Wubalubadubdub! It’s time to get your squanch on, my glip-glops, because Rick and Morty is back. I’ll start by saying that if you haven’t seen Rick and Morty, then for one that opening will have been complete gibberish to you, but more importantly you should definitely watch it. It’s one of the most innovative, funny, and thought-provoking things on TV right now. It has a joyfully cynical world-view and maintains a laugh-a-minute joke-rate. However, it still has its sober moments, in which depression and other serious social issues are addressed in a heart-breaking and brutal fashion.
Both seasons are currently on Netflix and I would highly recommend watching them before they’re removed in order to make way for a Netflix original in which Adam Sandler plays a lumberjack with Tourette’s or something. This review will contain spoilers for the episode so I’d advise watching it first. It’s not officially available in the UK, but this is the age of the Internet, so nothing is exclusive anymore.
“it’s overflowing with Sci-Fi ridiculousness and intelligent writing”
This is one of the ‘Rick and Mortiest’ episodes of Rick and Morty yet: it’s overflowing with Sci-Fi ridiculousness, intelligent writing, Jerry being pathetic, and fart-jokes. Even the way it was released is in keeping with the show’s general tone. It was announced on the first of April, leading most fans to believe it was an April Fool’s prank, but the episode actually had been released and was streaming on Adult Swim for several hours.
This is perhaps to be expected from the show’s creators Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland, who seem to love breaking the fourth wall and messing with their audience (remember Mr Poopybutthole speculating about season 3 in the post-credits scene to The Wedding Squanchers?). However many – including me – still missed out because they thought it was fake.
Unsurprisingly, the episode, which is entitled The Rickshank Redemption, shows us how Rick escapes the maximum-security space-prison where he’s being kept by The Galactive Federation. This isn’t the only plate the episode spins; it also shows us how Jerry and Beth are coping on an Earth which is under the rule of the Intergalactic Government, whilst Morty and Summer take the portal gun from Rick’s corpse in the back garden (a pleasing call-back to season one) and attempt to rescue Rick themselves. The three plotlines end up intertwining, as Rick simultaneously destroys his two great oligarchical nemeses, the Intergalactic Government and The Council of Ricks, and goes back to Earth which has now returned to the status quo, more or less.
“The tightness of the writing and quality of the jokes…is up there with the finest in Rick and Morty’s repertoire.”
I’m still not sure how the show’s creators managed to fit all of this into 23 minutes, because there’s so much story in such little time, but it totally works. None of it feels rushed or that the episode was peddled out for a lazy April Fools publicity stunt. The tightness of the writing and quality of the jokes (“we can put it right back and pretend we never saw it, like we did with dad’s manikin leg”) is up there with the finest in Rick and Morty’s repertoire.
“there’s a lot to look forward to”
Going by this episode, season three promises to be the usual yet welcome formula of Rick and Morty embarking on self-contained surreal space adventures, but with some new tensions simmering throughout, such as Jerry and Beth’s divorce, Morty’s continual shift away from passivity, and the mechanical return of Birdperson, or should I say Phoenix Person. Of course, not forgetting Rick’s sole purpose in life, which is apparently to find the McDonalds Szechuan sauce that was only available in 1998. If the rest of season 3 is like this, there’s a lot to look forward to when it’s released this summer.
