpin

Wide Wale is in part a parody of Daredevil villain The Kingpin.

The Naked Cowboy

Henchman 21's disguise outside VenTech Tower is inspired by the Naked Cowboy, a well-known street performer in Times Square.

The Power (1990)

The song played over the "Rusty's back" montage is a parody of the hit 1990 Eurodance song "The Power" by German music group Snap!

Tobias Whale

Wide Wale is in part a parody of Black Lightning villain Tobias Whale.

Production Notes

The Animation Direction Supervisor (Kimson Albert) has a "nickname" inserted into his credits. The nickname is an unusual line or word from the preceding episode. For Hostile Makeover the credit reads Kimson "More People of Color" Albert.

Trivia

The Sovereign is confirmed to be dead by Dr. Mrs. The Monarch.
First (and probably only) appearance of jBot.

	Preceded by: "All This and Gargantua-2"	The Venture Bros. episodes Original Airdate: January 31st, 2016	Followed by: "Maybe No Go"