‘Rick and Morty’ Season 7 Doesn’t Know What It Wants To Be

Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for Rick and Morty Season 7.

The Big Picture

• Rick and Morty‘s “Unmortricken” was a turning point for Rick’s character growth as he finally faces his arch-nemesis, Prime Rick, resulting in a dark and aggressive scene.
• Episode 6 feels skippable and minimizes the impact of the previous episode, making the relevancy of its events questionable.
• The direction of the season remains unpredictable as the show jumps between episodes with tonal shifts, leaving the development of Rick’s character and the overall series unclear.

With the highly-anticipated Season 7 premiere of Rick and Morty, we’ve returned once again to following the grandfather-and-grandson duo as they go on epic adventures around the universe. The groundbreaking series changed adult animation forever with its one-of-a-kind humor and unique characters. Rick and Morty, since its conception, has gained a cult following, cementing itself as essential viewing in the adult animation sphere.

It was earlier in the year when Rick and Morty made headlines for the wrong reasons after co-creator and voice actor Justin Roiland was fired by Adult Swim. This left Dan Harmon as the sole creator in place and the search for new voices for the show’s namesakes, Rick and Morty, was on. In turn, due to the well-justified changes, the impact on the seventh season was of concern. With hardly noticeable new voice actors Ian Cardoni (Rick) and Harry Belden (Morty), the unique and iconic quality of Rick and Morty remained, with viewers’ attention now turning to the quality of the season itself. Season 7 has incredible expectations to meet, but has it been a success?

Episode 5 Should Have Been a Turning Point for ‘Rick and Morty’ Season 7

With each new episode, this season of Rick and Morty seems to divert our expectations. The mid-season episode, titled “Unmortricken,” felt like a turning point for not just the series but for Rick’s character growth. Throughout the series, Rick’s wife Diane (Kari Wahlgren) remained the elusive woman who was behind the smartest man in the universe. She was always there, her death being the catalyst and defining moment in Rick’s past — and what has shaped him into the character we know him to be today. In this pivotal Season 7 episode, Rick finally faces his arch-nemesis, Prime Rick.

With the help of Evil Morty, resulting in one of the most violent and solemn moments of the show, Rick finally ends Prime Rick. After Rick takes a tough beating from Prime Rick, Evil Morty takes matters into his own hands and sets up their final interaction. The bloody spectacle becomes one of the darkest and most aggressive scenes of the series — Rick striking Prime Rick until he is entirely unrecognizable. The episode ends on an empty note, with Rick finally reaching his goal but neglecting to feel any sense of triumph. We watch expecting the feeling of relief, only to feel nothing at all. Killing Prime Rick will not bring back Diane. She is gone in every universe, and no amount of blood can change that. The last scene is a montage of an empty-looking Rick, and we as the audience feel that this surely is a significant moment — for not only the character but for the series itself.

Does ‘Rick and Morty’ Need to Have a Big Serialized Story Arc or Episodic Adventures?

Off the back of this episode — potentially one of the greatest episodes of the season so far, the following seems to fall flat. “Rickfending Your Mort” opens with Rick flailing in his typical alcoholism. However, aside from this, we don’t see any lasting outcome from the previous episode. The flashbacks in the episode, while a humorous take on the “clip show” format, feel like a pointless series of events that take a few steps back from the emotional heights reached in “Unmortricken.” It seems to minimize the impact of the events prior, which for a moment felt like Rick and Morty moving into a new era. While segmented plots are integral to Rick and Morty, and many other sitcoms, the feeling that the 6th episode is a waste arises. It becomes almost skippable, its relevancy wavering when there is an important and interesting plot at stake. As we watch the Observer trial, we can’t help but think about the depressed Rick in the final scenes of “Unmortricken,” making this episode’s events trivial.

Episode 7, “Wet Kaut Amortican Summer,” leaves us even more unsure about the direction the season — and the show — will go in. With off-the-cuff mentions of Rick’s wife throughout the most recent episode, amidst a classic adventure episode focusing on Summer (Spencer Grammer), it is hard to tell whether Rick and Morty will go down a big serialized story arc or return to its episodic adventures. As our hearts are breaking at the Space Cruiser reminding Rick that her voice is based on Diane, we quickly return to Morty being a Kuato. Even in the midst of a goofy trafficking scheme, Rick emits an urgency and protectiveness in his search for Summer — his emotion endearing and perhaps a result of his eternal loss of Diane.

Is Rick trying to hold onto his family more closely now that he knows that they can potentially disappear in every single universe? These small moments in the episodes are more interesting than any funny flashback or sibling-merging storyline, but it’s unclear whether they are hinting at something greater and more emotionally significant. The tonal shifts are giving us whiplash — with each subsequent episode, we don’t know whether to expect more heart-wrenching introspection into Rick and a continuation into discovering his past, or a light adventure reminiscent of the earlier seasons. The references to Diane lead us along, giving us a peak into Rick’s psyche, yet the surrounding ambiguity leaves its development unclear.

With two more episodes left to be released this season, it is all still unpredictable. This season of Rick and Morty doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be when jumping between episodes like that of “Unmortricken” to “Wet Kaut Amortican Summer.” While episodic storytelling is typical and integral for Rick and Morty, when these installments come off the back of key events — like defeating a long-lasting antagonist — it brings a sense of disorder to the season. Rick defeating Prime Rick should alter his personhood and does, but we’re only seeing snippets of that so far. Is it possible that the direction of the series as a whole will change without the shadow of Prime Rick hovering over each episode? Ultimately, if this season of Rick and Morty has taught us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected.

Catch the next episode of Rick and Morty Season 7 Sundays on Adult Swim. Previous seasons are available to stream on Max.

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