RJ Writing Ink

Rick and Morty S8 Ep 10 Review

When it comes to Rick and Morty, it can be hard to predict how an episode will turn out. The previews are often made to be vague or misleading to keep audiences unsure how things will go (or at least me.) For the season eight finale of Rick and Morty, though, not only was I able to figure out what was going on pretty quickly, but it also led to another emotional moment for the series. In this case, Rick manages to find some sort of closure about the loss of his beloved wife, Diane.

Memory Rick is Back!

If the preview for the finale didn’t make it obvious, someone has been monkeying with Jerry’s memories, and it doesn’t take long for anyone to figure out who it is. The culprit is none other than Memory Rick, the sentient memory of Rick Sanchez created from Birdperson’s memories. He hitched a ride into Rick’s mind, but wound up in Jerry’s when they got scrambled together. Since then, he’s been re-writing Jerry’s memories in an effort to live the family life that Rick never got…until Rick pulls him out and traps him in a mind prison as punishment. Memory or not, though, Rick is still Rick, and Memory Rick is determined to get out.

Meanwhile, our Rick is inspired by the incident to become more emotionally open, and the only way to do that is let go of the memory of his late wife, Diane. So he literally extracts the memory and puts it into another mind prison, allowing him to open up to others. That leads to its own difficulties, though, as he winds up fighting a bug prince in a gladiator fight.

What matters more, though, is how even after avenging his wife and original Beth and trying to move on, Rick is still unable to let go of Diane. What makes it even darker, though, is how Rick reveals that he can’t even fully recall what Diane was like anymore. Not because it’s been so long, but because the device Rick Prime used to erase all Dianes messed with his memories of her. Rick is loving a shadow at this point, and he can’t even let go of that.

Rick’s Biggest Flaw: He Can’t Let Go

This inability to let go is on full display with Memory Rick. Being a younger version of Rick, he comes up with a plan to reunite with Memory Diane. Unfortunately, his plan involves hijacking Beth’s memories and mentally training her to mount a rescue mission. It works, but it has disastrous consequences: Space Beth almost dies!

When I saw Beth snap her twin’s neck, I was speechless. Throughout the commercial break, I was convinced Space Beth might be permanently dead! Thankfully she wasn’t, but it only gets worse from there. Beth proceeds to have a mental breakdown as the memory versions of her rebel and try to kill Memory Rick and Diane. Because of Rick’s inability to let go, it almost gets his daughter killed. Thankfully, he’s able to reset her mind just in time.

Another Season Wrapped Up

Ultimately, the episode ends with Rick letting everyone believe that he got rid of Memory Rick and Diane for good. In reality, he didn’t; he gave them a new mindscape for them to live in for all eternity and set them free into deep space. So while he may not get his happy ending with Diane, there’s at least one version of him that does. The sad thing is, he plans to wipe his memory of the entire thing, meaning he won’t learn anything.

I had a feeling that the season finale of Rick and Morty was going to be an emotional one, and it turns out I was right. It’s not as shocking as some previous finales, but that doesn’t change the fact that it advanced Rick’s story a little. That, and we saw the return of Mr. Poopybutthole. It was a good finale, overall, for a season that feels more laid-back than the show’s been in recent years.

I Give “Hot Rick” a 4/5

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Rick and Morty S8 Ep 9 Review

So back during the first season of Rick and Morty, Morty talked Rick into buying him a sexbot as a gift, because…Morty’s a teenage boy. Except it turned out to be an alien robot created by a race of women to help them reproduce with the hyper-violent males of their species. It wound up creating a half-alien son that Morty named Morty Jr who grew up to hate his dad so much that he wrote a best-selling novel about it. It was something so weird and out of the ordinary, even by the show’s standards, that it’s never come up again…until now. The penultimate episode of this season opts for a deep callback with the return of Morty Jr.

Morty Jr is Back

The episode starts off with Morty getting a call from his now-elderly son from the hospital. Naturally, Morty assumes that Jr is dying and, wanting to make amends, decides to pay him a visit. This is much to the protests of his family, who all vocally agree that Morty Junior sucks. The funniest part is the fact that Jerry is the most vocal about his disapproval, due to him writing a book trashing Morty. Not because it wasn’t true, but because it made him and Beth look like bad parents.

I don’t have kids yet myself, but I’m old enough to understand that parents are never going to be perfect. Even the ones that are genuinely trying to be good parents are going to screw up, but won’t want to admit it. So I found Jerry’s complaining about Junior to be funny, especially later in the episode, as it’s revealed that his assessment of Morty’s son was accurate.

Morty Junior. Just as Bad as his Old Man

Morty Junior reached out to his dad because he wanted to find closure with his “mom,” who Morty had long since thrown away. So the two jump into the pocket dimension Rick created to hold all his trash, and wind up getting trapped there. Then, it’s revealed that Morty Junior was never dying. He just wanted more material for another book about Morty because his others didn’t sell well and he has child support payments! He just let Morty assume he was dying and never corrected him!

I have to admit, I went into this episode with every expectation that Morty Junior would die by the end. However, the reveal that he was just as bad and irresponsible as Morty was way funnier! And even though they do end up bonding, the ending shows that they haven’t really learned anything. Morty bails the second Rick gets home, while Morty Junior writes that sequel bashing him. Nothing was learned, and sometimes that’s the funniest outcome!

To be honest, though, I was more interested in the B-plot with the Rick and Summer adventure.

A fun Rick and Summer Adventure

So, Summer gets reservations for her and Rick at this high-class alien restaurant. Their gimmick is that the chefs are pre-cogs who know what customers want before they do. Except they wind up giving Summer avocado toast. Incensed, Summer insists on complaining to the Cogs, only for things to escalate when she kidnaps them. And what’s worse is that, despite saying that she shouldn’t get involved, Rick does just that!

Rick and Summer are among my favorite pairings throughout the show’s run, and for good reason. While Morty has grown into being Rick’s partner and equal in adventuring, Summer arguably did that first. She’s more confident, self-assured, and more ready to stand up to her grandpa and call him out on his BS…most of the time. But it was nice to see the two have another adventure. Especially since this turned out to be a plot by the Cogs to start their own food truck due to being burnt out from the restaurant thing. I don’t know why, but it reminded me of the backstory behind The Menu.

There’s only one episode left in this season of Rick and Morty, and I doubt I will remember this adventure with Morty Junior for long. But I don’t have to; it was just a fun callback to the early days of the series.

I Give “Morty Daddy” a 3/5

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Rick and Morty S8 Ep 8 Review

The Citadel of Ricks might be gone, but the concept of multiversal variants of the Smith-Sanchez family interacting lives on. I’ve actually been wanting to see different versions of the family follow in Rick’s footsteps and build their own organizations and alliances. Imagine my surprise when this season’s eighth episode not only granted my wish, but it did it with the main cast’s most normal character: Jerry Smith. This entire episode is a Jerry episode, and I loved it!

Jerry and…Another Jerry

The episode seemingly starts off on a normal morning in the Smith-Sanchez home. Everyone’s going about their day while Jerry’s eating some cereal. The only difference is that he has some stubble, but that could be chalked up to him not shaving yet. As the teaser reveals, though, this isn’t our Jerry.

After cornering this other Jerry, our Jerry learns that this variant of himself, nicknamed “Mooch,” is a Jerry who left his home dimension to travel the multiverse. As it turns out, other Jerries have learned how to use cracks and ratlines that they’ve dubbed “The Road” to travel across the multiverse. Since Jerry is usually beneath notice, their families have remained none the wiser! And at the encouragement of Mooch, Jerry decides to join him on The Road for a while.

Jerry on the Road

It wasn’t until I read a review on Bubbleblabber that I realized that this was the third episode of the season that didn’t focus on our main Rick and Morty. Instead, it focused on the supporting cast; in this case, Jerry, a character that wasn’t even present until the season’s fourth episode. As a result, this episode feels like a culmination of what Jerry’s capable of doing because he can fly under the radar.

His counterparts have figured out their own clever way of traveling the multiverse without attracting Rick’s attention, and his family remains none the wiser. It gets to the point where Jerry’s like Mooch opt to never return home, choosing to live a life on The Road. There’s always been a bit of romanticism about living life as a wanderer, and this episode feels like an attempt to tap into that. In the end, though, Jerry is still Jerry, and that means the universe is going to throw him a curveball.

After missing their main stop back, Jerry and Mooch have to travel to Grand Central, a dimension that acts as a hub for Jerries traveling on The Road. Unfortunately, our Jerry, emboldened by his experiences, mouths off to Boss Jerry, and he blacklists them from The Road altogether. Then to top it off, Jerry reveals the reason why he’s living on The Road: he got lost and by the time he got back, he thought his family hadn’t noticed or cared. His Beth had even remarried some random guy from the Jerryboree Day-Care!

Jerry Might be the Best Jerry

This is where our Jerry steps up and starts to show his character growth, calling Mooch out for being a spineless wuss. His experiences since joining his current Smith family have helped him grow a spine. Case in point, he forces Mooch to return home and reconcile with his family, who, as it turns out, had been worried about him. As an aside, the reveal that everyone in Mooch’s home dimension has five o’clock shadow was funny.

In the end, Jerry and Mooch make it back to Grand Central and lead Boss Jerry and his flunkies on a chase across The Road that ends with Boss Jerry either dead or trapped between dimensions. Mooch seems ready to return to his family while The Road is now free for all Jerries, and Jerry returns to his family. And much like with Mooch, the Smith-Sanchez family was worried about him, showing how they truly value him.

However, it looks like Rick now knows about The Road, but likely won’t do anything about it. And we got to see more of the show’s potential to use the multiverse for having characters interact with each other. And Jerry got to see who he could’ve been like if he hadn’t gotten his character growth. I guess him and Beth getting divorced for a while was the best thing that could’ve happened to him.

I Give “Nomortland” a 4/5

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Rick and Morty S8 Ep 7 Review

Sometimes, the stars just seem to align for a TV show, enabling it to be incredibly relevant to current events. South Park is notorious for covering events as recent as the last few days thanks to its six-day turnaround, but they’re not the only ones to do that. With James Gunn’s Superman film set to release later this week (I have my tickets), the world is focused on the return of the Man of Steel. So what does Rick and Morty do? They have a laugh at the expense of the Gunn, AI scripts, and toxic fans all at once.

It’s no secret that Rick Sanchez can be a pretty toxic person, but now we can say that toxicity extends to being a fan of long-running franchises. After hating the latest entry in the fictional Velocitree film franchise, Rick gets so mad he decides to take matters up with the director, James Gunn himself. Then, because he thinks he can do better, he swipes the script for the next film so he can do things his way. That way, of course, involving him building a machine that can help him come up with the perfect film. This inevitably backfires on him when he and Morty get sucked into the film before they come up with an ending, forcing them to take part in the film itself.

AI, TOXIC FANS, and A Gunn, Oh My!

There is a lot about this episode that makes it incredibly relevant to the times that we are living in, and thus making it brilliant. Firstly, there’s how the episode represents the fans of long-running franchises. On the one hand, we have Jerry, the casual fan who will enjoy whatever is put in front of him. On the other hand, we have Rick and Morty representing the long-term fans who have been with a franchise for years, even decades. These days, more and more hardcore fans of franchises like Star Wars and the MCU are growing disillusioned with the way the IPs are being run. They can’t stand to see that which they love be turned into something they hate. This isn’t a recent phenomenon either. When the Star Wars Prequels released, the OG fans hated them, especially for characters such as Jar Jar. In this case, the Velocitree has their own Jar Jar in the form of the comic relief robo-tree Tannebaum, who Rick initially despises.

Secondly, there is the way the episode addresses the toxic fans themselves. Many fans are like Rick: when they see their favorite franchise in the toilet, they think that they can do better. I myself have often wondered if I could’ve done the Star Wars Sequels better than what Abrams and Johnson did. However, the events of the episode force Rick to acknowledge that just because you think you can do better doesn’t mean you can do better. His and Morty’s attempts to get the film back on track only make things worse, and by the time they hit the climax, they’ve got both heroes and villains out to get them. The only reason they manage to make it out at all is because they have to rely on Jerry’s help. Rick had previously disparaged Jerry for not being “a real fan,” and thinking he’d do a terrible job. Yet for all his talk, it’s Jerry’s slapped-together ideas that bring the film to a successful conclusion.

Lastly, there is the fact that this episode makes a jab at the concept of AI-scripts. AI like ChatGPT has gone mainstream lately, and people think that by using it, they can become great writers. As this episode proves, though, AI writing isn’t going to be any better than what humans come up with. If you want my opinion, the best option we’ve got is to find a way to work in tandem with AI rather than let it do everything for us. Otherwise, storytellers like James Gunn will be out of a job.

James Gunn Played Himself!

Speaking of James Gunn, this episode is especially noteworthy for the two guest appearances: James Gunn and Zach Snyder. The staff of Rick and Morty managed to talk both directors into guest-starring as themselves in the episodes. Granted, Snyder’s only in one scene that has him poke fun at the differences between his version of Superman and Gunn’s, but it’s all in good humor. Gunn, on the other hand, winds up serving as the overarching villain of the episode, as he doesn’t want Rick and Morty to succeed, since that will put him out of a job. Yet, in the end, they managed to do just that, though Gunn thinks he got the last laugh by getting the completed script. Unfortunately, it just puts him out of a job…and out of life.

I’ve been a big fan of James Gunn since the original Guardians of the Galaxy, and I think that his decision to reboot the DC films is a good one. So much so that I’ve already bought my tickets to see Superman later this week. Needless to say, I think the timing on this episode couldn’t have been better. Here’s hoping that when I get back, I will have something worthwhile to write about, as well as a cool popcorn bucket to sell.

I Give “Ricker than Fiction” a 4/5

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Rick and Morty Season 8, Ep 6 Review

Back in the season three episode, “The ABCs of Beth” we learned from Rick that when she was a kid, Beth was kind of nuts. Besides leaving her friend in the imaginary world her dad made for her, she apparently had a penchant for violence and a desire to hurt people. Since we’ve never met a kid version of Beth, we had to take Rick’s word for it…until now. Not only do we seethe Beths become kids again, but they’re every bit as psycho as Rick claims.

At least, most versions of Beth were like that. We don’t know what Rick’s original Beth was like.

Beths Become Kids Again

The Smith family is going on a day trip to this alien-made amusement park that Rick claims is a hilariously bad version of Earth. However, Beth and Space Beth are in too foul a mood to want to go and stay behind. That leads them to discussing when they were last genuinely happy, and that leads them both to turn themselves back into kids using a device on Space Beth’s ship. Unfortunately, the device also reverts them mentally as well as physically. As a result, both Beths become psychotic, bloodthirsty kids who terrorize anyone they come across, like their neighbor, Gene.

I’m a kid at heart myself, so I understand the appeal of wanting to return to being a child. After all, life was simpler when most of us were kids; ergo, it was happier. However, I’m also smart enough to understand that nostalgia has a tendency to blind us to what the past was really like. I loved being a kid, but that also meant dealing with my growing body, going to school every weekday, and the stress of homework. In Beth’s case, we see that Rick was not exaggerating when he said his daughter was nuts as a kid. Rick’s aren’t always the best dads, but at least they had the common sense to make sure their daughter couldn’t hurt anyone…most of the time.

Aww, Rick Really Does Love Beth!

Meanwhile, Rick is also dealing with his nostalgia crisis when he discovers that the theme park he loved, Earth World, has become cleaner and more gentrified. It’s more like how Earth is, at least in America, and it irritates him to no end. He’s the kind of person who thinks a park of inaccurate rides and rusty nails everywhere is hilarious. That leads him to seek out the park’s creator, voiced by Danny DeVito, which leads him to what’s left of the original park. In keeping with the warning about nostalgia filters, it’s not as cool as Rick remembers, and he opts to bail on it to fix the crisis the Beths have started. They end up turning the tables on him, though, and age him up to 360 years old! Those implants of his mean he’s going to live for a long time.

As messed up as the entire thing is, it does lead to a heartfelt moment between Rick and his daughters. The Beths vent their anger at how they were abandoned by Rick (their Rick), and Rick admits he’s proud of both his daughters. It’s another small example of how their relationship has become healthier as the series has progressed, and it’s nice to see.

Another Disastrous Theme Park

Meanwhile, things go downhill for the rest of the Smiths. Morty almost gets it on with an alien, only to realize she’s only into him because he’s human. Summer and Jerry discover that the park owner is insane and sics its mascots (humans with giant heads) on the park to kill everyone. Why? Because that’s what happens in movies involving amusement parks. The trio are barely able to escape with their lives, and in the end, they all agree that the place sucked.

This was a fun episode of Rick and Morty. It’s not one of its better episodes, but it was still entertaining enough to watch. Plus, I really liked how it satirized all those horrible amusement parks we see in movies. The fact that it overtly references Jurassic Park is funny.

“The Curicksous Case of Bethjamin Button” a 3.5/5

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Rick and Morty Season 8 Ep 5 Review

Sometimes, the best episodes of a show with serialized storytelling are the one-off ones. The silly ones where nothing of real consequence happens and viewers can enjoy the ride. Granted, this is still Rick and Morty, so whatever they do has consequences; if not for them, then for someone else. In this case, those consequences are felt by the residents of a cryoship they find, leading to a wacky class war that turns into Wacky Races in space!

Oh, and Rick experiences what it’s like to have loving parents, broh.

Rick and Morty Wake up a Cryoship…

While Rick and Morty are cruising through space one day, they stumble across a cryoship, full of sleeping refugees fleeing their destroyed world. The two proceed to get into an argument, with Rick wanting to rob them blind while Morty wants to take the high road. Naturally, this leads to the ship waking everyone from cryostasis. Rather than run for it, Rick doubles down by having them posed as two (apparently) dead passengers. Rick gets mistaken for the son of two wealthy passengers, while Morty is stuck on the lower decks doing cleaning work. Chaos ensues as both wind up in positions of power on opposite sides.

#RickAndMorty pic.twitter.com/weNdxhWPmf

— Badgerclops 3.0 Deluxe Edition (@beeclops2) June 23, 2025

At first glance, the episode makes it seem like the plot will be about Rick and Morty coming into conflict with each other. Morty leads the lower class known as the “Makeys” while Rick throws his lot in with the elites, AKA the “Takeys.” However, it doesn’t take long for the episode to subvert this expectation. Morty quickly realizes that he’s in over his head, but it’s too late to call the workers’ revolution. Meanwhile, despite deceiving the couple, Karen and Doug, he genuinely grows to care about them for the love and pride they give their “son.” It’s been hinted that Rick never had the best relationship with his parents, so this experience is something he enjoys. Sadly, the episode makes any epiphany or lesson learned a moot point halfway through the episode, as its revealed that the vault is empty.

…And it Turns into Wacky Races in Space

Plot-twist time: it turns out that the two passengers on the cryoship that Rick and Morty were posing as, Jimmy and Chachaco, weren’t dead. Not only were they alive, but they had already robbed the vault of all its resources and bailed. And Jimmy put a dead monkey skeleton in his pod to fool his parents because he thought it would be funny. What a little brat!

From then on, the entire episode shifts gears, going from being a class war on a cryoship to what can only be described as Wacky Races in Space. Everyone starts racing for the treasure in this increasingly silly sequence that people will either find hilarious or incredibly stupid. The show itself even lampshades how nonsensical the situation is, and I dont blame it. Rick and Morty even fly through a space coop, and Rick rolls down the windows to have the full experience. That should have killed them in the process!!

#RickAndMorty pic.twitter.com/pAKjZNVnET

— Badgerclops 3.0 Deluxe Edition (@beeclops2) June 23, 2025

In the end, though, Morty decides enough is enough and shoots the treasure out into deep space. In true Rick and Morty fashion, though, people keep fighting over the loot in space suits. But at some point, everyone decides to call it quits and go back into cryostasis. Rick helps Karen and Doug wrangle their bratty son, and installs compliance chips that will force everyone to get along. No one ends up walking away with anything, and it seems like Rick doesn’t learn his lesson, as he opts to go after a medical cryoship minutes later. And Morty? All he does is ask Rick to share the drugs.

What a Silly Episode

This was a very silly and pointless episode of Rick and Morty with no impact on the series as a whole. However, I find that it is often the one-off episodes of a show that I end up going back to rewatch the most. And given how silly the wacky race was, I think that this qualifies for the occasional rewatch. It’s not as strong as the last episode, but they’re not all going to be winners.

S8E6 promo!
WE'RE GOING TO EARTH WORLD!#RickAndMorty pic.twitter.com/0Ye7Xm40Hm

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I Give “Cryo Mort a Rickver” a 3/5

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Rick and Morty S8 EP 4 Review

For a show mainly focused on sci-fi adventures, Rick and Morty manages to have a lot of holiday episodes. The Christmas episodes can be some of the best in the entire series, and the Thanksgiving episode was insane. When the first teaser for Season 8 revealed that we’d be getting an Easter episode, though, I’ll admit I was skeptical. How could a special about Easter end up being as crazy as what fans have come to expect? As it turns out, all it took was Jerry, a few movie references, and the not-so-wholesome origins behind Easter icons like the bunny and eggs.

Easter Ruined by Jerry

It all starts a few days before Easter Sunday, and while Jerry is wholeheartedly embracing the holiday, his family couldn’t care less. Until Jerry accidentally runs over and, apparently, kills the Easter Bunny. This curses him to transform into a were-rabbit in a plot straight out of The Santa Clause, forcing Rick and Morty to go in search of a cure. In doing so, they uncover the true meaning of Easter: it’s a war between aliens.

Someone on the Rick and Morty team must have thought it would’ve been funny to satirize the entirety of Easter, because this episode doesn’t hold anything back. The opening has Jerry acting like Easter is Christmas, complete with hanging up decorations and singing a retooled version of “Deck the Halls.” At first, it looks like he’s just being overly into the holiday, the show wastes no time in having his family call him out for his love being based on shallow commercialism. The fact that he can’t even name what day Easter is only cements this. That’s a big jab at how capitalism has turned the holiday into one less about Christ or pre-Christian traditions, and more about selling candy. The show’s not wrong, either. Unless you’re a kid looking forward to the candy and eggs, or are actively religious, most people have no reason to care about Easter.

The satirization goes even further, though, as the main plot of the episode tackles the opposing aspects of the holiday. And it does it through aliens.

Easter Ruined by Aliens

Like several other major holidays, Easter started as a pre-Christian celebration. In this case, it celebrated the arrival of spring, with the rabbit and eggs serving as symbols of fertility and renewal. Christianity co-opted it like it did with Christmas and made it into a more wholesome holiday. And as Rick and Morty discover, the reason for these different versions of the holiday are because of interference from aliens.

It turns out, the Easter Bunny is an alien sent by other aliens to act as a living aphrodisiac. This would compel a population to breed until overpopulation brought about their collapse, with Earth being one of their targets. The Easter Aliens rivals opposed this by sending their best warrior to kill the Bunny on Earth, only for him to get crucified as Jesus and start Christianity.

That’s not even the craziest part. While the Easter aliens (who look like Easter Island heads with bodies) are never given a motivation, the Christian aliens reason for oppossing them is because…they don’t like s**. They think it’s gross and hate it.

The Less you Know about Some Holidays, the better

Honestly, this is a hilarious take on the different versions of Easter. The idea of two alien races fighting a war over chastity vs lust for the sake of it is so dumb, it’s funny. Rick and Morty sum up how the show wants the audience to react when they acknowledge how dumb it is. And by the time they manage to stop the Easter curse, the entire family is dissillusioned with Easter altogether. As the last Christian alien crawls away missing half their body, Morty tells his mom that it’s not worth knowing. What it does do, though is lead the family to spend the rest of the year destroying decorations for all holidays. And somehow, they forgot about Summer, forcing her to spend the last eight months on Spring Break!

If last week’s episode was the best-written episode of the season right now, then I think that this episode is the funniest. It’s stupid, nonsensical, and completely skewers Easter as a holiday. I loved it, and my only regret is that it didn’t release around actual Easter. I’m going to have rewatch it next year when the time comes!

I Give “The Last Temptation of Jerry” a 4.5/5

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Rick and Morty S8 EP 3 Review

For almost as long as there has been Rick and Morty, there was the Citadel of Ricks. The idea of an entire society being made up of variants of two people was one of the show’s strongest aspects, and some of its best moments have had to do with the Citadel. So when it was ultimately destroyed by Evil Morty at the end of Season Five, it was the end of an era for the show. Ricks and Mortys would continue to exist, but they no longer had a place where they could gather, leaving many stranded in whatever dimension they were in. While this wasn’t the first time the Citadel was seemingly destroyed, there was always the chance that it could be rebuilt in the future. However, the third episode of this season confirms that this time, the Citadel isn’t coming back.

Exit, Stage Left

The episode starts off with our Rick and Morty forced to make an emergency landing while scavenging the wreckage of the Citadel, leading them to discover a few stragglers still hanging around. The episode teaser made it seem like our Rick and Morty would be getting into conflict with these other Ricks and Mortys. However, the episode quickly makes it clear that it tricked us. Our Rick and Morty exit stage left and don’t appear again until the aftermath of what goes down.

The Citadel of Ricks Tries to Rebuild

This episode serves as a spiritual sequel to the Season Three episode “The Ricklantis Mixup,” which focused exclusively on the Citadel of Ricks and its populace. It was one of the series’ best episodes, showing just how good a story could be gotten out of a society essentially made up of two people. Now that that society has fallen, though, we get to see what its population has been up to. In this case, that population consisting of clones of Rick and Morty created by the Citadel to maintain its population. When Rick reset portal travel, they were left stranded due to not having a home dimension to return to. In true Rick fashion, most of the surviving Ricks are trying to rebuild the Citadel under a Rick created to be a mascot for a gumbo restaurant. And they’re kidnapping any Mortys they can find, hoping to use them to restart the cloning process to gain more slave labor. The sole exception to this is Farmer Rick, who serves as the focus of the episode. When the other Ricks try to kill him in their latest raid and torch his homestead, he goes on a path of revenge.

The Citadel in the Wild West

Like it’s name implies, this episode is pretty much a fusion of space westerns and John Wick, with Farmer Rick serving as the John Wick. It’s revealed that he was in charge of cloning at the Citadel halfway through the episode, but like our Rick, he’s come to see the place as a failed experiment. He knows that bringing it back will only cause more pain and suffering, and, while he flat-out denies it, it’s obvious he stuck near the Mortys as a form of penance. It doesn’t make it a good person, but it demonstrates how Rick has always had it in him to be a better person. Case in point, while he doesn’t have to do it, he winds up saving the surviving Mortys and helping them escape the Citadel while he stays behind to finish the job. And by the time he’s done, what was left of the Citadel of Ricks is a smoldering crater with presumably no survivors.

While it’s possible that another version of it might come about down the road, the Citadel as we’ve known it is gone for good. If the destruction of the actual Citadel isn’t enough to hammer that home, it’s the fact that the remaining Morty clones decide to go their separate ways. They each find new lives based on their own interests, away from the usually toxic relationship they have with Rick. The sole exception to this is a Morty called Arcade Morty, who chooses to live in Farmer Rick’s homestead. He has no other place to call home, and as the episode ends with him watching how much healthier our Rick and Morty’s relationship has become, he’s even denied that.

Great Ending to the Citadel Story

This might be the best episode of the season thus far. It not only closes the book on the Citadel, it does so by fusing John Wick with sci-fi westerns. If shows like The Mandalorian have shown in recent years, there’s still an audience for the western genre, even if it’s acting as sci-fi. Even if the show does bring the Citadel back, this episode is still pretty solid.

I Give “The Rick, The Mort, and the Ugly” a 4.5/5

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Rick and Morty Season 8 Ep 2 Review

Rick and Space Beth have never had the best relationship, have they? From Rick planting a potential bomb in her to deliberately ensuring neither he nor Earth Beth know which is the clone, Space Beth has every reason to hate her dad. This is something that Rick is all too aware of, but unlike the rest of his family, he hasn’t tried to fix things. It isn’t until Space Beth is forced into asking him for help that the two make any headway. And even then, it’s set against the much greater threat of a rogue Federation scientist and alien parasites. The bugs are back at it again!

Rick Gets Space Beth Fired

Despite her becoming an important side character in the show, Rick and Morty never really focuses on what Space Beth has been up to since she left Earth. The most we know is that she’s part of a greater rebellion against the Gromflomite-led Federation. It isn’t until this episode that we get to see what this rebellion is like, and it’s not that flattering. The show makes it clear it’s what the Rebel Alliance was like until Rogue One had them get their act together: arguing amongst themselves rather than fighting. And when Space Beth goes rogue to conduct an unauthorized assassination that fails, forcing her to turn to Rick for help, they’re happy to kick her out.

To be fair, it’s pretty much shown that they only did that because Rick talked down to them, so it’s more or less his fault.

As Rick and Space Beth have to work together throughout this episode, we see just how Space Beth’s concerns about asking her Dad for help were justified. His follow-up attempt to fix things and uncover the conspiracy taking place leads to them relying on someone that never shows up and getting involved in a massive shootout. The fact that said shootout is juxtaposed against Rick and Space Beth arguing over how Rick’s plan could go wrong is the icing on the comedic cake. It also serves to emphasize just how tense the father and daughter’s relationship is, and to great effect.

These sorts of conflicts between parent and child are not new, but they are still interesting to watch. Seeing Rick stumble in trying to prove himself to his daughter is never not going to be enjoyable, since Beth is one of the few things that keeps him grounded. And as the episode goes on and the two fight the rogue Federation scientist using symbiotic parasites to create super-soldiers, the pair seem to achieve a deeper level of respect for each other. Given that it’s Rick and Morty, whether this will stick is up for debate. But it can’t be any less likely than the truce with the Federation.

The Federation Actually Helps them?

In the biggest twist of the episode, Rick and Space Beth end up calling a truce with a Federation General who’s just as unhappy about what’s happening as they are. As a result, the two groups wind up cooperating to defeat their common enemy, and the General proves to be rather competent. Even crazier, though, is that instead of returning to their usual fighting, the rebellion and Federation keep the truce going! They might actually have peace!

The Gromflomites have been the longest recurring antagonists in Rick and Morty, going all the way back to the pilot. They were responsible for some of the best episodes in the entire series. If this truce sticks, this could seriously affect the status quo of the entire show. Then again, it is Rick and Morty, so nothing is certain.

This episode felt like a notable improvement over the season premiere, helping to keep the show fresh as it enters such a late time in its run. Even more notable, though, is how this episode is the first to not feature Morty in any capacity. Given how the series previously did an episode without Rick, this feels appropriate.

I Give “Valkyrick” a 3.8/5

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Rick and Morty S8 Ep 1 Review

Rick Sanchez can be one of the pettiest people in all of fiction. If you think an idea of his is dumb, he will put you in a position where you admit it isn’t. If you try to prove that you’re morally better than him, he will force you to stoop to his level. And apparently, if you take his stuff without permission, he will put you in a Matrix until you learn your lesson! And apparently, that was the lesson that he was trying to teach Morty and Summer in the season eight premiere of Rick and Morty! In a twist, though, the episode doesn’t focus on the Matrix itself, though. It focuses on the after-effects on Morty and Summer.

Rick is Petty as they Come

The episode drops us off right at the tail end of Morty and Summer’s time in a version of The Matrix. They took Rick’s phone charger without his permission, and in retaliation, he trapped them in a simulation until they learned not to steal his phone charger. In typical Rick fashion, though, he fell asleep and left them in there for the equivalent of 17 years. Morty went to prison and became a shell-shocked war veteran, while Summer became an unscrupulous businesswoman in an effort to break The Matrix. By the time they get out, they’re mentally adults, and neither of them has dealt with the trauma that well.

Looking at this episode, it’s rather obvious to longtime fans that nothing about “Summer of all Fears” is original. The show has demonstrated Rick will punish his family for the pettiest reasons. It’s dropped us into the middle of an adventure without explanation, only to reveal what happened over time. An entire episode of the show was dedicated to revealing how many times Rick has had to wipe his family’s memories. Even The Matrix itself isn’t that original. It gets to the point where you question if the show isn’t running out of steam.

Killdozer’s Second Coming

Then again, seeing the Smith kids deal with the trauma they experienced in The Matrix remains an interesting sight. If only because of the way the principal adult figures in their lives react to it. Beth likes the more mature Summer at first, but her condescending attitude quickly wears on her nerves. Meanwhile, Morty turns the tables on Rick by trapping him in his own Matrix before trying to drive a death race vehicle into a power plant. That part felt a lot like the story of the Killdozer!

In the end, though, status quo remains the law of the land. Summer is able to talk Morty down, both agree to have their minds wiped, and everything returns to normal as both lost their character development. Not the most inspiring of ways to end the episode, if you ask me. But then again, it’s Rick and Morty. At this point, the show is going to do whatever it wants. Here’s hoping that the rest of the season comes up with some cool stories, though.

I Give “Summer of all Fears” a 2.5/5

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