After an unpleasant and stodgy season three, the creators of “Rick and Morty” hoped to jump back in the game and live up to the hype earned during its early days. Season three aired in 2017 and consisted of ten rather disappointing episodes, it simply failed to meet the intensity from the earlier two seasons. Two years have passed, and “Rick and Morty” is finally back with a fresh set of episodes. The season premiered on Sunday, November 14, and it was, to say the least, action-packed.
The episode started off with a normal family breakfast, but, as usual, it didn’t take long to turn into mayhem. Rick takes Morty to another planet in search of ‘death crystals’ that, as suggested by their name, reveal to the holder all the ways he or she can potentially die. After watching himself die with his crush Jessica, Morty decides to hide one crystal so he can find the best way to live that can lead to this desired death. Rick, foreseeing how stupid of an idea this is, tries to take it away from Morty before, accidentally in the fight, gets speared and dies. Morty runs away with the crystal alone in a delusional state while Rick has trouble finding a way back to his dimension as he repeatedly clones himself and dies in alternate versions of himself. At one point, Rick wakes up in an alternate universe of anthropomorphic shrimp-people who are strong communists.
Writer Mike McMahan, well known for his other famous episodes such as, “The Rickshank Rickdemption”, “A Rickle in Time”, and “Get Schwifty” creates the bizarre repetitiveness of the episode – directed by Erica Hayes – “Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Rickpeat” is an interesting and solid start to Season Four, leaving the audience eager for the next episode. Writer Mike McMahan also well known for his other famous episodes such as, “The Rickshank Rickdemption”, “A Rickle in Time”, and “Get Schwifty”. The episode certainly reminded us of the ludicrous and sarcastic character of Rick and the awkward, shortsighted nature of Morty from the better seasons.
It was simply brilliant: the philosophical and the non-philosophical aspects were both perfectly blended to create an amazing start to the season. Like all good cartoons, the adventure leaves Morty and the audience with an important life lesson. Rick says, “There’s a lesson here, and I’m not going to be the one to figure it out.” Morty’s craze to live life a certain way, in the end, is a waste of time. We should all focus on the present because focusing on how you’re going to die is a waste of time, and that isn’t living.
The problems of the last season have been forgiven and it feels like a new start for the show. After a long hiatus, the crew behind the show seems to have figured out a way to bring the most out of each episode of Rick and Morty. With an extension of 70 new episodes, the show promises to keep surprising its fans but also its critics.
Shoaib Ansari is a staff reporter in the Woodstocker.
Edited by Jinho Yoon
thewoodstocker.com 