RJ Writing Ink

Rick and Morty Season 4, Episode 10 Review

*Slow clapping from being thoroughly impressed* Those magnificent people who work on Rick and Morty. They did it. After an (admittedly) lackluster second half to Season 4, Rick and Morty manages to stick the landing with the best episode since “The Rickshank Redemption.” Not to mention, it’s the best finale since “Wedding Squanchers.” Why though? Three reasons:

• It sees the actual return of Tammy, the Federation, and Bird Person.
• It brings back one of the biggest questions from the end of Season 3
• The finale parodies Star Wars, from the title right down to the plot and sci-fi references!

I’m going to avoid spoiling as much as possible, but here’s the rundown. Remember “the ABC’s of Beth,” where Rick offered to clone Beth so she could go explore the universe? That Beth has been living as a Princess Leia freedom fighter against a rebuilt Federation, thinking she’s the real one. However, when she finds a potential bomb in her neck, she’s convinced that Rick lied to her about that. As a result, she heads back to Earth to confront her dad. In doing so, though, she brings the Federation, Tammy included, in pursuit of her.

One would expect this to be the point where Rick has to come in and “save” the day. Instead, the opposite happens: it’s the Smith Family that saves Rick. To be more specific, we see both Beth’s bonding over their issues with Rick, teaming up to kick Federation ass. Meanwhile, Morty and Summer manage to shut down the bug-alien’s Death Star knock-off and save the Earth.

Does the Smith Family No Longer Need Rick?

I think that there’s a big takeaway from the fact that Rick had to be saved by his family. One that I’ve been noticing throughout Season Four: the Smith family’s not as dependent on Rick anymore. We’ve already seen examples of the Smith’s being badasses, but here we see it in full display:

For one, seeing the lengths that Morty and Summer go to fighting over an invisibility belt and then stopping the ship shows off how clever they are.

The Beth’s become a pair of badass sisters with sassy attitudes.

Even Jerry gets some one-liners in. Rick doesn’t really do anything, in the end, and it shows. By the end of the episode, any respect the family may have still had for Rick is gone, and both of his daughters make it clear that they no longer need his approval. He’s all alone.

So, it looks like Rick has hit rock-bottom. He no longer looks like a god to his family; he’s realizing he’s a horrible father; and it turns out not even the Federation cares about him anymore. Rick may be the smartest in the universe, but it doesn’t mean squat when he’s a lonely old jerk.

Overall, the season finale to Rick and Morty was filled with a lot of laughs and epic moments for the entire family while throwing fans a bone by touching upon past episodes. At the same time, it also leaves us with a Rick that’s more alone than ever. Which begs the question: where will Season five go?

The way I see it, Rick’s got two options. He can accept his new place in the family and they all go on adventures as a badass family. Or, he can go to a new universe and start fresh. I hope he chooses the former because that would be awesome. Either way, though, we’re gonna get plenty of more fun from Rick and Morty.

I Give “Star Mort, Rickturn of the Jerri” a 5/5. Best of the Season

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Rick and Morty Season 4, Episode 8 Review- The Vat of Acid Episode

Rick Sanchez, I knew you were a sociopathic monster that cares little besides himself, but dang, man. The “Vat of Acid Episode” hammered home how petty Rick can be. That’s what everyone who’s watched it says, and I see no reason to argue with that. Comedic sociopathy aside, the “Vat of Acid Episode” hammered home an important point for me. That point being how far Rick will go to keep Morty under his toxic influence.

The Vat of Acid

So, as the title implies, the episode starts with Rick and Morty trying to escape a shady deal gone wrong by jumping into a vat of fake acid with breathing tubes and wait for the bad guys to leave. They don’t leave, they stick around and talk, and it looks like the “Vat of Acid Episode” is going to be a one-note joke with Rick and Morty having to wait it out. Then Morty loses patience, they shoot the guys, and Morty tears into Rick over the fact that he. was. WRONG.

If you remember “Morty’s Mind Blowers”, Rick erases any memories that make him look stupid in front of Morty. It’s how he maintains the image that he’s a freaking god in Morty’s eyes and keeps him under his toxic influence. Rather than admit he made a mistake and shatter the image he’s cultivated in Morty’s mind, Rick decides to reinforce it in the cruelest (and funniest) way possible.

One Big Setup

Spoiler alert, but Rick indulges Morty and gives him a remote that acts like the “save and load” function in a video game. As a gamer, I find this as a nice jab at gamers who save scum so they can indulge in crazy actions without consequence. Once he gets bored, Rick cruelly reveals the truth behind the remote: it doesn’t rewind time. It shunts him to a branching reality, kills the Morty there, and puts him in. Then when Rick resets everything, Morty has to deal with all the consequences of all his horrible actions. In hindsight, we should have seen this twist coming given how much Justin and Dan hate time travel. It doesn’t stop the reveal from being hilarious, though.

That’s not the funniest part, though. The funniest part is that this whole “Vat of Acid Episode” was Rick putting his grandson through this ordeal to set him up with only one way out: a vat of fake acid. He did all this out of a petty need to prove that he’s right!

There’s only one other time I’ve seen a cartoon character resort to such twisted lengths over something so petty: Eric Cartman in “Scott Tenorman must Die.” I thought that was one of the darkest things I’ve ever seen in a cartoon. I mean, Cartman tricked a kid who crossed him into eating chili made out of his parents. Yet Rick made Morty responsible for offending everyone possible and committing all sorts of horrible actions, INCLUDING CANNIBALISM WHEN HE GOT STRANDED IN A PLANE CRASH!

Morty Got (and lost) A Girlfriend

Yeah, in one iteration, Morty got a cute girlfriend with glasses and they were very happy together. Then went on a plane trip that crashed in the mountains and they had to eat the dead to survive. It was just like the book Alive, which tells the real life story of a plane crash in the Andes with the exact same scenario. One of the writers admitted the story traumatized him as a kid!

Morty and his girlfriend survive, only for Jerry’s stupidity to send him back to before they met. If it weren’t so funny, this would be so hilarious.

Never Make Fun of Rick. EVER.

People are saying that this is one of the best episodes Rick and Morty has ever done, and I have to agree. It’s my second favorite of the season and at least in the top five of the show. The way the writers mislead everyone until the end to reveal it to be the set-up to a punchline is crazy and hilarious. And the moral of the whole “Vat of Acid Episode” is that Rick hates being told he’s wrong and will do anything to prove otherwise. Considering how this is the guy who took down an intergalactic government because they crossed them, we shouldn’t be surprised. Still funny, though!

I Give “The Vat of Acid Episode” a Perfect 5/5

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P.S.- I hate Jerry as much as Rick does now.

Rick and Morty Season 4, Episode 6 Review- Never Ricking Morty

Against my better judgment (I’m trying to adopt a normal sleep schedule), I stayed up to watch the midseason premiere of Rick and Morty. As a result, I watched an episode that I can only describe as meta fourth-wall breaking high on pot. And the ending was enough to make what happened in Lost look sane.

A Literal Engine of Story-Telling

This episode the kind that has to be seen to be vaguely understood, but here’s the rundown. Rick and Morty are trapped on train that serves as a metaphysical manifestation of a storytelling formula. Then they have to fight this Story Lord who wants to use their limitless storytelling potential for marketing. They get by doing something they’d never do in a story (pray to God). Then the ending reveals they’re just toys on a train set created by the Citadel of Ricks. A Story-Train with sentient toys to give people infinite story potential.

Look, I had to think hard about the Snake Story back in December, but here I have to do the opposite. Instead of thinking too hard when I know I won’t understand it, I just went “screw it, let’s just enjoy the thing.” It’s nonsensical and so meta that I knew I could not properly articulate what I was thinking about it.

You know what, though? I didn’t care. This world is messed up right now, so we need a way to keep our spirits up. I can’t think of any show better at doing that than Rick and Morty.

Also, they did a Wendy’s commercial that I legitmately thought was the start of the episode

I Give “Never Ricking Morty” a 3/5

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Rick and Morty Season 4, Episode 3 Review- One Crew Over The Crewcoo’s Morty

Have you ever seen something where you haven’t the foggiest idea what’s going on, yet you love it? After watching last night’s episode of Rick and Morty, it feels like I went through that. The episode, “One Crew Over The Crewcoo’s Morty” was one big rip on heist movies that included every possible cliche. I loved it!

Rick’s Big Rip

The episode starts off with a classic Rick and Morty adventure a-la Indiana Jones. However, it goes off the rails when Rick discovers that some thief stole whatever they were after. As a result, Rick drags Morty to Heist Con, an actual convention for thieves, so he tear the guy down. Truthfully, though, it feels like he only wanted to do one big rip on everyone there by saying he hates heist movies.

In this era where the term “nerd” can be a badge of pride, we essentially rule pop culture now. Thus, conventions are like geekdom pilgrimages where we congregate; perfect fodder for a cynical guy like Rick. Seeing him rip on fan culture, as mean as it can be, almost feels like an honor for me. We’ve gotten so big that Rick sees fit to tear into us. Also, I don’t really watch heist movies myself.

One Convoluted Cliche After Another

When you try to get down to the bare bones of the plot, you run into the inherent problem of the episode: it has no real plot. The whole thing’s a series of attempts by people trying to one up each other in terms of being clever. In Rick’s case, he creates a robot called the Heist-o-tron to one up that thief from before. Only the robot double-crosses him and starts heisting on a planetary scale. The Heist-o-Tron literally steals planets! Yet despite the deliberate cliches, I found the episode hilarious.

The reason the whole thing works is because, again, this is one big rip on heist movies; whether its genuine or playful, I don’t know. Yet Rick and Morty is the kind of show that thrives on convoluted, audacious moments such as this. Heck, the ending to “Rickshank Redemption” revealed that everything was part of Rick’s plan to get rid of the Galactic Government and Jerry.

Through the same kind of complex, over the top planning and outsmarting others, Rick manages to thoroughly confuse the Heist-o-Tron enough that it self-destructs. However, it could have also done so after failing to understand what was going on. Either way, Rick wins.

A Hilarious Spoof of Heist Films

After Rick’s big rip, my opinion on heist movie’s changed a bit. Yes, they can be cliche, and the way they try to focus on being clever can get stale. Yet that’s also the reason why they can be so much fun to watch when done right. Whether intentionally or not, Rick fulfills many of the tropes and cliches found in heist movies. I think the irony’s hilarious.

As a side-bonus, we got the return of fan-favorite character Mr. Poopy Butthole to the canon. After getting shot back in Season Two, we only saw him at the end of each season where he commented on the show. getting to see him reunite with Rick and Morty was a delight. On top of that, Elon Musk guest starring as “Elon Tusk” joke got a few chuckles out of me. The man’s actually played himself in several shows by now.

Big rip or not, I thought that “One Crew Over The Crewcoo’s Morty” was one of the series stronger episodes. It makes no sense whatsoever, but it doesn’t need to in order to be funny. Wubba-lubba-dub-dub!

I Give ” One Crew Over The Crewcoo’s Morty” a 4.5/5.

Stray observations

• Blink and you’ll miss the Arby’s product placement at the start of the episode
• “Big Pluto”. LOL, nice callback to Season One.

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