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Rick and Morty Season 4, Episode 4 Review- Claw and Hoarder: Special Ricktim’s Morty

Dragons are some of the most iconic creatures in all of fiction, appearing in almost every culture I can think of. As cool as they are though, I know that having one as a pet would be a bad idea. Even if they’re one of the nice dragons, they’d still be a hassle. Why mention this? Because the plot of this week’s episode of Rick and Morty has the pair learn this the hard way. However, it’s not for the reasons you’d think.

Full disclosure: this episode gets weird, even for Rick and Morty. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Morty’s Drogon (I Know What I Wrote)

So, Morty decides that he wants Rick to get him a dragon as a reward for all the crap he goes through. Even though Rick tries to get out of this, in the end he gets Morty his dragon, Balthromaw, though he wants no part in it.

In my opinion, Balthromaw’s a mix of a few popular depictions of dragons. Firstly, he has his own lair where he hoards treasure like Smaug from Lord of the Rings. Physically, though, he looks like he could be the long-lost twin brother of Drogon from Game of Thrones. As a bonus, Balthromaw’s voiced by GoT alumni Liam Cunningham, AKA Ser Davros.

At any rate, Morty soon realizes that having a dragon’s not as fun as it sounds. As a result, Rick decides to slay him, and then probably planned on saying “I told you so” later. However, the show twists its typical formula by having the two bond over all the cool stuff Balthromaw.

Then, things take a turn into left field. The two end up “soul-bonding”, which is thinly-veiled metaphor for sex. Instead of hiding it, the show goes all out, with the dialogue even making it sound like sex.

Um… Dragon “Soul-Bonding”

So, from here, things get very weird even by Rick’s standards. Firstly, Balthomaw gets taken back for bonding with more than one soul. However, since Rick’s soul-bonded to him, if the dragon dies, Rick does. As a result, they have to go rescue him in a dimension where Rick’s science doesn’t work. Some other reviews have said it’s a missed opportunity to not have Rick deal with the fact that his expertise is useless, but I disagree. He’s still Rick Sanchez, and even when put into an unfamiliar environment without any of his tools, he’d still find a way to thrive.

It doesn’t matter in the end, though. The whole fantasy adventure ends up being something everyone wants to forget. As a result, Morty tells Balthomaw to get lost, unable to stand the revelation of how horny dragons can be. If it weren’t for what I just witnessed, I’d be laughing at the deadpan, baritone way Cunningham voices the dragon’s attempts to reconcile.

Jerry and Garfield and the Noodle Incident

While all this is happening, Jerry’s on his own adventure with a talking cat a la Garfield. There’s no explanation whatsoever as to why the cat can talk: all that we know is that Rick has nothing to do with it. The two go on a silly road trip to Florida for the heck of it, but just leaves them to have to call Rick for a ride home. Naturally, Rick uses this chance to scan the cat’s mind and find out why it can talk.

We never learn what Rick and Jerry see, but whatever it was, it was horrific. The two are so disgusted that Jerry starts vomiting, and Rick almost kills himself. If someone as messed-up as Rick’s tempted to choose suicide rather than live with seeing something, then it has to be bad.

I thought this pay-off was a hilarious example of the “Noodle Incident” trope. Getting its name from the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, TV Tropes defines a noodle incident as something either so ridiculous or offensive that it can’t be shown. Fortunately, Rick mercifully wipes Jerry’s memory of the whole thing. As much as Rick hates his son-in-law, he can’t subject him to what they just saw.

What Just Happened?

So, even after watching this episode, I still have no idea what the point behind it was. However, maybe that’s the whole point of what I just witnessed. I honestly don’t know, because I’m still trying to get over the fact that Rick and Morty took dragons and made them into horny beasts. Maybe it was just Justin, Dan and the others wanting to mess around. Or the whole thing was a subtle defense to the ending of Game of Thrones.

One thing’s for sure, though: I think Rick’s going to steer clear of fantasy worlds for a while.

I Give “Claw and Hoarder: Special Ricktim’s Morty” a 3/5.

By the way, I wanted to get this off my chest: that wizard used a wand to create a portal to travel between dimensions. This was the perfect opportunity to reference another form of magic-based interdimensional travel and they wasted it.

Stray Observations

Look at all the cool things that Balthomaw had in his lair. Some of that stuff’s worth more than all that treasure!

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Rick and Morty Season 4, Episode 2 Review- The Old Man and the Seat

I always knew that I would find an episode of Rick and Morty I wouldn’t like. After watching last night’s episode, “The Old Man and the Seat” I think I found it. It’s not that it wasn’t funny, because it was. To put it simply, I don’t think I’m a big fan of jokes involving poop. That’s basically what this episode revolved around, and Rick’s Secret Seat.

Rick’s Secret Seat

Remember that image we got of Season Four, of Rick walking through an alien meadow of grass? It turns out that was a planet that Rick reserves exclusively to use the bathroom on, private fancy toilet and all. However, when he finds out someone else used his secret seat, Rick goes on a quest for revenge.

On some level, I think many of us can understand where Rick’s coming from. I enjoy the privacy of my bathroom and how it offers a respite from the day’s events. Although, we see Rick hold the 470,000 kids of a fly mobster hostage and alter a war between robots and lizard aliens to find the culprit. It’s funny to see Rick go to such lengths over something so mundane, but it’s also sad. Did I mention I don’t like poop jokes?

Great Moments in Stupidity: Jerry Version

While Rick’s off having his own solo adventure over his secret seat, Morty gets caught in one courtesy of his dad. It’s been established that Jerry’s an idiot that people think little of. Morty’s respect for him has plummeted over the show’s run, but Seat has him verbalize it.

Long story short, Jerry teams up with Rick’s intern Glurty to develop an app. That’s despite the fact that Glurty has a tattoo on his forehead that says “do not develop my app”. The resulting Tinder-esque app ends up distracting everyone on the planet. As a result, Glurty’s alien masters can invade the Earth as part of their convoluted plan to steal the planet’s water.

I’m not sure what the message behind this story was. It seemed like a commentary on how obsessed people are with apps. While it may seem dumb for an app to be used for world domination, I think there’s a grain of truth. Keep people distracted long enough, and this can happen.

While it may not seem as strong to some as the quest for the Secret Seat, I liked the app story for reversing the Rick and Morty roles. In this case, though, it’s Morty and Jerry, with Morty being the Rick to Jerry’s Morty. It helped drive home the fact that Morty’s smarter than his dad, and that leads him to act like a Rick. That’s irony!

The Right Combination of Stupid

Ultimately, while I’m not a fan of poop jokes or the story of Rick’s Secret Seat, I can appreciate what they were trying to do; I think. The whole episode seemed to emphasize what we already knew: that Jerry’s an idiot, and that Rick’s lonely and miserable because he lets his genius alienate him from others. One thing’s for sure, though: I’m not developing an app.

I Give “The Old Man and the Seat” a 3.5/5

Hilarious Observations

• There’s such a thing as Mount Space Everest. That’s shoehorning at his simplest.
• Scan the QR Code on Rick’s hat here. It takes you somewhere cool!

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Rick and Morty Season 4, Episode 1 Review- Edge of Tomorty: Rick, Die, Rickpeat

Wubba-lubba dub dub, Rick and Morty is back, baby! Last night, Adult Swim’s mega-hit Rick and Morty made its grand return. It’s been 770 days since new episodes came on, and yes, Adult Swim kept count. However, as the bumper the channel showed right before the season points out, it’s worth the wait. After watching the premiere episode, Edge of Tomorty: Rick, Die, Rickpeat, I agree. Whereas other shows may start to grow stale, Rick and Morty finds a way to stay fresh while also going back to basics. Only Rick could do that.

Same Junk, Different Day for Rick

At the end of the last season, Rick had his status upended by Jerry moving back into the house. Now Rick has to deal with the new status quo of having to ask Morty to go on adventures. Edge of Tomorty sees him taking it as well as a sociopathic genius who thinks he’s better than everyone else will. In other words, he considers the whole thing a huge pain.

I think Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon did this to address complaints from fans who want the show to return to its season one. As Rick would probably say, shows end up changing over time; everything does. It’s how the universe works, and eventually everything ends. Speaking of which, Rick’s adventure involves stealing crystals that show the user how they die. It’s a clever concept on paper, but in pratice, its hilarious. Since the future’s always changing, the crystal’s won’t work outside of being a cool hack in a fight.

However, Morty ends up addicted to the crystals when they show him a future dying old with Jessica at his side. So when Rick dies and he’s left to his own devices, Morty refuses to revive him so he can take the best route to this perceived perfect ending.

Morty Goes Akira (God I love that) and Wasp Rick

Longtime viewers are well aware of how ruthless and sociopathic Rick can be, and Morty can get pretty dark when pushed too far. However, I feel this episode drove home much like Rick Morty can be when he wants to. In a homage of the anime film Akira, which is pointed out in the episode, Morty goes on a rampage. He uses Rick’s inventions and the Meseeks boxes to stop anything between him and his dream death. If there was any doubt that anime’s now mainstream and that my generation rules pop culture, I think this eliminates it.

So, not only is Morty capable of being as badass as Rick, but just as ruthless and uncaring? For all the times he tries to hold the moral high ground, Morty turns out just as bad as Rick.

Meanwhile, thanks to a cloning project he did two seasons ago, our Rick wakes up in alternate realities. He then gets disturbed by the fact that a lot of them are fascist dystopia’s. It’s a nice, yet disturbing, running gag in the episode. In the end, the one reality where he’s safe is the one where people evolved from wasps. My mortal enemies, and this episode reinforces that mindset for me. They sting people, eat others alive, and lay eggs in others. However, as Wasp Rick points out, when something evolves to be that big a jerk, empathy goes a long way. Seeing his counterpart get along with his family helps make Rick realize that he may not have it so bad. Can’t say the same for Mr. Goldenfold, though.

Edge of Tomorty: A Lesson No One Understands

In the end, Rick gets back home and saves Morty from his enslavement to the crystal. Yet if there’s a moral to be found in Edge of Tomorty, Rick can’t find it. I think the whole thing’s meant to either be a jab at fans who want to return to the basics and at moving forward. Rick actually sums up what may be the lesson of the whole debacle: that you should learn to live in the moment and think ahead. That would have solved both of their problems.

However, given how Rick (and now Morty) go into the “Rick and Morty forever” rant, I think there’s another message. This season, Justin and Dan are going to try and mix the classic formula while trying to test out new material. Just like Rick, I don’t think they give two cents about what other people think.

Sometimes, I think it’s better not to worry about deeper meanings, though, and just enjoy the ride. Next to The Rickshank Redemption, Edge of Tomorty may be my favorite of the Season Premiere’s. The jokes, that range from Rick’s clone troubles to what the stinger shows about Morty’s “dream death” are enough to have me howling with laughter. It’s a real strong start to the season, and with 70 more episodes ordered, the next decade’s going to have plenty of Rick and Morty. Rick and Morty forever and forever a hundred years Rick and Morty some things! This was worth staying up till midnight to see!

I Give “Edge of Tomorty: Rick, Die, Rickpeat” a 4.9/5. Rick and Morty’s still got it.

Hilarious Observations

• In a hilariously blatant attempt to self-promote their work, we got a shot of an ad for Trover Saves the Universe, a video game made by Justin Roiland that came out on PS4 and PC over the Summer.

• I may hate wasps and want to shout the Dalek war cry at them, but I like Wasp Rick.
• My favorite scene: The Wasp Smiths casually eating Goldenfold.
• Green Portal Productions. That’s a thing now.

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