Rick And Morty: A Rick In King Mortur’s Mort

Summary

Morty becomes a Knight Of The Sun

This was a particularly weak episode of Rick And Morty, I wouldn’t say it was the worst episode of the series so far, but certainly it is up there.

There is very little to be entertained by coming from this episode, the knight plot line gives way to a lot of quickly tiresome fantasy jokes, with Rick not liking the Knights and thinking them lame because they aren’t in his usual science fiction wheelhouse, all fairly predictable stuff.

The joke of the Knights cutting off their genitals becomes repetitive quickly and the threat that Morty might be forced to do that do never really feels like it will materialise as we all know that Rick will save him as such this episode has no stakes.

The emotional through line of Morty rejecting Rick and how that affects him is an interesting proposition, however, the episode really doesn’t capitalise on it in an interesting way.

Overall, clearly a filler episode.

2/5

Pros.

It is watchable

A few funny jokes

Cons.

The storytelling is lazy

The plot lacks any stakes

The majority of the jokes become quickly repetitive

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Rick And Morty: Ricktional Mortpoon’s Rickmas Mortcation

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

It is Christmas time in the Smith household and Rick builds a robot version of himself to try and give the Smith’s the perfect Christmas.

I think this may have been the best episode of this season simply because of the emotional work it does with Rick’s character and the significance of the ending wherein Rick finally lets Morty in, which in terms of character arcs across the wider show is incredibly important and shows just how much Rick is changing as a character.

I really liked Robot Rick and thought that he had a number of funny lines, but also showed us a very different side of Rick than we normally do one that we all know is there but never see, this is important as towards the end of the episode Robot Rick says he is just behaving as the real Rick would have done which again further softens Rick’s character.

Moreover, I am very excited for the dark turn teased for the next season as it shows a proper return to building the cannon of the show rather than just jokily shutting it down like they did in the Dinosaur episode.

My one criticism of this episode is that they waste the return of the President, voiced by Keith David, and give him a fairly pointless role commenting on the decaying state of modern Hollywood franchises and as a very minor antagonist to the central duo.

Overall, the final five minutes of the episode make the whole season.

4.5/5

Pros.

The emotions

The character growth

What it sets up for next season

The reality of owning a lightsaber

Cons.

It wastes the return of the President

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Rick and Morty: Analyze Piss

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

After seeing a therapist Rick decides to give Jerry a win and let him become a superhero of sorts, however, Rick then sees the result of these actions and becomes a hero himself to try and out perform him and to redeem the origin suit wearer he has taken over from.

I think that this was the best episode of Rick and Morty in a long time, it was everything I liked about the show it was funny, it had some real emotional depth and it didn’t feel gimmicky or as thought the writers were trying to show off some science fiction concept they had just learnt about.

I like that we are being show Rick as a character growing, he is talking to a therapist, he is giving Jerry wins, he is trying to redeem himself and be a better person and I think that highlights the character journey he has been on since season one, it has been long going but it feels rewarding to see.

My only complaint of the episode is the way the family turn on Rick at the end, yes he hands in the suicide note so they know his reasons for doing what he did were mixed but I would still say it didn’t warrant that response. The writers seem to be trying to redeem Rick this season whilst also making the family more and more unlikeable. Maybe the show is leading up to a point where Rick will leave his family and head out on his own again and we will follow him, I am imagining a science fiction version of Bojack.

Overall, a very good episode. Perhaps even a modern classic.

4.5/5

Pros.

Rick’s journey

The Adventures of Piss Man

The humour

The emotional depths

The return of the therapist

Cons.

The family as a group are becoming more unlikeable

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Rick And Morty: Full Meta Jackrick

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

After breaking the fourth wall one too many times Rick and Morty fall into the meta and are imprisoned by Story Lord returning from a past episode.

I would say this is probably the best episode of the season, in some senses that is because structurally it is more like one of the earlier season episode, meaning more of a one off adventure wherein other episodes are mentioned but there is no heavy need to build the story up, also the tone is breezy and silly rather than brooding and depressed. Two keys wins in my book.

I thought the gimmick of the episode was fun and I liked that Rick and Morty had to face off against different story tropes and writing devices, I thought it was clever. The ending felt a little like the writers trying to self-deprecate themselves, which works in the narrative sense but isn’t very funny. It also feels a little Deus Ex Machina for my tastes.

Overall, hopefully we get more episodes like this going forward into the last few episodes of the season so that it can be salvaged.

Pros.

The concept of the episode

Rick and Morty facing off against various different writing tropes and devices

It feels fun and one off

A few good jokes

Cons.

The ending and its convenience

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Rick and Morty: Juricksic Mort

2.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Dinosaurs return to Earth and they are super advanced and basically force us all into a comfortable retirement.

So unlike some that I am seeing out there on the social media sphere I don’t mind that this episode laughs at and shuts down ideas around the shows cannon. The Dinosaurs fix the space rift and Rick’s portal gun, which he fixes again later in the episode, and most of these big things from the end of the last season are quickly and unceremoniously wrapped up. That doesn’t bother me, what does bother me however is the fact that this episode is no fun at all.

It is not so much that this episode is boring but that there is nothing to it, the Dinosaurs show up put us all out of a job then humans get angry and want them gone really there is nothing new or inventive to that premise. Everything goes as you would expect it to and there isn’t even any humour in the episode that can help to make it better, most of the jokes fall down in a big way.

The only thing I particularly liked about this episode was seeing Lisa Kudrow voice a T-Rex that was a fun addition.

Overall, I really hope the last few episodes can pick this season up because otherwise I might not come back for season 7.

Pros.

Lisa Kudrow as a T-Rex

It is watchable

A few nice Jerry moments

Cons.

It is boring, trite and predictable

It is too smug for its own good

It wastes a pretty good premise

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Rick and Morty: Final DeSmithation

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Rick, voiced by Justin Roiland, and Jerry, voiced by Chris Parnell, go on a fortune cookie related quest to stop the latter from sleeping with his mum.

Right off the bat I just want to say that the whole incest theme running through the show doesn’t particularly bother me, honestly I think it is done out of desperation to try and seem edgy and keep the controversy and in that the attention on the show. No, I don’t think one of the writer’s fetish is bleeding onto the show, it’s just for attention.

With that in mind I am starting to question whether I might be tapped out on this show, as I am just finding with this new season that I am not really enjoying it anymore and quite often, though there are good parts to some episodes, I am finding them a slog to finish. Again with this episode I liked that it was a Rick and Jerry adventure, those are fairly rare, and I also liked the fact that fortunes played such a big part of the final battle sequences, but at the same time it just didn’t hit in the same way an earlier season episode would have. Moreover, I also think the social commentary of the show is starting to become far too obvious and on the nose, in short I think the quality of the writing is getting worse.

Overall, the fortune cookie angle is a nice gimmick for the episode but it is nothing special.

Pros.

The fortune fight at the end

Seeing more of Rick and Jerry

It is very watchable

Cons.

It lacks the spark it once had

The writing is not great and that effects the episode in a number of ways

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Rick And Morty: Night Family

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The family program their sleeping selves to do all of the things they don’t want to do.

I think this was probably the best episode so far of the new season. I liked the premise and thought that it mixed in a nice amount of horror into the usual science fiction formula, Night Summer, played by Spencer Grammar, was especially creepy.

I also enjoyed the bond between Jerry and Night Jerry, both voiced by Chris Parnell, I thought that the relationship between the two was nice to see and moreover, it is just nice to see someone treat Jerry like an actual human being for once.

The downside of this episode for me was that it all just boiled down to one big car chase which whilst entertaining feels like the most mediocre way to end things. What’s more the whole thing ends up feeling redundant as in the end the Night family win anyway, which further adds to the powering down of Rick, voiced by Justin Roiland, this season.

Overall, a fun episode but not the best the show has ever done.

Pros.

The horror elements

The friendship between Jerry and Night Jerry

It is a good premise

A number of funny moments

Cons.

The ending feels a bit lackluster

Rick is far too easily beaten

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Rick And Morty: Rick, A Mort Well Lived

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Morty, voiced by Justin Roiland, gets stuck inside a videogame and Rick, also voiced by Roiland, has to go in and save him. Meanwhile Summer, voiced by Spencer Grammar, has to do a Die Hard.

I thought this was better than the first episode of the series, but was still fairly flawed in a number of ways. During the video game sequence when the various different parts of Morty decided whether they wanted to leave the game and return to the real world with Rick things got far too philosophical. I thought the idea of the using this moment to force Rick to confront how he felt about his grandson and show some warmth was a nice touch and did manage to save this side of the episode from being a total mess.

Summer doing a Die Hard was definitely the highlight of the episode for me as it was fun. Far too much recently Rick And Morty as a show has delved into deep emotional waters whilst ignoring the fun that made the show so watchable in the early days. If you just have a bunch of heavy storylines then it quickly becomes a bummer to watch. In this respect I enjoyed the dumb fun of seeing Summer mow down a group of alien terrorists and thought that it made for a nice break from the heavier elements within the episode.

Overall, a lot better than the first episode, but still not great.

Pros.

Summer doing a Die Hard

Rick saying how he feels about Morty

The ending

Cons.

It gets a bit too philosophical at times

The pacing

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Rick And Morty: Solaricks

1/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Rick And Morty return with such a low effort whimper that it makes you question why they even returned at all.

Honestly this episode was crap. I was looking forward to the new season starting and was hoping for a return to more breezy one off episodes rather than the heavy cannon focus we got towards the end of last season and boy was I let down.

This episode basically just goes over everything that happened in the season finale again just in case you had forgotten. That is all it does, no new adventure, some lame portal gun shenanigans is stuffed in as a b plot but even that doesn’t go far enough to be interesting. We get the tease of the evil Rick clone that killed our Rick’s wife and kid being out in the open, and the episode suggests that maybe our Rick will kill him but this just peters out into nothing.

In addition to all of those issues the episode is also majorly depressing and not particularly fun to watch in any way. The episode’s dialogue is basically just the characters saying how bad things are now and how they are sorry for letting things get this way which feels more aptly like the writers acknowledging their fault.

Overall, a terrible start to the season.

Pros.

Space Beth returns

Cons.

It is depressing

It just rehashes the last episode’s plot

It feels tired

It starts the season off on a bad note

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