The Venture Bros. ‘Red Means Stop’ Recap

March 22, 2016
Adult Swim

The season six finale of the Venture Bros, “Red Means Stop,” starts off with what looks like a chained-up man waking up in a filthy room. As the shot pans out, it becomes a clear reference to the first “Saw” movie. Another chained man stirs and they both start screaming about how they want pants. That’s not their biggest concern, though. The room also has a pile of dead bodies.

With that weird scene ended, we see 21 and the Monarch talking about how the Guild is being sequestered. With Dr. Mrs. the Monarch not around, the Monarch plans to gather information about the Venture’s next arch, Red Death.

At the park, Colonel Hunter Gathers is sitting on a bench. Dr. Mrs. the Monarch comes up and they begin planning to have the OSI and Guild work together to take down Blue Morpho. For added security Brock is also there. After the deal is made, a confused Phantom Limb shows up to start negotiations.

Back at the “Saw” room, the men argue over the lengths of their chains. When one of them goes to break the chain with a pipe, the other gets his finger smashed. This leads to a “pull my finger” moment. The injured man assures the other one it’s just not a gag, but when he fixes the jammed finger, the true meaning of the phrase rears its smelly head. At this point, we still have no idea what these men have to do with anything.

The Monarch goes in disguise as a dad to a playground. He sits down next to Red Death, a Red Skull looking villain with no skin. As he tries to make conversation, Red Death points out his daughter, a little skinless girl with pigtails. However, he knows exactly who the Monarch is. He even gives him praise for turning Rusty into a marionette in season four’s “Self Medication.” Red Death also warns him that it’s important to separate work and home life, something the Monarch fails at miserably. Back at his house, he tells 21 about his meeting and how Red Death is “the sweetest man in the world” and a “treasure.”

At the Ventech Tower, poor Uncle Hatred is STILL on the mend from all of his misfortunes this season. As the Guild walks into the building, he tries to stop them with a flashlight. The OSI soon follows, with Brock and Shore Leave. As everyone tries to get the sting operation going, Rusty hits on Dr. Mrs. Monarch yet again and Hunter pulls a gun on Phantom Limb. Watch and Ward have the honor of impersonating Hank and Dean. Their clothes are awful and full of fringe. Hank has an idea, though. He’s going to dress them as “classic Hank and Dean.” Shore Leave is Brock’s decoy, complete with the mullet. Billy, Pete, and Rusty are getting ready to hide out at Billy’s mom’s house for the duration.

In the “Saw” room, a chicken dinner is on the floor. The first man points out that it even has the “little hats on the chicken legs.” The second man tells him that the food is poisoned. How does he know that? Well, we find out that he’s been there for weeks now. He’s been eating the butts of the dead people in the room. Of course, the first man freaks out and starts screaming about being trapped in there with a “butt eater.”

Hank, Dean, and Shore Leave are out on the town for the night. Shore Leave wants to take the boys to the Limelight, which of course, is closed. He then mentions taking them to CBGB’s, he’s going to be in for another disappointment. Meanwhile the Red Death flies over them on a fiery horse. Shore Leave laments that even when he’s Brock, he still wants to be Brock. Hank consoles him, telling him that how he felt his whole life.

Meanwhile, 21 and the Monarch are disguised as Guild agents. They go to Red Death’s house and convince his wife to take the kid and go to her mother’s house. Without batting an eye, she agrees.

At Billy’s mom’s we get another horrifying flashback into Rusty’s childhood. The Action Man is playing with little Rusty. Instead of pulling the Action Man’s finger, he pulls a grenade pin. Scamp 3 goes running towards the grenade. Rusty dives to ground to protect his dog, only to be impaled by the gag “Bang!” stick that came out of the grenade. Back in the present, Colonel Gentleman starts calling Action Man a savage baby killer. Action Man argues that he killed a baby werewolf or maybe it was an ocelot.

Back at Ventech Tower, the Guild and OSI agents are in position. There’s two agents who are getting chummy on a rooftop with holding sniper rifles. Red Death flies onto the scene and we see more decoys on the Venture balcony. Hunter is Rusty and they also decide to use Phineas Phage as H.E.L.P.eR.’s decoy. Instead of using fake rounds, as per the sting operation’s rules, Red Death is using live ammo. Everyone scatters in shock.

The bickering continues at the “Saw” room. The men realize they are both villains. One of them is Maestro-Wave, a villain with a microwave type power. He’s the butt eater. The new guy is the Termite. When it’s suggested that the Termite can just eat his way out, he pulls a Tigerriffic and confesses he doesn’t have his powers without his helmet.

21 and the Monarch are back at the Morpho cave. They call Red Death, who is still at the Venture’s. Using a voice changer, the Monarch informs him that he has his family. This prompts Red Death into Liam Neeson’s “Taken” speech. It’s so damn menacing that 21 and the Monarch completely freak out and even apologize to him.

Colonel Gentleman starts talking about Blue Morpho. Jonas was heartbroken when he died. Even Kano cried. This confuses Rusty and Billy points out that Jonas’ Kano and Morpho’s Kano were the same person. Gentleman them not to believe everything he reads about the old adventures, expect for when it’s about him kicking ass, because he really did kick ass.

Red Death pays 21 and the Monarch a visit in the Morpho cave. He knew exactly where they were, even down to what pods they were hiding in. He’s scaring the crap out of both of them. The Monarch tells him to just call his mother in law, his family is safe there. Quickly switching back to loving husband and father, he talks to his wife. The Monarch then explains that he hates Rusty and must arch him. Red Death tries to give him advice like “rules helps us hate.” He also tells the Monarch to just kill the Venture family and get on with his life. That’s what he did with his arch, he crushed his skull and burned his house down.

At the Venture’s there’s a pool party going on. Dr. Mrs. the Monarch isn’t joining in on the fun, though. She tells Rusty that she will find and kill Morpho herself. When Rusty sees the party he wonders what the hell is happening but then offers to make drinks (oh god no) and jumps in the pool.

Here’s where we finally find out what’s up with the “Saw” subplot. 21 really hasn’t been murdering all of the villains like everyone thought. He’s been hiding them in the unfinished first floor bathroom in the Monarch’s house. He doesn’t seem to be checking on them, since he’s shocked most of them are dead with their butts eaten.

After the credits, we see the Guild sniper talking to his OSI pal on the roof. They’re sad they won’t be working together anymore. It’s revealed that the OSI agent is a woman and the Guild agent has a plastic skull. So maybe it will be easy for these crazy kids to find each other again.