Warning: This review contains full spoilers for Rick and Morty Season 9, Episodes 6-8!
I’ve fallen a bit behind on my weekly Rick and Morty reviews due to being on vacation, so I figured it would be easiest to knock out the most recent three episodes in one fell swoop. The gist here is that Episodes 6, 7, and 8 are all enjoyable in their own way, offering a fun array of high-concept tomfoolery and some much-needed focus on Spencer Grammer’s Summer for a change. One of them definitely rises above the others, however. So let’s take a closer look at each episode.
Episode 6: “Erickerhead”
Episode 6 is reminiscent of Episode 2 in that it’s another installment geared toward Rick (Ian Cardoni) being in conflict with himself in a very direct and literal way. This time, however, it’s a real mind/body problem as his head is severed from his body and the two wind up devolving into all-out war rather than be reunited.
This episode does suffer a bit from following so closely on the heels of its superior predecessor, but in a vacuum, it’s an entertaining romp that makes the most of its concept. I enjoyed how quickly Rick’s body evovles into its own character, and the whole conflict wraps up nicely, with Rick finding a little newfound unity and using that mindset to punish his grandchildren with some good, old-fashioned exercise.
The main benefit of “Erickerhead” is that it draws Summer into the conflict. So even as Morty (Harry Belden) and Rick’s head are wreaking havoc on one side of the planet, Summer and Rick’s body are cooking up their own brand of chaos on the other. Grammer gets ample room to shine here thanks to all of her Summer-isms (especially when accusing Rick of fellating himself), and on the whole, the episode is a good reminder that she can be just as effective a foil for Rick as Morty is.
Episode 7: “Mortgully: The Last Rickforest”
Conceptually, this is one of the more memorable Rick and Morty episodes in quite a while. A seemingly routine mission to harvest some psychedelic sap goes awry, leading to Rick and Morty being dragged to a Hollow Earth prison where they’re forced to live out the evolutionary cycle again and again. What’s not to like about that?
It’s a premise strong enough that the episode really doesn’t need a B-plot, so it’s just as well we don’t get one. Instead, “Mortgully: The Last Rickforest” splits the duo apart so we can see how each handles life in this eternal prison alone. Rick, naturally spends the entire time trying to orchestrate a jailbreak, while Morty does his best to embrace his new existence and go with the biological flow. I especially enjoyed the recurring musical montages here.
These twin storylines end up reconnecting nicely in the end, as both characters get fed up with the neverending grind and find a way to instead starve their jailer into submission. It’s a clever way to end an overall clever episode. The final scene is also a hoot, as we learn Rick and Morty endured all these lives and deaths and were seemingly only gone for one day on Earth. How does that work, exactly?
Episode 8: “Rickuiem Mort a Dream”
Apparently, another of Season 9’s recurring subplots is Rick’s obession with establishing a bottomless vodka supply. In keeping with the general theme of empathy, this episode opens by giving us a little window into one of those rare moments of personal happiness and contentment for Rick, only to see Morty torpedo the whole thing for the sake of a pack of Pokemon cards. Suddenly, it becomes more clear why Rick can barely tolerate the kid some days.
The plot in Episode 8 starts out decently enough, with Morty experiencing the joys of an empathy-boosting alien parasite. However, it really kicks into gear when things inevitably go astray. There’s a fun role reversal at work here, with Morty becoming the blackhearted crank and Rick the bungling pacifist. Cardoni and Belden deliver some of their best work of the entire season here. Cardoni’s line “Morty, we gotta put his juice back in!” now lives rent-free in my head.
The Summer/Jerry subplot is also pretty entertaining, if not the best we’ve seen from either character this season. Summer’s ruthlessness is never not amusing, and the idea of Jerry befriending a serial killer is a hoot. It just feels like they could have done more on that latter front before Jerry’s deception was exposed. Still, an all-around solid episode.
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