Review: Rick and Morty ‘The Wedding Squanchers’

Spoilers Below:

Here we are at the finale of Rick and Morty season two. It has been a roller coaster of ups and downs thus far, and ending on a positive note could do wonders for the show. Kind of like the Yankees season. They already clinched a spot in the playoffs as the top AL wild card team, but a win in their last game of the regular season would give the team some momentum for their one-game first round series on Tuesday, guarantee them home field advantage, and avoid losing six of their last seven games. They lost pretty badly though, and ended up getting the advantage through another team losing. So, that was pretty lame and anticlimactic.

Turns out the Yankees have that in common with the Rick and Morty finale too.

A wedding RSVP robot alien thingy took Jerry to Planet Squanch, and the others took off for the ceremony to retrieve him. At the wedding (between Rick’s best friend Birdperson and Summer’s friend Tammy), everyone was having fun at first, but the bride revealed herself to be a deep cover agent for the Galactic Federation, there to arrest Birdperson, Rick, and pretty much everyone else for being criminals. A battle broke out, Tammy shot Birdperson, and the family narrowly escaped the planet.

Although they seemed safe, Rick informed everyone that they couldn’t return home for safety, and looked at Earth-like, potential new homes. The first was too small, the second had everything on a cob, and the third had a sun that screamed all [42-hour] day long. They settled for the first.

While exploring, Rick overheard Jerry suggesting they turn Rick in, and the others defending and saying they love him, and Beth admitting she fears her father leaving again. Realizing his burden, Rick left anyway, turned himself in, and the family returned to Earth – now ruled by the Galactic Federation.

In the post-credits scene, Mr. Poopybutthole turned off the show and pestered a pizza delivery boy regarding his opinion of it. He ended by saying, “Turn into Rick and Morty season three in like a year and a half – or longer – to see how we unravel this mess. Woo-ee!”

In Case You Missed It:

1) Jerry’s apt advice: “The trick to cereal is keeping 70% of it above the milk.” I agree.

2) Rick’s written wedding toast: “Uh, hi, everybody. I’m Rick. You know, when I first met Birdperson, he was (trail off) (crumple up notes) (Ad-lib)”

3) “Fuck Earth. You realize our planet’s name means ‘dirt,’ right?”

4) Mr. Poopybutthole had a “Guns aren’t fun” sign.

5) A post-show message instructed fans going through withdrawals to call 1-844-MORERICK. I tried it, but it didn’t work. Let me know if you had a different experience.

Yikes. I was honestly expecting a solid effort to close out year two of Rick and Morty. But, like my Yanks, R&M really fell on its face when everything was on the line. (Okay, nothing was really on the line for either finale, but it makes the situation sound more exciting – and it would have helped both.)

I honestly wonder what we were supposed to like about “The Wedding Squanchers.” I thought it was going to be a Wedding Crashers-like spoof where everybody had shenanigan-filled fun while swigging space booze with aliens, but was sadly disappointed. It began with Rick hating on weddings (but not really being funny or original), shifted into Tammy’s reveal (which didn’t involve much of a chase as Rick turned himself in), and then ended with an extremely sappy, Nine Inch Nails-soundtracked jail montage. There was no resolution in the end, and what Mr. Poopybutthole referred to as a “cliffhanger” really wasn’t. It just ended. I actually said, “What the fuck?” out loud. Are we supposed to be anxious about what might happen in the eventual resolution? Rick will probably get out of jail, and if he didn’t, it’s not like he won’t be in the series. Season three won’t just be The Morty Show. So why bother ending on that note?

Positives? There were a couple funny lines. Drunk Birdperson was quite hilarious, despite sounding exactly as he usually does. I also liked the running joke of the robot photog at the wedding with cameras in his eyes always informing people he wasn’t staring at them, but instead taking their picture. He was later doing the mug shots at the prison.

I really wanted to like this episode, but not only did it have a weak story, way too much melodrama, and not enough jokes, but it also an abundance of the self awareness that has been plaguing the sophomore season. It was cute at the beginning when Rick and Morty referred to itself, gave a funny web address, or created obvious catchphrases – but that was never supposed to be sustainable. This whole year has had too much attention brought to the fact that yes, this is a show, and ending it with Mr. Poopybutthole (the true highlight of this season in his first appearance) talking about the finale was the final nail in the shitbox.

I’ll be curious to see how the average score of this volatile season shakes out, but I know one thing: this review certainly won’t help.