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Rick and Morty S7 Ep 9 Review

In a show like Rick and Morty, life and death are worth as much as a pack of gum one gets at a gas station. By this point, fans have seen the show’s cast die multiple times, only for it to get reversed, faked, or an alternate version of a character. While Rick might not be immortal, he’s got so many ways to come back that he gets pretty close to it. It is funnier when Rick’s latest scheme involves him doing something no one ever thought he would do: get into the afterlife via death by Bigfoot.

Bigfoot Sends Rick and Morty to Valhalla

In his latest experiment/scheme, Rick manages to confirm something that people have debated about for years: there is an afterlife. There are multiple versions of the afterlife based on everyone’s beliefs. He’s not interested in reaching any of them whenever he dies for good, though. He wants to use their energy to power himself up even more. Since he’s still a stubborn atheist, though, that’s almost impossible. Rick soon finds a workaround by getting into one of the easiest afterlives: Valhalla, the realm of the Norse Gods. So, to get in, he takes Morty to Norway and lets himself be killed by a captive Bigfoot.

No, really. That’s his whole plan. He’s had Bigfoot held captive in a Pokeball and lets him out just so he can be brutally killed, and it works. He gets into Vahalla and hijacks that “afterlife energy” for himself. 

Like a Video Game, but Deadlier

There are several funny aspects about this initial part of the episode that had me laughing. Firstly, there’s the fact that he’s used Jerry as his guinea pig so often that his late grandmother’s tired of welcoming him to Heaven. Secondly, there’s the fact that, as Dan Harmon states, Rick is dying so he can have adventures. The idea that he could use it to reunite with his Diane and original Beth doesn’t even seem to cross his mind. 

Lastly, there’s the fact once the residents of Valhalla realize what Rick’s up to, they try to rush his tower, only for it to turn into a real-life tower defense game. In hindsight, most depictions of Vahalla are a lot like modern-day battle royale games like Fortnite, Apex Legends, and PUBG. They kill, die, celebrate, kill again, rinse and repeat.

Unfortunately, things take a turn south when Bigfoot tricks Morty into letting him out and kills him, sending him to Valhalla. 

Rick, Morty, and Bigfoot vs. Evil Pope

The plot only gets sillier from here on out. Bigfoot’s abducted by the Vatican so the Pope can use him to kill their enemies with the promise of letting him kill Rick’s still mindless clone. Then, when Rick and Morty make it back, the Pope steals that afterlife energy for himself. So the three team up to take down the Pope…and they die and get sent to Valhalla.

Whether the show intended it to be, this episode plays out a lot like a video game. Rick, Morty, and Bigfoot try to beat the final boss, only to die, go to Valhalla, and then respawn (with Bigfoot getting a human body). They then try again and again, each attempt getting more ridiculous than the last. As a gamer who’s sometimes spent hours trying to beat that one enemy in a game, this entire montage made me laugh. And while this isn’t the first I’ve seen a fictional version of the Pope that’s evil, it’s still funny. Perhaps more so due to Rick’s refusal to believe in religion, despite this and multiple episodes proving there’s some truth to them. 

A Very Silly Episode with Bigfoot

In the end, though, Rick has to swallow his pride and give up on his new power source to beat the Pope. Thus, the entire point of this adventure was rendered pointless. However, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad episode.

I’m not sure why, but seeing Rick and Morty (and Bigfoot) go through all of this over and over again seemed funny to me. It may be because I see similarities to a video game in this episode, but I found it enjoyable. The jokes were funny; seeing Rick kill the residents of Valhalla right as they respawned was funny. And seeing them try to drive the now-human Bigfoot away at the end like a parody of those animal films was hilarious. 

This just hit all the right notes for me. While I’m still concerned about what the show’s going to do with its season finale next week, this was one of the season’s better episodes. 

I Give “Mort: Ragnarick” a 4/5

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Rick and Morty S7 Ep 8 Review

On Saturday, December 2nd, 2023, Rick and Morty marked its 10th birthday with surprisingly little fanfare. One would think that such an important milestone would be a big deal online. Surprisingly, though, it barely showed up in my Twitter feed. However, one might argue that the show’s current season is the show’s way of celebrating hitting double digits. While not every episode has hit the mark for a longtime fan like myself, it’s still had its moments. This week’s episode, though, might have all the others topped. Centering on a stinger from a Season two episode that involved Ice-T/Water-T, the episode is a full-on pastiche of big names in 80s pop culture: Star Wars, Transformers, and tons of puns involving numbers and letters.

The biggest twist, though? Rick isn’t even in this episode. At all. For the first time, Rick isn’t in his show.

Ice-T/Water-T and the Rise of the Numbericons

Way back in the season two episode of “Get Schwifty,” Rick and Morty teamed up with rapper Ice-T to save the world from giant heads that wanted a hit song. Then Ice-T was revealed to be an alien ice crystal, exiled by his people like Thor. After helping to save Earth, though, he returned home, regained his true form as Water-T, and his Dad die during an attack by their mortal enemies, the Numbericons. “Rise of the Numbericons: the Movie” picks up right where the stinger left off, with Water-T headed to Earth in search of someone to help him find a treasure to end the war.

If the entire premise behind what’s been described sounds ridiculous, that’s the whole point. This entire episode takes the idea of sentient numbers and letters fighting each other and rolls with it for all its worth. The end result is something akin to the Transformers series of the 1980s, which the show’s writers acknowledge was an influence on things. It’s ridiculous and full of cliches, like the surprise villain that everyone has to unite against and Water-T having chemistry with his enemy. It’s not something meant to be taken seriously, and it knows this and uses it to its advantage. The result is a fusion of Transformers and the plot of Return of the Jedi, with Morty and Mr. Goldenfold caught in the middle.

Mr. Goldenfold Gets a Starring Role

Easily the biggest twist to this episode is how it marks the first time Rick is not present in any capacity. He’s been in every episode, no matter how minor a role, across all seven seasons. While some might miss him, this offers Morty a chance to go on an adventure alongside someone who can’t necessarily bail him out like Rick can. In this case, it’s his math teacher, Mr. Goldenfold.

Mr. Goldenfold’s never been a major character in Rick and Morty. Oftentimes, he’s best remembered as the guy who likes Mrs. Pancake too much, or being the butt of some joke. In this case, though, Goldenfold manages to get an important role, serving not just as Morty’s teacher, but also one to Water-T, who was once his student.

While the dynamic between Goldenfold and Water-T did feel a little forced, that seems to be more because of how they had to cram a movie’s worth of plot into a third of the time. Thus, the mutual bitterness between the two stemming from Water-T’s failed promises and unfinished homework seems silly rather than serious. In contrast, though, Morty and Goldenfold develop a more interesting dynamic. Goldenfold largely either fears Morty due to his association with Rick or looks down on him. In this episode, though, Goldenfold’s a good teacher. He doesn’t let Morty get away with anything, but he also encourages him when needed.

That still doesn’t make me like math class, though.

They Pulled off a Rick-Free Episode

As a whole, this episode was a very enjoyable one to watch. Getting to see the continuation of a joke that the show made years ago in the form of Water-T was amazing, and the stinger sets up potentially more adventures in the future. In addition, the fact that the episode did well without having Rick in it proves that the show doesn’t need its main character (or one of them) to be good. It just needs good writing and storytelling. I’m probably going to come back and rewatch this some time later.

I Give “Rise of the Numbercons: the Movie” a 3.5/5.

Happy 10th Birthday, Rick and Morty

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Rick and Morty S7 Ep 7 Review

Over the course of Rick and Morty, Summer Smith’s gone from being simply Morty’s older sister to a certified badass in her own right. She can hold her own adventuring with Rick to the point where she might be better at it than Morty. Rick and Summer’s adventures have become a staple of the series, but the seventh season has seen her take a backseat. It’s an unfortunate consequence of the show deciding to re-focus itself and return to its roots. Even more unfortunate, though, is that this season’s Summer-centric episode “Wet Kuat Amortican Summer” rehashes action movies. Instead of Die Hard from the last season, this time it’s using Total Recall and Taken. And something called a Kuato.

What the heck is a Kuato?

Kuato Summer and Morty 

When Rick gives Summer a device that lets her swap her attributes like she’s in an RPG as payment for doing his chores, Morty gets jealous. The two of them end up fighting over the device at a party thrown by their school’s Frolf (frisbee+golf=frolf), leading the two to fall into a pool along with it. As a result, their bodies fuse with Morty becoming this parasitic creature jutting out of Summer’s stomach that everyone calls a “Kuato,” after the character from the sci-fi film Total Recall. The entire thing is every bit as disturbing as one would expect, and when Rick refuses to fix them until they do more chores, Summer bails for an alien nightclub with more Kuato’s.

While the idea of Morty becoming this parasitic being stuck to Summer’s body sounds interesting on paper, I failed to become emotionally invested in it. I’ve never seen Total Recall before and have no plans to do so in the near future, so the reference flew over my head. That was strike one for me. 

Strike two was how Summer initially acted following her becoming a Kuato. Rather than doing everything she could to get them back to normal, which is likely what Morty wanted, Summer decided to exploit her newfound Kuato status for popularity. While both teens were at fault for what happened to them, Morty wound up having far less agency from this, being forced to go along with Summer’s whims. If I were Morty, I’d be screaming for help.

From Total Recall to Taken at the Drop of a Hat

Ulimately, Summer’s need to be popular bites her hard when a group of Kuato traffickers drug her and take Morty to sell on the black market. She escapes, Rick eventually gets involved, and from here, the whole episode is a beat-for-beat remake of the Liam Neeson movie Taken. Right down to the underground auction and the fight on the yacht. The only difference is that Morty manages to free himself in time to take part in the final battle against the ringleader. Who, for some reason, is revealed to be a Kuato inside a Kuato…inside a Kuato. 

Look, I’ll be honest: by this point, I had already lost much of my interest in the episode. I saw Family Guy parody the first Taken film years ago, so I knew how this would play out. It was a little impressive that the episode managed to transition from sci-fi to thriller like it did, but that was about it. 

Rick Does Respect Summer

The one thing about this episode that keeps me from fully writing it off is how this deepened the relationship between Rick and Summer. In a shootout near the climax of the episode, Summer complains about how Rick’s so much harder on her than he is on Morty. His response? Rick says it’s because he sees much of his late wife in Summer. He knows that Summer is more capable than Morty can be, and whereas he tends to treat Morty as someone he has to look after, he considers Summer an equal.

This was a genuinely sweet moment and a highlight of the episode. I’ve talked in previous reviews about how badass Summer can be, but this moment feels like the culmination of it. Rick acknowledges her as someone who, while not as smart as him, is on his level of adventuring.

The episode ends with Morty remaining a Kuato until the next episode and Summer hopefully learning not to crave other people’s approval so much. Plus, she gets a girlfriend in the form of another former Kuato she saved from that Kuato ring. On its own, this is a good episode. However, it’s also one that comes after the dizzying high that was “Unmortricken.” Compared to that, most episodes will seem like a step-down. Still, at least Summer got a big adventure this season and her name in the episode title for the first time.

That, and there was a hilarious parody of those “cake or not” videos that Rick was watching.

I Give “Wet Kuat Amortican Summer” a 3/5

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Rick and Morty S7 Ep 5 Review

For weeks now, I’ve been worried about whether or not Rick and Morty had started to lose its edge. The first few episodes of the show’s seventh season weren’t funny or memorable. Even the adventures of Burger and Fries, AKA Rick and Jerry, seem forgettable after the fact. While the Spaghetti Episode did alleviate some concerns, it felt like fans were getting antsy. What we wanted was to see progress on the hunt for Rick Prime, AKA the Rick that killed our Rick’s wife and Beth and started everything. Well, the halfway point of season seven gave Rick and the fans what they wanted: Rick Prime. But in a testament to how empty revenge can feel, it’s a victory that feels premature, hollow, and leaving everyone asking, “now what?” That doesn’t stop it from being one of the series best episodes, though, since it also sees the return of another longtime villain, Evil Morty.

Evil Morty Returns!

Up until the episode’s premiere, Adult Swim was tight-lipped about it by refusing to release a major teaser, and for good reason. The episode starts off with what seems like the tail end to a typical Rick and Morty adventure. However, the cold opening’s revealed to be a misdirection, with it actually showing the rise of Evil Morty.

Evil Morty’s one of the best characters on the show by virtue of the fact that he’s one of the few Morty’s who can outsmart a Rick. He’s willing to commit horrible acts of violence, murder, and deception all because he wanted out of what he calls “the Rick Experiment,” and he succeeded. He escaped to the greater multiverse where other people have invented portal travel, and is living his best life. However, he then gets dragged back into the game thanks to Rick’s obsession with catching Rick Prime.

Getting to see Evil Morty and Rick and Morty interact with each other throughout an episode was amazing. While the show’s Morty has grown to become resourceful in his own right, Evil Morty not only meets Rick on his level of intellect but surpasses him. The back-and-forth between the two is filled with a mutual condescension and shows why Ricks feel the need to be the dominant one in the Rick and Morty relationship. Because if a Morty surpasses a Rick, then it would be bad for all Ricks everywhere, as we see at the end.

Rick vs. Rick Prime at Last

As fun as it was to see the return of Evil Morty, though, the focus of the episode lies squarely on Rick Prime. Due to it being the halfway point of the season, fans could be forgiven for thinking that Rick wouldn’t find Rick Prime in this episode, let alone fight him. However, the show then turned everyone’s expectations on their heads. Not only does Rick find Rick Prime thanks to Evil Morty’s help (which he hates), but he, Morty, and Evil Morty fight him. 

The resulting battle between the two sides is among the best fights the series has ever given us. Even though Rick gives it his all, there’s this overarching feeling of dread that Rick Prime will still win, and he comes to doing so. However, thanks to another deception by Evil Morty, Rick Prime is finally brought down. 

What follows next is among the darkest moments in the entire series, which is saying something. In very real, very visceral moment, Rick unleashes decades of pent-up fury at his counterpart. The show holds nothing back as we watch Rick seemingly beat Rick Prime to death with his bare hands, all while the latter taunts him for turning our Rick into a mirror image of himself. 

I was practically speechless as I watched this moment unfold. Like many fans, I assumed that catching Rick Prime would be a sort of epic endgame. If not for the series, then at least this season. To have it happen so suddenly halfway through the season, what should’ve been a cathartic moment felt…hollow. 

Which I think was the whole point the writers were going for. 

A Hollow Victory

Revenge stories are some of the most prevalent in fiction. From the Count of Monte Cristo to Sasuke’s quest to avenge the loss of his Clancy revenge stories are everywhere. A key thing that many of these stories point out about revenge, though, is how it’s not worth it. Characters devote themselves so much to the idea of avenging the wrongs done to them, they fail to consider what they’ll do afterwards. So when they finally get their revenge, it’s a hollow feeling with fleeting satisfaction. And as this episode shows, Rick finally got the revenge he wanted. However, it may not have been worth devoting his life to attaining.

The blank look on Rick’s face as the episode ends says it all. He’s a man who suddenly has no purpose in life, and no more excuses to justify his bad behavior. It’s telling that this mimics Morty’s own BSOD at the end of Rick Potion #9, the same music and everything. He great tragedy is that while Rick finally has the chance to move on, he doesn’t know what to do. Worse, by doing so, he’s given the keys to his own destruction to someone who isn’t him: Evil Morty.

Rick Prime wasn’t just hiding away, but building a weapon capable of erasing a person from every reality. He even kills a one-off character from season one to prove it. And after Rick Prime’s dealt with, Evil Morty takes the plans as insurance. If Rick ever comes after him, he’ll wipe out all Ricks everywhere. It’s like a nuclear deterrent, though, since Evil Morty knows that doing this would send the rest of the Smith Family after him. Thus, he leaves the sword of Damocles dangling over Rick’s head as he takes his leave.

The Rick and Morty We Wanted to See

Hands down, this was the best episode of the entire season, if not one of the best in the entire series. The fact that this happened in the middle of the season only makes it even more incredible. This is the kind of move that fans want to see out of Rick and Morty, the kind that keeps us on our toes. However, this does beg the question: what are they going to do now? I don’t have the slightest clue, but I’m curious to see what happens next. Considering how the shows tenth anniversary is a month away, hopefully it will be good. 

I Give “Unmortricken” a 5/5

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Rick and Morty S7 Ep 4 Review

Last year, Rick and Morty went through a series first with the episode “Analyze Piss.” That episode saw the initial antagonist, Pissmaster, kill himself after Jerry publicly beat him up. Adult Swim had to put up a disclaimer at the front warning people of what would happen, and it showed. The episode played it with so much dark drama, even Rick felt bad for him. I didn’t think that we were going to get another episode as heavy (or disgusting) as “Analyze Piss” for a while. However, Adult Swim proved me wrong. The show’s new episode “That’s Amorte” didn’t just double down on the subject. It upped the disgusting factor to the point where I might be able to eat a certain food for a while without thinking about this episode. It also happened to be, by a wide margin, the best episode of the season to date. And it all revolves around…spaghetti.

Do You Know Where Your Food Comes From?

The episode starts off deceptively cheerful, with the Smith-Sanchez family coming together to enjoy Rick’s “Spaghetti Thursday.” The spaghetti he serves is so delicious that it puts everyone in a good mood. However, in true Rick and Morty fashion, that joyful atmosphere’s shattered when Morty learns something horrible: Rick’s been getting the spaghetti from the bodies of dead people.

As Rick reveals, there’s a planet of aliens that look exactly like humans. The one difference is that when they commit suicide, their insides turn into the most delicious spaghetti ever made. The Smith family’s joy comes at the expense of someone else’s misery and death, and this planet doesn’t even realize it. They’ve never even heard of spaghetti. Horrified at this, Morty decides to tell the Spaghetti people the truth. 

On the surface, it seems like the morally right thing to do. However, Morty should know by now how easily this can backfire on everyone. There was the fiasco with the Snake Planet back in season four, and more recently, everything involving those solar knights. It runs counter to the lessons that Morty should’ve learned. In his defense, though, he just found out he’s committing cannibalism, so he’s understandably not thinking straight. 

Spoiler alert: his good intentions backfire, and this is where the episode gets interesting. 

Soylent Green and the Right to Die

Instead of being disgusted at this revelation, the leaders of Spaghetti Planet get an idea. They get people who, whether because they’re already dying or lost all hope, are willing to kill themselves and have them consent to having their remains turned into spaghetti. It works, too; the spaghetti’s as delicious as ever, as Morty finds out.

The right to die and the choice to end one’s life are things with major moral and ethical concerns surrounding them. If someone’s suffering from a terminal illness and they know they’ll die from it, do they have the right to end their own life rather than die a slow and painful death? And what about people so driven to despair that they choose to commit suicide? We should strive to help people in the latter case, but what about the former? Rick and Morty doesn’t have the answer, but it does use it to make people think.

Unfortunately, when their new export proves more popular than they can make, the Spaghetti Planet takes things too far. As Rick and Morty discover, their leaders deliberately turned their planet into a miserable dystopia to encourage people to kill themselves. In a grim nod to its infamy as a place of suicide, the alien equivalent of the Golden Gate Bridge has its safety nets replaced with sieves. 

No, I’m being serious. The Golden Gate Bridge is the most used suicide site in the world. Look it up!

Unfortunately, Morty’s attempts to come up with a moral alternative to this issue backfire, and with the secret out, aliens go around and verbally encourage the Spaghetti People to commit suicide. It’s disturbing, yet, at the same time, morbidly funny. 

As usual, though, it’s Rick who ends up solving everything by reminding the universe of one, key thing. And this is where the episode truly shines.

We Shouldn’t Cheapen the Value of Lives Ended

Rick knew that as long as people wanted that spaghetti, the cycle would never end. However, he, in his own messed up way, also knew that these weren’t just products waiting to be sold, but real people with their own stories. Thus, he finds a terminally ill man who’s willing to end his life if it will end the spaghetti trade, and he broadcasts his entire life for the universe to watch. They see this man’s entire life story, all its ups and downs, from start to finish as his life comes to a peaceful end. And then…they puke. 

What Rick did was a brilliant way to resolve the episode’s conflict. When people go to slaughterhouses and look in the eyes of the animals that die for them to eat, they can feel immense guilt and even swear off eating meat altogether. It’s easy to enjoy something when you don’t know the cost of what goes into it, and thanks to Rick, everyone finds the spaghetti to be in poor taste. In other words, ignorance is bliss. 

This is such a great way to end the episode. It warns people that sometimes, not knowing how something’s made is better than knowing. More than that, though, it serves as a poignant reminder of why the topic of suicide should be discussed more. Whether it’s about a person’s right to end their own life or what we can do to help those who feel the need to end it out of despair, this should be talked about more. And while Rick and Morty does use it for its messed-up sense of humor, it also cares enough to warn people of what’s being shown, and how we can help those suffering. 

Finally, a Good Rick and Morty Episode

By a wide margin, this was the best episode of the season thus far. This is what I want out of Rick and Morty! Now they need to keep that momentum going for the rest of the season. And to think all of this happened because of spaghetti.

I don’t think I can eat spaghetti for a few weeks without thinking about this episode…and I love that.

I Give “That’s Amorte” a 5/5

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Rick and Morty S7 Ep 3 Review

Rick and Morty is now three episodes into its seventh season, and the drop in quality is becoming more and more noticeable. Moving to the post-Justin Roiland era seems to be taking its toll on the show, even if the new voice actor’s seem to be giving it their all. The most glaring issue is the fact that Morty’s barely done anything thus far, with the first few episodes focusing on Rick with other characters. While this could be an attempt by the show to change up the formula by pairing Rick with other people, there are limits to how far this can go. Case in point, this week’s episode focuses on two adults that Rick has important, somewhat dysfunctional, relationships with: President Curtis, and his therapist, Dr. Wong. 

Also, Unity the hive mind from season two comes back.

After getting called into deal with yet another one of President Curtis’ problems, Rick has to deal with an even bigger matter at hand: the President wants to date his therapist. Understandably, Rick feels this is a step too far and tries to prevent that. Things get out of hand, though, when the President uses the state of Virginia achieving utopia as an excuse to get Dr. Wong involved. Which proves to be a mistake when it’s revealed that the utopia is the result of Rick’s ex, the hive mind Unity. 

Is Unity an Unnecessary Appearance?

Despite ghosting him all the way back in the second season, Unity came to Earth because she heard he resumed his hunt for Rick Prime. Being Rick, he brushes off her genuine attempts to reach out to him because he’s hurt and doesn’t want to be hurt again. However, it feels a little less than necessary. They could’ve included any character from Rick’s past and gotten the same denial of help from him.

Then again, had it been anyone else, then the episode wouldn’t have been able to work when President Curtis hijacks the Virginians in Unity’s hive mind. 

Over the course of the series, the love/hate relationship between Rick and President Curtis has become a major part of the show’s story. Both are men with unlimited resources, incredibly stubborn, and have a hard time admitting their shortcomings. In this case, when Curtis tries to hit on Wong and she bails due to seeing him for the man-child he is, he doesn’t take it well. Tired of no one liking him, he uses Unity’s hive mind to make everyone like him, forcing Rick and Unity to intervene. None of this does any good at impressing Dr. Wong, though, who remains as unflappable as ever.

A Concerning Decline in Quality?

To be perfectly honest, this episode wasn’t that good, which is concerning, since we’re now well into the season. Morty wasn’t involved once again, and having Rick and President Curtis fight again seems a bit tired at this point. The one good thing about this episode is that it shows why Dr. Wong is the Smith Family’s therapist. Even when faced with an end-of-the-world scenario, she maintains a calm, monotone manner of speaking. More importantly, she manages to talk Unity into helping Rick by pointing out something that almost no one else notices: Rick is changing for the better. It’s at a snail’s pace, but he’s doing it. 

That said, I don’t think Dr. Wong is cut out to get more involved in Rick’s adventures, by virtue of her job. The moment she becomes involved in Rick’s life in a non-professional manner, she loses her agency as one of the few people Rick listens to. At least she managed to get the President to admit he needs therapy, though.

I Give “Air Force Wong” a 2.5/5

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Rick and Morty S7 Ep 2 Review

Rick Sanchez and Jerry Smith couldn’t be greater polar opposites even if they tried. Rick’s a super-genius who can travel the multiverse at his leisure. Jerry’s the average Joe that married his daughter and represents the mediocrity that Rick despises. Yet as the show’s proven over the years, when they’re put into situations together, they mesh well. Jerry keeps Rick grounded, and Rick helps Jerry man up more than he would otherwise. It’s a genuinely fun dynamic to watch, and their last adventure at the fortune cookie company was a highlight of Season 6. The people writing Rick and Morty seem to enjoy making Rick and Jerry episodes, because this week’s sees them get closer than ever in a Freaky Friday-esque scenario. Now, they’re Burger and Fries!

Burger and Fries are Born

The episode starts off with how Rick and Jerry’s interactions usually begin. Jerry asks for help with the mundane problem of Gene stealing his rake, and Rick gives him the bare minimum of attention. However, when Jerry says that he’d do way more with himself if he had Rick’s smarts, Rick gets offended. Wanting to show him how being smart wouldn’t change Jerry from being Jerry, Rick comes up with a solution that parallels the Freaky Friday scenario. 

In the years since it was published, plenty of works of fiction have come up with some version of the Freaky Friday story. I even reviewed one in an episode of The Owl House on this blog. It’s a fun way to demonstrate how two characters would react to the situations in each other’s lives, and often fumble at it. However, the story goes out of its way to explain how this one differs. They’re only swapping their minds, memories and personalities, while their inherent intellect and brains stay the same. Or, as Rick puts it, they’re keeping the hardware. Their dare quickly goes off the rails, though, when both get hurt and Rick’s garage AI has to combine their brains. 

What results from this are two people who aren’t wholly Rick or Jerry. Instead, each of them has various aspects of both Rick and Jerry, and not only do they get along well, they end up becoming best friends. They also take to calling themselves “Burger and Fries” to show they’re now their own people. 

A Unique Take on the Freaky Friday Story

This is a very creative take on the usual Freaky Friday story, even if Rick says it’s not like Freaky Friday. Instead of gaining a better perspective on each other, viewers are shown what Rick and Jerry would be like if they weren’t always at odds as much as they are. It’s a compelling idea, and one that’s been touched upon at various points throughout the series. A major part of me wanted things to stay like this. Even if Burger and Fries wouldn’t last past the end of the episode, having their friendship remain would’ve been interesting. Alas, it was not meant to be, as when Burger and Fries fuse into a single entity called “Jerricky” to save the family from mobsters, the writing’s on the wall. Before the episode’s out, their true personalities resurface thanks to the rake that Gene did steal hitting them on the head. 

No, really. That’s how they get Rick and Jerry out from beneath Jerricky. I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be a funny way of doing it, but it seems like a lazy deus ex machina. That makes two episodes now where Rick and Morty has seemingly dropped the ball.

An Average, if Safe, Episode

The episode did have some redeeming features beyond the short-lived Burger and Fries, though. The whole mess started when Morty gets caught selling crystals in the Underworld. The sight of Morty acting unfazed as the mobsters try desperately to please him shows how experienced he’s become. He knows he can get out of that mess, or his Grandpa will do so, and acts like a badass. Seeing him not caring in this image makes it all worth it.

Plus, the stinger also reveals that Memory Rick still exists, albeit now he’s stuck inside Jerry’s head. Maybe more will come out of that down the road. As far as episodes go, though, this was pretty average. 

In other news, this episode doesn’t make it clearer if the new guys voice Rick and Morty or this is just Justin’s old lines. If it’s the former, then they’ve completely mastered their new roles.

I Give “Jerrick Trap” a 3/5

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