In the world of Rick and Morty, it can be hard to surprise us audiences members with anything we haven’t already seen. Needless to say, Episode 6 delivers with ease. As one of the most ambitious episodes the series has pulled off, “Never Ricking Morty” offers more than just surface-level anthology shenanigans. Let’s get into Season 4 Episode 6!
Synopsis
We meet a grizzled middle-aged man, who appears to be our main character. He’s walking between train cars, trying to get away from people asking about ‘Rick Sanchez’. After fumbling through a few cars, he meets a young woman, who also doesn’t know why everyone is asking about Rick Sanchez. After a near shoot-out, the characters disrobe to reveal Rick and Morty in costume. Rick explains that the train is a metaphor for a story device, an anthology. They need to essentially create their own adventure to get off the train. The conductor enters the car angrily, and Rick holds him at gun-point to stop the train, but the conductor (otherwise known as ‘Tickets Please Guy’) is totally ripped and starts beating up Rick. Rick shoots the window of the train car, pulling the conductor’s body halfway out the window and dismembering him. Suddenly, the scene cuts to the conductor at Blips and Chitz, in normal clothes, playing a game called ‘Tickets Please’ (which he’s just lost). He returns to a kid’s party, revealing himself to be the grandfather of the birthday kid at Blips and Chitz. In moments, his torso detaches from his legs, and begins to hover over the entire arcade, spraying blood everywhere. We then cut back to the train where Rick has wedged the conductor in the window, and he is floating in an identical fashion outside the train. After deploying ’emergency continuity’ through gas masks, Rick and Morty begin to breathe again, but not before train cops raid the car. They demand that Rick and Morty tee up a story about Rick or be killed. Rick is still holding the gas tank of ‘continuity’, which the cops shoot at and blow up.
The previous scene turns into a training video for train cops, whose lecturer advises them that they ‘should only shoot when there’s no continuity in the vicinity’. Rick and Morty appear as two of the students during the cutaway, who then murder all the train cops. In the lecturer’s desk, they find the schematics for the train (which is basically a six-part choose-your-own-adventure manual). After a short un-related musical number from Rick and Birdperson (which is a total slapper), we find Rick and Morty running around the top of the train, and Rick finally puts the conductor out of his misery with a headshot. Rick announces that Morty must tell a completely un-related story to interrupt the ‘thematic seal’. He uses the Bechdel Test to create a lame story about Beth and Summer fighting off scorpions. We then see Rick and Morty enter the main engine car, ready to shut down the train. Out of nowhere, here comes Story Lord, who powers every tale that runs through this train (think Anthony Hopkins in Westworld). After tying up Rick and Morty, to use their powers for the train (don’t ask me, just go with it), Story Lord reveals an abundance of short clips that could’ve fit the Rick and Morty canon. We see a post-Vietnam Morty, astrophysicist professor Rick, and countless other characters, before we are cut to an epic final battle scene between Meseeks, Gazorpians, Evil Morty, Evil Professor Poopybutthole, and Citadel guards (which sets up the Star Wars parallel that is Season 4 Episode 10 “Star Mort: Rickturn of the Jerri”). Always thinking ahead, Rick begins to talk about his savior Jesus Christ, who is the ultimate teller of stories. This brings the story train to a grinding halt, draining the train of power. A bunch of veggie characters show up (yes, those veggie characters), and Story Lord portals to the scene to yell at Rick and Morty. Rick and Morty portal back to the train, trapping Story Lord in an ‘endless narrative loop’. Rick goes to restart the train, but the controls disintegrate, and he realizes the power gauge is just a sticker.
We then cut to Rick and Morty in the Smith living room, watching this train run around in a circle. It’s revealed that Morty got it as a gift for Rick from the Citadel. Story Lord confronts Jesus Christ, who decides to summon ‘magic blood’ and vanish away. The train then short-circuits and derails from the tracks in the living room.
Review
This has to be one of my all-time favorite Rick and Morty episodes. In less than 30 minutes, the writers take on the anthology structure, half-canon alternate Rick’s and Morty’s with their own backstories, and scenes-within-scenes-within-scenes. It’s incredibly ambitious, and it pays off big in this episode. This is a completely new story structure for the series, and it shows off the bits of Rick and Morty that we might not always get to see. Having made this during the pandemic, and using it as a bridge between two season premieres, “Never Ricking Morty” is set apart as the gold standard for future episodes of the series.
Score: 10/10
Perfect score. Literally, no notes. Every moment is either entertaining or interesting/fresh, and the twists will never get old. This episode prefaces what could be coming down later in the franchise, and sets up the series for an incredibly successful Season 4 ending with Episodes 6-10.Westworld
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