It has been far too long since we saw what Hank and Dean Venture have been getting up to, and the next season doesn’t start until this spring.
Until then, though, we’ve got the Halloween Special. And it was amazing in just about every respect.
Essentially, it features Dean exploring a haunted house, Rusty and Hatred messing with trick or treaters, and Orpheus has the most awkward Halloween party ever captured in animation. Then, of course, zombies are raised.
It’s missing a few pieces: There’s no Brock except in silent flashbacks, for example.
It also reinforced that season five is going to be fairly hardcore: Dean gets a major kick in the teeth in this episode that both reinforces that he and Hank are growing apart as people and emphasizes that he’s not so terribly far away from turning into his father… a fate he’s starting to seriously question and maybe even start to fear.
This makes the episode sound way heavier than it actually is, but it’s pretty funny and packed to the brim with nerdy references ranging from some hilarious costumes (Dermott in particular) to J.K. Simmons playing a major character. Similarly, Orpheus is always good for cringe comedy, and H. Jon Benjamin coming back is always welcome.
In short, it’s a great reminder that a great series is coming back. It’s just not soon enough, dammit.