One of my favorite elements in Rick and Morty is the cartoon’s ability to poke fun at the science fiction genre while keeping the design and comedy completely original. It keeps the show really fresh and honestly unique by making “hard sci-fi” plots easy to understand and enjoy. The show feels really simplistic and thus far has been dependable week after week where I know that I’ll get a solid episode filled with plenty of laughs and some fun sci-fi. Last night’s episode, “Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind” was another home run for the show that took viewers into a dimension that is run completely by Ricks and showed us just how out of hand that situation can become.
It’s Rick’s one year anniversary of returning to the family so Beth makes him flying saucer shaped pancakes. Out of nowhere a green portal opens and an evil looking Rick and Morty with an eye patch step out kill Rick and kidnap Morty. The opening definitely grabbed my attention with that but of course we see this was an alternate dimension and our Rick and Morty, who, for this article, will be referred to as “main” Rick and Morty, are still alive. Another portal opens up in main Rick and Morty’s dimension and multiple different looking Ricks emerge to take main Rick and Morty to face trial in front of “The Council of Ricks.” It turns out all other versions of Rick have come together to protect themselves from any intergalactic threats (brilliant). 27 different Ricks have recently been murdered and their Mortys all stolen; the council believes main Rick did it because he is a rogue of the bunch. Main Rick has coincidentally been do each of the exact timelines and locations that the murders have taken place. Things didn’t look good at this point, but of course we knew from the beginning it was evil Rick and eye patch Morty.
Main Rick and Morty get a moment to run and a chase through portals and dimensions begins until main Rick outsmarts the others and they can freely track down the evil Rick and Morty. We learn along the way that every Rick needs a Morty because his level of dumbness counter balances Rick’s intelligence and makes him harder to locate. Eventually, the duo discovers a horrible dome shaped base covered in an entire matrix of nude Morty’s being put in agonizing pain to achieve maximum cloaking, but I’ll admit it was funny to watch a bunch of Mortys be poked in the sides.
When they enter the base, main Morty is super angry with Rick for using him as “a human shield” this entire time. The two get separated and main Morty is placed in a cell filled with kidnapped Mortys. He is so enraged by main Rick that he rallies the slave Mortys together and they revolt and take down evil Rick and his purple bug monsters. The Morty matrix shield is unlocked and they can return to their appropriate dimensions. The Council of Ricks apologize for accusing main Rick and thank him with a voucher for “one replacement Morty.”
Main Rick and Morty will now once again be just “Rick and Morty”
Last night’s episode was yet again very good. I loved the story and seeing the entire dimension of Ricks and Mortys as well as all of the other featured timelines. The episode did a nice job of creating funny alternate versions of the characters without having to travel completely to that specific dimension. It was also really nice to see them use the dimension traveling to trigger Morty feeing expendable to Rick. I absolutely loved the final moments of the episode where we see Rick cry when viewing his memories of Morty. The closing moments were the best though, with Rick making as close to a sentimental comment to Morty as he can, which added nice depth to Rick’s character and showed that the drunk genius isn’t just on an endless quest for knowledge, and actually does care about his grandson.
My Moments of the Night:
– “They’re (Rick’s pancakes) about to hit that critical point of syrup absorption that turns the cakes into a gross paste.” Rick’s statement to the Council was so true. Yuck.
– Eric Stoltz Mask Morty. Haha.
– I thought Jerry’s side plot with bowl cut Rick was hilarious. Poor Jerry just gets harassed all of the time, especially by Rick, so it was really funny to watch him gain the father-in-law bonding experience that he’s always dreamed of.
– I liked the little twist at the end with evil Rick really being a robot controlled by evil Morty through his eye patch. Especially that he snuck away in the mass group of Mortys. Maybe he will return?
What did everyone think of last night’s Rick and Morty episode? Drop a comment below and we can discuss what you did and didn’t like!
[Photo via Cartoon Network]
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Rick and Morty is a great show, and Close Encounters of the Rick Kind was another great episode. It gave us more of the same, yet it added the possibility of a long running plot.
The Evil Rick wasn’t a Robot, which makes Evil Morty more disturbing. However, the plan to steal Rick’s memories was even more terrible as he had to use his ownself from cross dimensions to hide the 27 minds he’s already stolen.
Evil Rick wasn’t a robot. Just a Rick (presumably evil Morty’s Rick) being mind controlled. Ironically, he was used as a shield for Evil Morty.
It wasn’t a little twist, it was a pretty huge awesome twist.
I recently had time to stop and think as to why I like this show overall. And this episode in particular stood out in my mind.
It reminds me a bit of Futurama, and I think that’s why. I loved Futurama.
Yes, Futurama… but also very early South Park, when the creators did the show mainly to amuse themselves and when each episode relied on insane randomness that popped in their heads.
Some things to consider:
1.) Main Rick makes it clear that Ricks don’t care for their Mortys (presumably because they are so logical they have no feelings). He also states that if he is the most Rick of Ricks then Morty must be the most Morty of Mortys.
If each timeline has a polar opposite than this makes sense that Dumb Rick and Evil Morty are from the same timeline.
2.) What if Ricks and Mortys always have the same amount of intelligence. If that were true then Evil Morty and main Rick are from the same timeline. This would mean that either Evil Morty is actually the only Morty smart enough to stop Ricks from using Mortys as tools
OR
that Evil Morty is actually evil and is trying to take over the universe by becoming “The One Morty” (kinda like that movie The One with Jet Li in it which had a similar plot) and main Rick is the only one who can stop him; which would actually make Ricks the protectors of Mortys and defenders of the galaxy. XD