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

"The Family That Slays Together, Stays Together (Part I)"

"The Family that Slays Together, Stays Together (Part I)" is the 38^th episode of The Venture Bros. and is part of the multi-episode season finale. Although ostensibly the first half of a two-part story, the episode continues directly from the end of ORB, and the show's writers, Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer, acknowledged in a video commentary on the Adult Swim website that the finale is, by any practical standard, a three-parter. The Monarch's storyline is a continuation of "The Lepidopterists", which in turn is a continuation of "Tears of a Sea Cow" and, to a lesser extent, "Now Museum, Now You Don't", while the beginning of this episode takes place shortly after the post-credits scene of "ORB", making the final six episodes of the season a single story arc.

When the episode debuted on the Adult Swim website on August 15, 2008, it included a brief prologue involving the Monarch which will not be in the broadcast version, but will be on the DVD.

Plot

The episode begins in the Venture compound. Dr. Mrs. The Monarch's Moppets have abducted Dean and Hank, while The Monarch and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch stand by. Brock Samson swoops in to attempt a rescue and attacks The Monarch, who decapitates Brock with his wings. Dr. Venture attempts to escape through a ventilation shaft, and #21 threatens him, then kisses Dr. Mrs. The Monarch. This scene is shown to be no more than a holodeck-type simulation, and the Dr. Mrs. The Monarch that #21 is kissing is an android. The Monarch, pleased with the simulation (with the exception of #21's interference), states that they are ready to storm the Venture Compound.

In the Venture Compound, a bloodied Brock is hitting the remains of his car with a wrench. Brock decides that the Venture family needs to leave him and go to Spider Skull Island, where Jonas can help protect them from O.S.I. agents that want Brock dead. As they prepare to leave, Molotov Cocktease and her all-female hit squad, The Blackhearts, appear.

In the Monarchmobile, The Monarch, Dr. Mrs. The Monarch, #21, and #24 are driving to the Venture Compound with plans of storming it using their small, precise, elite group, with the Moppets lead the procession on motorcycle. #21 complains that he has to urinate, but is rebuffed by The Monarch. As they drive, they are passed by Sergeant Hatred's Hovertank, which aggravates The Monarch.

Back at the Venture Compound, Brock readies the X-1 to leave, while Molotov explains that O.S.I. asked her to kill him, but she had declined, and then details the three assassins O.S.I. hired to kill him so that Brock can be prepared. One is Heinrich "Herr Trigger" Triggermensch, an East German bi-athlete who gets sexual pleasure from finishing off his victims. The second is Russell "Go Fish" Sturgeon, a specialist in maritime assassinations. The third is Jean-Claude Le Tueur, a big-game hunter who enjoys Silver-Age comics and exotic weapons.

Brock, Dr. Venture, Dean, Hank, and H.E.L.P.eR. fly the X-1 to a strip club, where Brock talks to Hunter Gathers, who confirms that O.S.I. is trying to kill Brock. As Hunter performs a lap dance on Brock, Brock takes a passport out of the back of his thong, a list of ex-O.S.I. contacts out of his bra, and a set of keys out of the front of his thong. As Brock leaves the strip club, he's attacked by Herr Trigger. Brock convinces Dr. Venture and Dean to depart on the X-1 while he fights off the assassin by telling the family that he never loved them, but Hank stows away in Hunter's car, unseen by Brock who uses it to escape. Hank saw through Brock's deception due to his seeing it in Lassie.

In a high-speed chase, Brock immobilizes the motorcycle-bound Herr, and is picked up in the X-1 by Dr. Venture. As they fly away, Herr fires a surface-to-air missile at the X-1, which is hit and has to make an emergency landing; H.E.L.P.eR. replaces the stricken landing gear and helps the X-1 land safely, while the ejector seat carrying everyone else lands squarely on Herr Trigger, killing him.

Back at the Venture Compound, The Monarch and everyone else run through the compound, trying to find the Ventures. The only person in the building appears to Sergeant Hatred, located by #21 in the bathroom.

Brock visits two friends from his O.S.I. days, Shore Leave and Mile High, who have converted to Christianity and started a Scuba-based Bible Camp, as well as changing their codenames to Holy Diver and Sky Pilot. While Brock asks them for help, they're attacked by Go Fish, who throws a grenade on a fishing line, throwing Brock back onto the dock. Go Fish throws another lure that tangles Brock in fishing line, and then speeds off in a motorboat, dragging Brock behind him. As Holy Diver and Sky Pilot gear up to help (in a scene which directly references the armor sequence in the Christian children's show Bibleman, which is also reminiscent of the cartoon The Centurions, or an anime-style henshin sequence), Go Fish throws chum onto Brock to attract sharks. When the sharks attack, Brock subdues one and then plays dead, leaving his shirt and hair attached to one of the dead sharks as a decoy. As Go Fish circles around to finish off Brock, Brock ties a line between two buoys that has the dolled up shark hung from the line. When Go Fish comes past, the shark decapitates him. Brock, in rare form, recites a Bible verse (Psalm 140:7 "O God the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle").

Back at the Venture Compound, Dr. Mrs. The Monarch is in the bathroom with Sergeant Hatred, who is inconsolable because he is convinced his wife, Princess Tinyfeet, is going to leave him after getting a text message saying "We need to talk". The Monarch, #21, and #24 wait in the hallway for resolution.

Brock escorts everyone to a hotel room in Los Angeles. He then leaves to forage for supplies.

Back at the Venture Compound, Hatred and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch are still talking. The Monarch, #21, and #24 decide to go back to Malice and pick up The Cocoon.

Hank strikes up a conversation with a man in a Batman towel who turns out to be Le Tueur. Brock reappears and they fight. Le Tueur gives Brock a good fight, almost besting the worn body guard severing his right nipple in the process, but Hank distracts him long enough with a reference to Batman for Brock to regain himself. Le Tueur rebukes Hank and lunges at Brock for a killing stroke but is sliced in half with his own discarded sword. Brock tells Hank to look through his list of ex-O.S.I. contacts and call "The Cleaner" to clean up Le Tueur's corpse. Moments later however, two officers from the L.A.P.D. burst through the door and hold everyone at gunpoint.

Meanwhile, back at the X-1, The Cocoon hovers overhead as H.E.L.P.eR. whistles in apprehension.

Cultural references

• Shore Leave's new moniker, Holy Diver, is a reference to the Dio song of the same name, while Mile High's new codename, Sky Pilot, is a reference to the same-titled song by Eric Burdon & The Animals, about a military chaplin.
• When Holy Diver suits up for battle, he announces each piece of armor and weaponry as it materializes on him, just as in the 1980s cartoon series The Centurions, which involved a "brilliant sea operations commander," and a "daring air operations expert". He also seem to be at least partially inspired by Bibleman, a Biblically-themed superhero who wears hi-tech armor and an energy sword.
• After losing his clothes in a fight, Brock has to wear pink sweat pants with "JUICE" written across the bottom, a reference to Juicy Couture.
• Dr. Venture calls Brock General West-moron, a reference to American General William Westmoreland.
• Twice in the episode, Brock uses Gary Busey as the reasoning for people needing to buckle up. Busey was involved in a near-fatal motorcycle accident (not a car crash) in 1988, a result of not wearing a helmet.
• When Brock tells the boys to contact "the Cleaner", the code-word he uses to describe the situation is "Damien Hirst", an artist known for working with dead animals, sliced cleanly in half in a manner similar to Le Tueur.
• Sergeant Hatred describes himself as a "warrior" like Patty Smyth, a reference to the hit song she had with the band Scandal.
• Brock tries to get Hank and Dean to leave him by saying he's never loved them. Hank later refers to this as "the Lassie trick."
• The car Brock acquires from Hunter Gathers is a highly modified Jensen Interceptor, 70's British Grand Tourer and 'Gentleman's express'.

The assasins have several references:

• Herr Trigger's appearance and mannerisms are based on those of German actor Klaus Kinski.
• Jean-Claude Le Tueur wears an outfit during his confrontation with Brock that bears a great resemblance to that of Kraven the Hunter. In kind, his declaration to the customs agent of "Excelsior!" is a reference to Stan Lee who would often use that exclamation.
• Le Tueur's dossier gives his last known location as Comic-con.

There are two biblical references in the sequence involving Holy Diver and Sky Pilot:

• "The Armor of God" is an extended metaphor in the Bible, consisting of the Belt of Truth, Breastplate of Righteousness, Sandals of Peace, Shield of Faith, Helmet of Salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit, as listed in Paul's epistle to the Ephesians 6:10-18. Sky Pilot even says "Initiating Ephesians Sequence".
• After defeating Go-Fish and taking his hat, Brock quotes from Psalm 140:7, "O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle."

Connections to Other Episodes

• This episode takes place right after ORB.
• Shore Leave, who first appeared in The Invisible Hand of Fate makes a reappearance with a fellow OSI member.
• OSI apparently has or had a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy regarding homosexuality, which is the reason for Shore Leave and Mile-High's discharge.
• While talking to Le Tueur about his love of Batman, Hank mentions a vague memory of jumping off the roof of the Venture compound--a reference to one of his deaths shown in Powerless in the Face of Death.

Goofs

• When Go-Fish is first seen at the airport, the woman who sold Dean his speed suit in Hate Floats is on his left. However, after the shot of his dossier concludes, she no longer appears in the frame.

Production notes

• One of the animation directors (Kimson Albert) gets to have a "nickname" inserted into his credits. For "The Family That Slays Together, Stays Together (Part I)" the credit reads Kimson "Le Tueur" Albert.
• Similar to "Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part I)", there is no post-credits scene in this episode.