[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for Rick and Morty, Season 5, Episode 5, "Amortycan Grickfitti."]
The thing about wanting a sitcom to allow its characters to change is that, well, the show would change. If the characters are not the same as what they were when you fell in love with the show, does that mean the writing turned bad or is it just part of the story? This is to acknowledge complaints that this season of Rick and Morty has felt a bit off, as seen with last week's horrible episode.
Thankfully, things are back on track with this week's Amortycan Grickfitti which feels like a classic Rick and Morty episode except with some small but notable changes. The question then becomes, is that a sign of bad writing, or just the inevitability of serialization?
The biggest proof that something was off this week was Rick, the self-proclaimed god and smartest man in the universe, the man more prepared than Batman and smart enough to consider a multiverse of possibilities. Season 5 has found an uncharacteristically unprepared Rick, especially in this episode. You see, Rick has been forced to take Jerry out on a guy's night out every week, not because he is particularly fond of his son-in-law, but because he's sold faulty skin hooks to a group of cenobite-like creatures straight out of Clive Baker's Hellraiser who feed off Jerry's cringe-ness and feasting on hearing him sing the entire Smashmouth catalog at karaoke.
While Jerry has long been the butt of the joke in Rick and Morty, he's also the show's biggest secret weapon when used in small chunks, like in this episode. Chris Parnell may not sing Smashmouth, but he gives a great performance as we see Jerry go from sheer excitement as getting all the attention at the bar full of cenobites, to being utterly devastated to discover it was all a ruse. When they all eventually get captured and sent straight to hell, Rick finds himself kind of in over his head and not entirely confident his plan will work, something rare for the character.
And that's where the Evil Morty theory comes in. There's a theory out there that tries to explain away season 5 as being a sort of origin story for the recurring villain, but even if that fantastic pull of the rug doesn't end up being true, the moment Rick is forced to be sincere for once and say that he sort of loves Jerry may prove a different theory — that this is still our regular Rick, and he's actually changed. For the past two seasons we've seen Rick go through some devastating losses, including the respect of everyone he supposedly doesn't care about, so would it be impossible that the smartest man in the universe could finally succumb to self-hatred and lose confidence in his intelligence? The episode, written by Anne Lane (who joined the staff last season), doesn't offer concrete answers but nevertheless hints at an exciting future for the show.
Then we have Morty and Summer. Free from the threat of his killer sperm, Morty has a rare chance at being popular when the new kid in school, Bruce Chutback (Darren Criss) accepts to come over and hang out at Morty's house because he still isn't aware that Morty is "a creepy little grandpa’s boy" as Summer describes him. In order to impress him, Morty and Summer end up tricking Rick's car's security system (from the "Keep Summer safe" episode) to let them go on a Ferris Bueller's Day Off-like joyride. That is, until the car starts wanting a joyride of her own in order to lose her virginity — because sure, why not. This results in classic Rick and Morty mayhem, as the car gets her heart broken by a "Changeformer" at an American Graffiti-inspired space diner and goes on a homicidal rampage, which only happens after they use a solar system as bait to catch and kill a Galactus lookalike.
In terms of change, Morty is a bit of an enigma, which may fall into the Evil Morty theory. On the one hand, the vast majority of the episode plays into the idea that Morty is no longer the moral compass of the show, as he easily goes along with Summer's terrorizing of innocent mailbox people, and doesn't seem to object to the car massacring the Changebots. This falls in line with the past few episodes, which have shown that Morty has become desensitized to violence after so many adventures with Rick. And yet, the moment the car suggests that they throw Chutback under the bus, Summer and Morty do the right thing for once, perhaps showing that this is a younger Morty than the one we knew, or simply that there is still some innocence in this teenager.
In the end, this was a perfectly fine episode of Rick and Morty. We had good homages to pop culture, some fun sci-fi scenarios, fantastic character design for both the Transformers and Hellraiser ripoffs, and the hints of some character development sprinkled throughout.
Interdimensional Lost & Found
- This week's big cultural references are, of course, Hellraiser and Transformers, though we also get big American Graffiti and Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
- While trying to break Morty and Summer out of jail, the car poses as a lawyer named Alyson Hannigan, no relation.
- Chutback is a kid so cool he comes with his own rock anthem AND he prefers to play Snake on his phone than watch Interdimensional Cable.
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By: Rafael Motamayor
Title: Rick and Morty Season 5 Episode 5 Recap: Amortycan Grickfitti
Sourced From: collider.com/rick-and-morty-season-5-episode-5-recap-review-explained/
Published Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2021 14:59:40 GMT
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