A Rickdiculously bad payoff

Fans of Rick and Morty collectively rejoiced when the irreverent show was taken out of its extended hiatus and greenlit for another season. Surely the agonizing wait would equate to an overall better season, right? Although not all 10 episodes are out as of yet, 5 are more than enough to make a decent judgement as to whether or not things are headed in a good direction.

The season starts out strong with “Edge of Tomorty: Rick, Die, Rickpeat” which introduces an interesting new plot device in the form of the death crystals, crystals that show an individual how they might die given their current course of action. This leads to an entertaining main plot where Morty sees an outcome in which he dies of old age in the arms of his high school crush and decides he would do anything necessary to reach that outcome, killing Rick in the process and embarking on a blood filled rampage. Rick then resurrects himself using one of his many contingency plans only to find out that he respawned in the lab of the wrong universe in the multiverse…one that also happens to be very fascist. This episode not only showcases the best of the show’s unique sense of humor but also features a main plot intrinsically related to its subplot driven by forces and exploring facets of characters that haven’t been done before. The episode also contained various weighty bits of meta-commentary that promised to continue the season’s strong streak by doing typical Rick and Morty style adventures while also tossing in some fresh elements to spruce things up.

The next decent episode would come two episodes later in the form of “One Crew Over the Crewcoo’s Morty.” This episode centers largely around the nonsensical nature of heist films and parodies those such as Ocean’s Eleven into sheer absurdity. Though still entertaining, this episode largely leans into a gimmicky premise and rapid-fire references to make up for a lack of substance.

The remaining episodes can only be described as completely disappointing. “The Old Man and the Seat” attempts to dive into the psyche of Rick Sanchez but fails to deliver any information that has yet to be conveyed in previous seasons while “Claw and Hoarder: Special Ricktim’s Morty and Rattlestar Ricklactica” fall into the same gimmicky substanceless realms as “One Crew” but has half the wit and none of the pacing that made that episode tolerable.

As of this point, season 4 of Rick and Morty tended to fall flat just as often as it succeeded. Despite containing two of the more memorable episodes in recent memory, the episodes have generally been cesspools of bad pacing and meandering plots with only references to serve as the glue. Though the next 5 episodes have yet to be released and are slated for 2020, they would all have to be fairly stellar to make up for the somewhat lackluster start.

By Alexander Chu