RJ Writing Ink

Rick and Morty S9 Ep 10 Review

I didn’t really watch this episode of Rick and Morty. There, I came out and said it. Maybe it was because I was too busy with other things, or because I found the ending to be way too depressing for me to handle, but it was just too hard for me to watch. Though it also could’ve been because I accidentally spoiled the ending for myself, and I got the gist of what happened. The fact is that this was a lot for me to handle, and for good reason. When Morty gets the chance to see what a normal, loving family feels like, it’s him, not Rick, that ends up destroying it.

Morty Pulls a Tom Sawyer

It all starts when Morty goes to an estate sale for a dead Smith family. That’s where he learns from another Morty about funeral hopping: going to the funerals of alternate versions of himself to see how much his family loves him. He even gets a mini Portal Gun to do so! And for a while, it works great! But then he stumbles upon a version of the Smith family where Rick never invented portal travel, and distanced himself from the family.

At first, Morty is thrilled by this. He’s found the one version of his family that is loving and non-toxic. But then it goes too far, when Good Jerry tries to keep him from going home. That’s when he realizes that his alternate self was emotionally abused until he wound up either dying in an accident or chose to die.

The Smith Family Dies

Again, I couldn’t bring myself to watch this whole episode, but I got to admit that this was kind of brillaint. We’ve probably wondered what it would’ve  been like if Morty’s family chose to be good from the get-go, but as it turns out, an assertive Jerry may not be the best thing. And to make matters worse, our Morty ends up being what destroys this version of his family.

Morty is so desperate to get him that he enlists the aid of Good Rick, who left behind all his negative qualities and became a successful professor at MIT. But because Morty pushes him into inventing portal traveling, he becomes the alcoholic we know, even losing his new wife in the process. And in the end, it’s all for naught, as the entire family gets killed in the process.

And this is why I had such a hard time watching this episode. I have gotten used to how cynical the show is, and have done my best to make myself immune to it. But this? Seeing how Morty can be just as toxic as Rick? This is too much for me, man! It’s a great episode, but it’s just not my cup of tea.

The one good thing to come out of this ordeal is that Morty now knows that what he has is the best he’s going to get. He had a taste of what a normal family would be like, and it sucked for him. Like it or not, he and Rick are made for each other. And despite both having their problems, they have gotten better over the years. That being said, I don’t know if I will be reviewing any further seasons after this. Maybe I just want to enjoy the ride from now on, like with President Curtis. By the way, you should definitely watch that spin-off. It feels like the second coming of Inside Job.

I Give “Field of Dreams” a 4/5

Click here to see my other animation stuff.

Rick and Morty S9 Ep 8 Review

I try to be an empathetic person every day. I think that the world can be too mean as it is for us to not feel bad for each other. But like many many things in life, Rick and Morty took this to its logical extreme, and therefore, showed us why it can be bad. And the worst part of it? It’s the fact that everything that happened this episode is mostly Morty’s fault.

Morty, this was all on you!

In this episode, we learn that Rick has a secret distillery where he creates his own alcohol as a hobby, and he seems to genuinely enjoy it. He’s happily making beer by himself and having a good time. But then Morty chooses to ignore the ‘Do not disturb’ sign he put on the door to bother him about something that is pretty pointless. I mean, it might not seem pointless to him, but in the grand scheme of things, bothering your grandpa during his personal time to help him get some Pokémon cards is a pretty stupid thing.

Normally, I would be on Morty’s side and say that Rick is being too hard on him. However, considering how the boy ignored the VERY VISIBLE sign asking not to be disturbed, and then destroying his grandpa’s distillery? Rick had every right to be mad at him. So, rather than deal with their usual arguments this time, Rick takes a shortcut by implanting Morty with a parasite that makes him emphathize with everyone, no matter how awful they are.

The effects of this parasite are actually pretty interesting to look at. Throughout the time Morty has it in his side, we are given almost context as to what is actually happening in his life, instead only seeing through his warped perspective of the world. For all we know, the way he tried to “help” everyone at his school was either making them feel worse or was just them yelling at him for acting inappropriately. Part of me wants to know what really happened, but a bigger part thinks it would be funnier not knowing!

Empathy can be a bad thing, I guess

Things come to a head when the pair head out to buy something, and Morty empathizes with an explosion that blows his arm off. By the time Rick pulls the parasite out of him, his empathy has been digested, turning him into the same stone-cold kind of guy Rick is. Karma sucks, though, because the parasite infests Rick’s brain, making him empathize with the guys trying to kill them! It’s a complete reversal of their usual dynamic, and one that is necessary for them to understand each other’s viewpoint…or something. I don’t really know or care.

It doesn’t care about the lotion!

Meanwhile, we have this subplot going on where Summer and Jerry are trying to get the supplies that Rick needs to rebuild, and find out these drums are being hoarded by a serial killer. Jerry is left to distract the guy while Summer gets the drums and frees this girl who was held captive in a pit out of Silence of the Lambs and…oh, who am I kidding? I wasn’t really paying attention to what was happening. I didn’t care about that part of the episode. I didn’t like that part of the episode. And I didn’t care when the serial killer got shot to death by the cops. It wasn’t that interesting for me.

So, in the end, Rick kills the parasite with beer, and Morty is left without any empathy until the next episode. Whoopdy-freaking-doo. This was honestly one of the weaker episodes for me, and I’m probably going to forget about it by next week. I know should have some empathy for Morty, but remember that this was largely because he ignored the dang sign.

I Give “Rickuiem Mort a Dream” a 2.5/5

Click here to see my other animation stuff.

Rick and Morty S9 Ep 7 Review

Have you ever heard of the concept of Saṃsāra? It’s the Hindu/Buddhist belief that all life is part of a cycle of death and either reincarnation or rebirth, and thus is filled with pain and suffering. The only way to break the cycle is by achieving enlightenment and understanding. But what if you did that and found out that whoever’s controlling the cycle is a jerk who uses the suffering to sustain themselves? Replace Saṃsāra with the cycle of life and the food chain, and the one in charge with a sentient tree, that sums up Rick and Morty’s latest adventure. It’s a bizarre look at the circle of life, death, rebirth, and how it ultimately benefits those at the top. It’s bizarre, but also oddly entertaining to watch. Break the circle!

Jerk Tree Enforces Circle of Life

It all starts when Rick and Morty go to this planet orbiting a black hole. Their goal is to get this tree sap that Rick claims gives this crazy high, because why not? Unfortunately, the tree turns out to be sentient and doesn’t take kindly to intruders ruining nature. It traps the two in an ecosystem underneath its roots as single-celled organisms alongside countless other victims in a cycle of death and evolution. They can evolve into more advanced forms of life, but they have to start at the beginning every time they die.

Death is not a new concept to the likes of Rick and Morty. They’ve seen countless beings die and get reborn throughout their adventures, themselves and other versions of themselves included. And considering what the duo have done throughout the show, you could argue that is the perfect punishment for their antics. Well, mostly Rick, but Morty has done some crazy stuff, too. Going back to the concepts of reincarnation and rebirth, it’s like the idea of Saṃsāra masked as the circle of life. You would think that the whole point of this experience would be to teach them, and us, a lesson about respecting life. But this isn’t some eco-friendly program or Ferngully: The Last Rainforest. This is Rick and Morty. They’ll either refuse to learn their lesson, or, as I bet on, it would turn out the Tree was just being a jerk. To my amusement, I ended up being right.

After trying to make it through evolution together for a while, Rick and Morty try their own methods of escaping the cycle of death and reincarnation. Rick, naturally, refuses to bend to the rules and tries to escape using the other prisoners as fodder for experiments. Meanwhile, Morty opts for the nonviolent route by evolving into a tree that eventually makes it to the surface. However, the Tree reveals that there was never a lesson it wanted everyone to learn. It was just capturing them and using the circle of life to feed himself! That’s like making it to Nirvana or Heaven and then finding out that God is gatekeeping everyone for their own amusement!

Screw the Circle of Life!

After the big reveal, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out how things are going to pan out. Rick and Morty rally the other prisoners to break the cycle of pseudo-Saṃsāra by refusing to kill each other. They lay low for the Tree to grow weak, and when it investigates, they jump it. What follows is a pretty satisifying moment where the captives manage to kill their tormentor, ending the cycle. Unfortunately, no one turns back into their orignal forms right away, and Rick and Morty just bail with the sap like they wanted.

This was honestly a good episode, if you ask me. I know that some people care more about the overarching lore, but in my experience, it’s the one-off adventures in a show that I’m most likely to go back and rewatch. If there was any lesson to be learned, it’s that either nature is cruel and comes at someone’s expense, or not to mess with Rick and Morty. Break the circle!

I Give “Mortgully: the Last Rickforest” a 4.5/5

Click here to see my other animation stuff.

Rick and Morty S9 Ep 6 Review

I know that some people are at war with themselves, but I think Rick might have just taken that concept to a new level of hilarity. When a portal mishap leads to Rick’s head and body getting separated, we get treated to an entire episode of them first trying to reunite before trying to kill each other. And it is freaking hilarious!

Who let Rick get that Drunk?

It all starts with Rick on a drinking and eating binge with Summer and Morty acting as his chaperones. The show has been putting a lot of emphasis on Rick’s alcoholism this season, and I can’t help but wonder if this is going somewhere. That gets put on the back burner, though, when a portal mishap (that was all Summer’s fault) leads to Rick’s decapitation! The good news is that Rick’s cybernetics let his head and body survive for the time being. The bad news is that Morty and Summer are on opposite sides of the planet, and Rick’s Portal Gun is broken. So now both parties have to fight their way past doctors, bounty hunters, thugs, and police to reunite their Grandpa.

I dont know who came up with this concept, but it’s actually pretty genius. We get to see each Smith sibling deal with their own struggles to try and fix Rick, with each of them running into different problems because of it and resolving them in different ways. Morty and Rick’s Head get chased by the police due to a misunderstanding and are forced to use their wits to get out of trouble. In contrast, Summer has to fight her way through the slums while using the weapons in Rick’s Body to fight off their attackers. It’s just so entertaining to watch, and I remember openly laughing at several points. The show could have simply had this play out for the entire episode and it would have been fine. However, all of this only counts for the first half of the episode. The second half centers around Rick’s Head and his Body trying to kill each other.

Don’t Lose your Head Over this, Rick!

As it turns out, both halves of Rick start to like not having the other to make act in a self-destructive fashion. Rick’s Head is thinking clearer without any beer or lust clouding his judgment, while his Body is able to express himself emotionally without logic getting in the way. It really highlights just how at war with himself Rick is as a person, to the point that we get a literal war of the body and mind, and it’s as destructive as it sounds.

In the end, the status quo demands that Head Rick and Body Rick recombine, and so they do. As for what Head Rick promised his body, I dont think I want to know. Rick doesn’t really learn a lesson about treating himself better, as he just makes Morty and Summer get fit before joining him in a binge eating session at the same place this all started. He even uses what happened as a joke. So, pretty good episode. Great reminder that I need to take care of myself in the future.

I Give “Erickerhead” a 4.5/5

Click here to see my other animation stuff.