The Mighty Monarch

Season 3 of The Venture Brothers premiered tonight. This is one of my favorite shows of all time. The premier episode was a little more sweet and sentimental than hilarious or action packed. It focused entirely on the relationship of The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend. We learned the origin of The Monarch, that not only Dr. Girlfriend had ties with Phantom Limb, and how the two first hooked up and started working together. Lots of great back story. Even a little T.S. Venture - Monarch's been arching him since college, although we still don't know the specific reason why he hates Venture so much.

The episode is set up as a trial or interrogation, as the Guild attempts to trace back Phantom Limb's traitorous actions. Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend are split apart to tell their sides of the story, presumably to prove Phantom Limb's guilt, but it quickly spirals into a trial against Monarch. It seems Monarch never technically registered with the Guild, but moonlighted as an arch villain while henching for various other villains. Fortunately Dr. Girlfriend is there to defend him.

The Venture family is virtually nonexistent in this episode, and the intro animation for the episode features Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend prominently (as the intro to season 2 feature Dr. Venture and his brother Jonas Venture Jr.). There are plenty of loose ends from the previous season to make this another great run. Kim (Triana's friend), who desires to be a super villain; Myra (Venture's former bodyguard) is still running around; Rocket Impossible's true father; the fate of Underbheit (last seen trying to crash at Monarch's cocoon); The Order of the Triad; Phantom Limb (obviously); etc. Should be another fantastic season.