Review: Rick and Morty “Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Rickpeat”

Overview (Spoilers Below)
Rick and Morty head out on another one of their famous adventures, this time to wrestle up some death crystals that allow a person to see all the sadistic ways they can die. The power of the death crystals goes to Morty’s head (or rather his junk) though, as he now wishes to die alongside Jessica.

Wishing to enact his plan asap, Morty asks Rick to drive the ship. While driving though, Morty accidentally lets his plans slip out. Realizing Morty’s plan, Rick tries to get control of the vehicle. This, however, ends in failure, as he catapults himself out of the ship and into his own death.

This sets in motion two lines of events: Rick dying over and over again in laughably awful ways, while Morty continues his quest to die near his love Jessica.

Our Take
It’s been a long time since Adult Swim graced us with new Rick and Morty adventures. After countless cycles of repeats, Season 4 has finally arrived. I’m not going to lie though, I have very mixed feelings about the premiere. On one hand, there’s some great creativity within. On the other, the episode’s plot kind of falls flat on its face. The comedic timing isn’t as great as in previous seasons either. Let’s throw this episode underneath the intergalactic examination table and take a closer look.

The overall premise presented here was interesting. I probably should have seen it coming, given the episode title, but I wasn’t expecting Rick’s untimely demise at the beginning. The direction the episode took Morty on was unique as well (though a bit somber, given that he wants to…well…die and all). I can’t say I’ve seen an adult animated series this closely follows death’s doorsteps for the main protagonists.

I can also say the creativity here was pretty stunning. The off-brand Mr. Meeseeks was an amusing creative choice I’ll admit. However, the various universes explored within this episode is where the creativity really stands out. It never ceases to amaze me how the writers come up with all of these infinite universes.

There was an interesting moment to reflect on here: living in the moment. As Starburn Industries would say, “it’s a good [lesson!]” (okay, maybe I took some liberties there). We tend to not take time to smell the roses often enough and let our worries fog our inner consciousness. All you can really do is take each day by stride. Trying to have the best day you possibly can is an excellent way to boost happiness in our everyday lives.

Additionally, there is one other twisted piece that practically parodies warm, fuzzy realizations. When Rick is in the Wasp universe, he sits down with the main family (now as wasps) for dinner. Wasp Rick asks Wasp Beth if Wasp Morty can take our Rick back home with him (yikes that’s a lot of wasps in one sentence). Wasp Beth says no, and surprisingly Wasp Rick takes it alright. This leads Rick to find out that his life isn’t so bad after all. So basically, his life isn’t so bad because he’s still able to take his grandson on dangerous missions and practically control his every whim! I guess I shouldn’t expect any less of a realization from Rick of all people. It honestly fits his character to a tee.

As alluded to in my introduction, there are some bits here that didn’t really stir me the right way. For one, this episode doesn’t really feel like a season opener. Each opening episode for the past three seasons has always been a pretty huge adventure on a grand scale (the pilot included, as outrunning a bunch of aliens over some editable delights you stick up your butt is grand in my book). In comparison, this adventure felt rather minor in comparison. Heck, their adventure together barely lasts a minute before each go their separate ways for the remainder of the episode. There’s still some signature oddities and stakes to be had here, but nothing on the level of previous season openers.

Another piece that rubbed me the wrong way was the sudden re-appearance of the Meeseeks. Unlike their first appearance all the way back in Season 1, here they just feel like characters crammed into the episode in order to appease longtime fans of the series. While it’s cool to see these guys again, it doesn’t really feel like they belong within the confines of this episode. It just seems like a cop-out, adding fanservice to the mix as cheap enjoyment rather than crafting the central plotlines in a better fashion. It’s okay to feature fan-favorite characters, but they should be integrated into the plot in a way that benefits them and the plotline, rather than copy n’ pasting them into an episode. Also, while we’re on this subject, why did this episode randomly include Gearhead? His cameo makes no sense to me whatsoever.

The final part that I wasn’t a huge fan of was the overreliance on the same gag involving Rick dying over and over again. While it did lead us to be introduced to some unique universes, the joke got old pretty quick. The whole “every universe is secretly fascist” thing got stale after a while as well. Each gag just felt like a repeat of the last, which I guess would be the intent given the title of the episode. Still, I wish the episode didn’t rely on this gag so heavily here.

Overall, this episode wasn’t as stellar as I hoped it would be. It’s certainly not the worst piece of media out there though. There’s some merit to be had here, with some very brief chuckles here and there and an abundance of creativity. I still have hope that this season of Rick and Morty can be as great as the previous three.