Rick and Morty

But I've come to realize that this show is at its best when its just focusing on wacky sci-fi adventures with no long term repercussions, and I suspect the writers came to a similar conclusion

...are you sure you're not a fascist doppelganger from an alternate reality?

episode that I missed

Kind of expected the Evil Morty thing. Remember, the show has fake scenes from non-existent episodes in it's opening.

Second, the comics already followed Evil Morty to its most exciting conclusion.

What do you mean?

Which only makes it more likely that the show will never touch that again. At one point the comic writers said that they communicate with the show producers, and ask them what stories they are planning to use. This way they won't use anything the show is going to use. So, if they used Evil Morty in the comics then that means they probably have no current plans to bring him back in the show.

Fascist Morty from the Season 4 premiere was a take-that at Rick and Morty fans who wanted "classic Rick and Morty adventures."

I think at this point they want to make it clear they don’t care about continuity, or long form stories. This is the classic Adult Swim mentality, be quick, be funny, and don’t get self important (the reason Mike Lazzo personally cancelled Metalocalypse was the feeling the storytelling broke all these cardinal rules). Rick and Morty is here to be funny and weird, and if you expect more, you’re the moron.

I'll just say this; if the Rick and Morty writers wanted to fully commit to actual story arcs, I could probably get behind that. But its obvious they don't want that. Or at least Justin Roiland doesn't, not sure about Dan Harmon. The closest they came to a real story arc was the Beth and Jerry relationship drama stuff, which a lot of people didn't like.

An interesting thing to note, is that some people on other sites have pointed out that in addition to mocking fan expectations, this episode was also likely mocking Dan Harmon's "story circle", his preferred method for handling plot and character development: https://blog.reedsy.com/dan-harmon-story-circle/

Interestingly, Justin Roiland has a new show which appears to be more or less Rick and Morty without Dan Harmon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hHoKWE4Vb4

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/11551860/rick-and-morty-season-5/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Chris Parnell mentioned in an interview how the wait between seasons 4-5 won't be as long as the wait between previous seasons.

If Justin and Dan were just making Rick and Morty to pay for a more ambitious series, it'd be much shittier in quality, a la Family Guy or (tentatively) The Simpsons.

I don't think they're completely opposed to having some sort of story arc, else we wouldn't have gotten the Tales from the Citadel episode and its dramatic ending.

I just don't think it's going to be as fanficcy as a lot of people seemed to believe, which this previous episode took the piss out of.

Anybody catch the Emperor Palpatine-looking Mr. Poopybutthole standing with Evil Morty?

Edited by Anomalocaris20 on May 5th 2020 at 3:58:48 PM

The episode had some fun moments but the abstract framing device was never explained or really followed up on, which might have been the point as a meta-meta commentary on meta commentary. I get the impression it was mostly a writing exercise than a fully developed story they wanted to tell. My roommate is a much bigger fan of the show than I am and even he was ho-hum about it. I did have to explain The Bechdel Test to him, as the joke that Summer and Beth technically pass the test but destroying scorpions with super PMS is not exactly progressive.

The show is generally episodic but it's not invested in Negative Continuity like other shows. Season three had an undercurrent where Rick's ego was reaching critical mass, which made his invincibility his own Achilles heel.

I mean, it was explained from the perspective of it all just being toys created by Ricks.

Also, I do think Evil Morty and all that will be revisited in the main series. I just don't think they're in any rush to do so or have any concrete plans for how they'll do it yet. I'm guessing their attitude is that they'll get to it when they get to it.

I have a feeling that, since there was very obviously a story arc building throughout season two (and the last episode of season one, and the first episode of season three) with Bird Person and Tammy, and gradually revealing more of Rick's past (remember that the reveal that Rick and his friends having been soldiers in war against the galactic federation was considered a major revelation that explained so much about Rick's characterization and the show's reoccurring elements at the time).

Then there was also Evil Morty coming back to add on top of all that.

I would have to guess, if the story train stuff is a statement that they don't want to do that kind of serialized storytelling, that they planned to at one point and changed their minds and/or the voices who didn't want that (probably Roiland at the forefront) won out over the others.

I would imagine the 70 episode renewal was the deciding factor since they now know they have to space whatever ideas they did have over at least 70 more episodes.

I don't think they've dropped everything though.

How often does this show typically pass the Bechdel test? I haven't really paid much attention to that.

That might have been the most antagonistic episode thus far, and few if any of the jokes landed for me.

They're attacking the show's structure and audience a little too much, and the whole gag with the "story train" is based on something outside of the show itself, something I wouldn't know about without having read about it here - thus, the joke fails and forces me to go to a Rick and Morty forum to investigate, something most people consuming cable television aren't wont to do.

They don't have to do everything the fans want them to do. They only have to do the things that "I" want them to do. Like an Evil Morty follow-up. A Phoenixperson follow-up. An Evil Jerry episode based off of the comic. Something to do with President Keith David.

Literally anything other than this season taking potshots at "expectations" and "tropes." If anything it shows they've Jumped The Shark with Rick escaping prison and more or less restoring the status quo, so now they're down to just taking the piss out of anything the show's established or hinted at, cannibalizing the formula that made the show enjoyable while simultaneously revealing their inability to create fresh adventures.

F-cking scallywags. Incorporating audience expectations into a story structure is not a great story in of itself. Look at Sherlock's third season to see why.

Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go yell at my local Mcdonald's employees for some Szechuan sauce just because of how underwhelmed I was by this episode. I don't even care if they actually have any. I just want to ruin somebody's work shift.

Seriously though this episode was a bit much.

Edited by Soble on May 10th 2020 at 7:05:28 AM

I’m wondering just how much of that is Dan Harmon. Solar Opposites, a show Rolland made without Harmon, is a lot less...self-important for lack of a better word. (Korvac is almost Rick’s complete opposite, since he wears his emotions on his sleeve and despite his protestations, wants to be admired).

Oh please it’s just one meta episode that is to my recollection mostly well received.

You can start doomsaying if we get more of this.

Edited by slimcoder on May 10th 2020 at 7:06:19 AM

We've had 2 episodes prior that ripped heavily on time travel and heist plots, and the Akira episode ended with Rick denying the presence of an aesop.

It's becoming a theme this season. The show's deconstructed itself plenty of times sure, but compared to The ABC's of Beth or the Therapist episode this one just wasn't that much fun to watch.

I hope this episode got the meta humor out of their systems.

Edited by Soble on May 10th 2020 at 5:37:15 AM

I mean...Rick denied it because he wasn't even aware what Morty did.

He denied it...and then explained exactly what the message was.

Edited by randomness4 on May 10th 2020 at 8:52:50 AM

My hesitation with the show largely stems from being too meta to be sincere. Constantly mocking bad writing just puts yourself in a position to keep a high standard and suggesting there is no excuse for any slump.

The episode was amusing as an exercise in blending different narrative twists together in one chaotic whole, but refusing any sort of coherent resolution just points out how the rules of the episode are arbitrary.

Man when you go so fucking hard you start feeling bad for the world conquering parasites.

I'm not sure whether I laughed more at the twin towers joke or the Rick-facehugger and Morty-facehugger making out.

It ended with Rick admitting that they need to live in the moment and planned ahead

x7

My favorite part of Solar Opposites was the wall stuff.

Edited by Cortez on May 12th 2020 at 4:36:37 AM

It was pretty funny that the Powered Armor they wore this time came equipped with swords even though neither of them actually learned how to wield swords. Especially since they had previously worn Powered Armor with easier-to-use weaponry in "Look Who's Purging Now".

Also, wth Tricia?

Edited by M84 on May 12th 2020 at 4:39:44 PM

I wouldn't mind at all if the show had no real continuity, and I'd be perfectly happy if the show continued in an episodic format. However, it seems disingenuous to mock fans for being interested in continuity and long-form storytelling when they've built continuity and long-form stories. They've established Evil Morty and revisited him but did not resolve his story, so it's natural to expect something more to be done with him. They built up the whole Tammy and Bird Person thing, and then stuck a stinger on the end of an episode with Tammy having Bird Person turned into a cyborg. If their approach to the series has changed, for whatever reason, and they want to approach the show differently, that's fine, but it seems weird to mock your audience for developing expectations you've gone out of your way to build. The creators don't deserve crap from the audience for not telling stories they don't want to tell, but neither does the audience deserve crap from the creators for developing expectations based on stories that were told.

> I wouldn't mind at all if the show had no real continuity,

Like the Simpsons then?

I think the way this show is heading and Adult swim's demand for more seasons and episodes as well as the marketability of this show means it will follow a similar path