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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

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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

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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

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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

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Rick and Morty S9 EP 5 Review

Question: does Jerry Smith getting a job count as a sign of the apocalypse? Because if it does, then we’re all in big trouble. Besides the time Earth got taken over by aliens, Jerry hasn’t had a job since the first season! Though, I think that this episode involving that idea makes sense since it’s also calling back to another early plot point from the show: Morty’s pet dog, Snowball. He’s back!

But seriously, I’m more concerned about the fact that Jerry got a job!

Snowball is Back!

The main plot of the episode is about Morty going on a week-long trip to see his old dog, Snowball. Back in season 1, Rick gave him a helmet that granted him sentience, so he decided to lead a bunch of other dogs to a separate dimension to build their own society. This is the first time that we actually get to see it, and it’s pretty cool. Except for the fact that the Dogs have come full circle by creating their own pets, Mups. Understandably weirded out by this and the Dog’s hypocrisy, Morty tries to bail, but winds up getting involved when Snowball tries to kill him out of paranoia of what he thinks. Then he winds meeting the wild Mups called Mancors and is involved even more.

I think what the writers were trying to go with this plot was showing Morty’s character development via his refusal to get involved. He’s tried to take a moral stance on similar things in the past, and that only getting involved will make things worse. So he’s making the reasonable decision to try and get out of everything. The problem isn’t him; it’s Snowball. He gets super paranoid that Morty will think bad of him that he pushes him into leading the rebellion. Which I think only makes his unwillingness to get involved feel a little hollow.

In the end, it doesn’t really matter. Morty and Snowball make up and decide to just ride out the civil war that was already underway. Even Rick is proud of Morty for not making things worse than they would have been.

The real draw of the episode, though, is the plot with Jerry. He actually gets a job!

Jerry got a Job! Is this the End Times?

Jerry managed to get a job interview at an advertising company, and he’s super nervous about doing well. Ironically, his family has long since accepted his unemployment status and no longer mocks him for it. To help him out, Space Beth gives him these worms that feed on anxiety, turning him into this laid-back and chill guy with a ton of rizz. I can only imagine what the recording booth was like when Chris Parnell did his lines for this episode, because he must have been having fun with chill Jerry. I practically burst out laughing when I heard him unironically sing “Friday,” with full confidence!

To be honest, I was more invested in seeing how Jerry’s job interview panned out, and I was t disappointed. Jerry ends up becoming a breeding host for the worms that keep him chill at all times even when anxiety would be expected. He delivers a baby on board a private jet as it’s about to crash, and lives! It’s just so funny!! And the entire joke comes together with the worms just spewing out of Jerry like a plague, and his prospective employers are into it!

I think that my favorite part was that the worms tried to go after Rick, because they sensed how worried he was about Jerry having a job. I’d be right there with Rick! I watched the entire episode and my brain was going “does not compute!” Jerry has been unemployed for so long that the idea of him having a job feels like going against the natural order!

But somehow, it works. Jerry Smith now has a job again, and judging by the stinger, he’s happy with it.

Oh, and Rick feeds those worms to the Dog Planet so the Dogs and Mups can chill out. And that’s how the episode ends! Jerry has a job now, and he’s happy with it! Maybe things are finally changing!

I Give “Jer Bud” a 4.5/5

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Rick and Morty S9 Ep 1 Review

I wasn’t planning on reviewing Rick and Morty this season, but after seeing the season premiere, I’ve had to rethink that. It gave us back one of the best characters in the show, someone who has been able to run rings around everyone, Evil Morty. The only problem is that the way it portrays Evil Morty seems to contradict everything that we know about the character. Or maybe the writers just decided that Evil Morty is not above it all like he made himself out to be.

Evil Morty is Back? But Why?

In the season premiere, Morty discovers that not only is Rick in regular contact with Evil Morty, but he’s been going on off-screen escapades with him. The reason being that Evil Morty has been using the Omega Device as a sword of Damocles hanging over our Rick’s head, extorting him to help him with stuff. They’ve been fighting off threats to their neck of the multiverse, and our Morty is not happy about it. Neither am I, really!

Even as I was watching this episode, one of my initial thoughts was, “this feels like character regression.” The whole point behind Evil Morty is that he’s the Morty who wants Rick out of his life. It’s why he orchestrated the fall of the Citadel. The only reason he helped Rick kill Rick Prime was to keep him from messing with his new life, with the Omega Device serving as his nuclear deterrent. Yet this episode reveals that not only is Evil Morty regularly forcing Rick to help him out, but he spends a good part of the episode acting like he wants to make our Morty feel jealous.

Maybe the show writers decided to change up this aspect of Evil Morty’s character so that they could keep him on as an antagonist. Or they were trying to show that despite what he says, Evil Morty can never fully get rid of his connection to Rick. Either way, though, I dont like how it feels like a 180 without any hints or build-up. The only thing that I did like about it was that we got to see just how competent the pair are working together as we get this big, sakuga-level fight against this multiversal threat. And the only reason that works is because the situation they’re in demands that they be competent, or else they will not survive. It’s cool in a vacuum, but if every adventure were like this, it would get boring.

Evil Morty finally Slipped up With Rick

In the end, though, it still feels like this was character regression on Evil Morty’s part. He talks all about how he wants to be the Morty that doesn’t need a Rick. But if you ask me, this episode said otherwise. It portrays Evil Morty less as someone who wants to get away from Rick, and more like someone who subconsciously wants Rick in his life, but on his terms and as an equal rather than a sidekick. Ironically, he ends up falling victim to the very ego that allowed him to one-up the Ricks.

When he carelessly lets Rick go off on his own, claiming he has to use the bathroom, Rick uses that to destroy the Omega device by destroying its very blueprints. And since the weapon erases all trace and memory of it from the multiverse, its gone for good!

Ultimately, Evil Morty’s subsequent assault on the Smith family’s bunker world is little more than icing on the cake for fans. It’s a chance to show what would happen if Rick and Evil Morty actually fought, and to its credit, it is pretty cool. Unfortunately for Evil Morty, Rick had won before firing the first shot. He tricked him into making a device messing with time, and thus, leading him to get busted by the Time Police. The last we see of him, he’s getting hauled off to Time Prison!

This isn’t the Last We’ve Seen of him

Now, some people think that this might be the last that we see of Evil Morty, and they might be right. Getting locked in prison for literal eternity is a good way to write a character out of the story. However, I disagree with this. Evil Morty is still the most dangerous Morty on the show, and his now-established ego won’t let this slide. I think that he’s going to eventually bust out of prison, utterly pissed, and he’s going to want revenge.

Regardless of whether this is the last we see of him or not, though, the myth has been broken. Evil Morty was seen as the ultimate enemy for Rick and Morty who could run rings around them. But that aura of an invincible villain has been shattered. Whether this is for good or for ill, I don’t know. But much like the character, I’m now compelled to keep following this show. Happy 9th season, you guys.

I Give “There’s Something about Morty” a 3/5

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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 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

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

I Give “Cryo Mort a Rickver” a 3/5

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