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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 6 Review

Where do Rick and Morty go after resolving one of their biggest plot threads? That’s the question that fans spent the last week trying to answer, with little success. The season’s midway point not only saw the unexpected return of Evil Morty, but ended in the apparent death of Rick’s nemesis, Rick Prime. This, naturally, left many fans scratching their heads. What would the rest of the season be about? Would it have an overarching plot of Rick finding a new purpose for living? Would the follow-up episode have Morty drag Rick out of his funk? Not exactly. Instead, the follow-up episode is a clip show…that parodies clip shows and why no one likes them anymore.

Another Clip Show

After what feels like weeks of Rick dealing with the existential crisis thanks to Rick Prime’s death, Morty takes action. He cashes in all of his Morty Adventure cards to force Rick to get off his butt, and Rick doesn’t buy that they’re real. So, to resolve the issue, Rick calls in a cosmic Observer, who looks like a rock and can see everything at once. It’s a not-so-subtle nod at people who watch the show. Rick has the Observer audit Morty’s claimed adventures and…it becomes a clip show. The entirety of the episode becomes a clip show.

Clip shows are one of the most hated tropes in television, and for good reason. They used to be a way to catch people up on events in a show before reruns and syndication existed. Now people see them as a way for a show to save money while doing an episode. These days, it’s more common to see shows parodies of the concept by including events that viewers never saw, or from a perspective that isn’t accurate. In the past, Rick and Morty did clip shows, like Interdimensional Cable and Morty’s Mind Blowers. Those episodes were well-recieved by fans. However, all it does is elicit groans; which seems like the point. 

No One Likes a Bad Clip Show

It doesn’t take long for the Observer to overstay his welcome as he continues to play unflattering clips of not just Rick and Morty, but the entire Smith Family. Then things escalate when the Observer dies and his people arrest Rick and Morty for murder and/or manslaughter. This also marks the only time in the episode where an actual clip from an old episode gets used. 

At this point, though, I’m sad to say that the episode had almost lost me. I normally don’t mind clip shows. Some of the best episodes of Rick and Morty have been a clip show. However, to have this come on the heels of the mind-blowing events of last week, it doesn’t feel that interesting. In the show’s defense, though, the clip show thing does serve its purpose. It lights a fire in Rick, and he gets them out of this mess in the most Rick way possible: he uses their powers to drag them down to his level. Because one thing that Rick loves doing is ensuring no one has the moral high ground. Once the Observers start fighting each other, Rick and Morty are free to escape and go on more adventures.

This Episode Was Mid

I’ll be honest: this might be the weakest episode of the season yet. I don’t get too bothered by clip shows, but doing it right after the mind-blower that was episode 5? I would’ve preferred to have the rest of the season deal with the fallout and have Rick rebuild himself. Instead, we got a clip show that I forgot about almost as soon as I turned the TV off. Except for the jab at their Space Jam 2 Cameo. They didn’t like that.

It’s not a total loss for Rick and Morty, though. Today, the popular YouTube series DEATH BATTLE has Rick Sanchez fight against The Doctor from Doctor Who. Check out the video down below.

And check out my reaction to it. With the 10th birthday of Rick and Morty coming on December 3rd and the 60th birthday of Doctor Who this Thursday (happy Thanksgiving), the timing’s perfect!

I Give “Rickfending Your Mort” a 2/5

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Rick and Morty S7, Ep 1 Review

It’s only been a year since the last season of Rick and Morty, but it might as well have been an eternity. In January 2023, Justin Roiland’s reputation imploded overnight when reports came out about him being a perverted jerk. Adult Swim and Hulu cut ties with him, and, for a time, the future of Rick and Morty and Solar Opposites remained in doubt. Solar Opposites moved on without any problems, replacing Justin’s role as Korvo with someone else. Who would voice Rick and Morty, though? Adult Swim said that they spent months going through thousands of auditions, but otherwise, they remained tight-lipped about the recast. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that fans got a first taste of the people (yes, two people) who would be the new voices of Rick and Morty. Even after the final season trailer dropped, they still wouldn’t reveal the names of Rick and Morty’s new VA’s, keeping it a secret until the night of the premiere.

The question on everyone’s mind going into the new season is how the new Rick and Morty would do. While it’s too soon to call it, after watching the season premiere, Rick and Morty might be in good hands. Unfortunately, the episode itself wasn’t as good as other season premieres have been in the past. 

Mr. Poopybutthole Gets a Grip on Life

The premise around the season premiere, whose title doesn’t include a variation of Rick or Morty’s name in it, is simple. Mr. Poopybutthole, the Smith-Sanchez family’s longtime friend that Beth shot, has hit rock bottom. He’s lost his job, his wife left him and took their kid, and now he’s freeloading Smith family’s goodwill and getting drunk. Since Rick’s the only one refusing to do anything about it, the family dumps the responsibility of intervening onto him. In typical Rick fashion, he decides to half-ass it by getting together his friends (Birdperson, Squanchy, Gearhead) and Gene from next door, and they all go out on a drinking bender. Then, to make things even crazier, Hugh Jackman (played by himself) shows up and puts it in Poopybutthole’s head that he should try and win his wife back. Chaos ensues as Rick, of all people, ends up being the one serving as the voice of reason.

To get to the main point, this wasn’t a good episode of Rick and Morty. It lacked the importance of last year’s premiere, which changed up the status quo as much as one can in this show. It isn’t even in the same league as the all-time great, “The Rickshank Redemption.” As fun as Mr. Poopybutthole can be as a character, he’s the kind best used sparingly. He’s been at his best when he’s commenting at the end of every season and the like. This didn’t use him to his full potential, and the episode suffered for it.

In addition, the episode ignores concepts that fans would’ve found way more interesting. This was the first time Squanchy appeared since the ill-fated wedding. Learning how he survived the Federation attack would’ve been interesting. We now see Birdperson’s daughter is going through an emo phase that he barely knows how to deal with. Why not focus on that? The show feels like it dropped the ball on a lot of things here, even there were a few good jokes.

The most egregious sin, though, is that it barely used Morty, denying us the chance to hear his new VA’s chops.

Meet Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden, the new Rick and Morty

The real draw of the entire episode, though, is something fans have wanted to know since Justin got fired: who’s voicing Rick and Morty now? We finally got our answer, and the best part is that they’re completely unknown.

Say hello to Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden, the new voices of Rick and Morty, respectively. Both of them are relative nobodies in the entertainment industry. Right after the first episode premiered, I went on Instagram and checked out Ian’s profile. It only cleared a hundred followers after I followed him. In other words, these guys have just been given the chance of a lifetime. If they play their cards right, this could send their careers into the stratosphere. 

While Harry didn’t get much of a chance to show off his work as Morty, Ian Cardoni did, and he excelled. You could barely tell that someone other than Justin Roiland was voicing him! He’s got my approval as a fan.

So, we’re now in the post-Justin era of Rick and Morty. The first episode wasn’t good, but at least we know the new Rick can hold his own. 

I Give “How Poopy Got his Poop Back” a 2/5

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