Adultswim’s popular show Rick And Morty returned for a fifth season. However, the latest season showed Rick And Morty at its best and worst.
Season Five sees Rick and Morty go on more separate adventures instead of going on adventures together. Some of the events in the series include the Smith family hunting down their robot clones, Morty falling in love with an environmental superhero, and Rick going into the depths of Hell.
Rick And Morty is a show that has seemingly endless possibilities because of its sci-fi premise. It exists in a multiverse and can use any sci-fi premise.
It was also a show that became known for having edgy humour, a nihilistic viewpoint, and have emotionally powerful moments. However, episodes in Season Five lacked the originality with some episodes feeling more like they were taking ideas from Family Guy and South Park.
Season Five can be split into three sections. The first three episodes were strong, the middle portion offered some of the weakest episodes the show has ever produced and the final three were game-changing.
The episode that shows Rick and Morty’s problems since Season Four was ‘Amortycan Grickfitti’. ‘Amortycan Grickfitti’ was not the worst episode of season five but it was the most underwhelming. This was the episode where Rick had a guys’ night with Jerry which leads to them going to Hell whilst Morty and Summer take Rick’s car on a joyride.
This was an episode that did something unexpected from Rick And Morty: it felt formulaic. It was an episode that had the A-plot, B-plot format that normally has happens in animated shows. It was also an episode that obligatory pop culture references with the episode taking aim at Hellraiser and Transformers franchises. The intelligence, wit, and philosophy that Rick and Morty had become known for were lacking in this episode.
The worst two episodes in the season were ‘Rickdependence Spray’ and ‘Gotron Jerrysis Rickvangelion’. These episodes can be summed up in three words: ‘giant incest baby’. ‘Rickdependence Spray’ has quickly become one of the most hated episodes Rick and Morty has ever produced. It was just one long gross-out gag where Morty’s libido ended up with giant sperm monsters terrorising America.
This concept would have fitted South Park more than Rick and Morty and the ending felt like it came from Family Guy. ‘Gotron Jerrysis Rickvangelion’ revisited the ‘giant incest baby’ plotline with an episode that parodied mecha anime, particularly Voltron, and gangster movies. It was an episode that reminded audiences of one of the worst plot developments in the show’s history.
Season Five did also have some gems. ‘Mortyplicity’ was one the most unique episodes the show has ever produced. This was the episode where the various Smith clones hunting each other because none of them knew if they were the real family. It allowed for loads of violent carnage as the Smiths constantly kill each other and it goes into some weird and wild directions.
The season opener, ‘Mort Dinner Rick Andre’, was the episode that was the most like a traditional Rick and Morty episode. This episode had a regular Rick and Morty theme where a kind act ends up having a negative impact. ‘Mort Dinner Rick Andre’ showed Morty going to war with another dimension. The third episode ‘A Rickconvenient Mort’ was the episode where Morty fell in love and was the episode that had the emotional resonance.
The key episodes of Season Five were the eighth and tenth episodes. These were the canon episodes that expanded the show’s long-running story. There were some major reveals that will shock fans. These reveals give fans more of an insight into Rick’s origins.
These episodes were some of the best Rick and Morty had ever produced because of their emotional and dramatic storytelling. Season Five’s finale can match the second season’s because of the quality and has a cliffhanger which fans will want to see resolved.
The fifth season of Rick and Morty was a mixed bag. Season Five lacked the consistency of the previous seasons and the show has fallen into the formula trap. Most of the episodes were still entertaining and there were moments of brilliance. But ‘Rickdependence Spray’ and ‘Gotron Jerrysis Rickvangelion did drag down the series.
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