Review: Rick and Morty “Gotron Jerrysis Rickvangelion”

 

 

Overview:

Rick has struck gold when he finds the original Blue Gotron Ferret, the final piece to the complete set. After gifting one to each of the family members, together they assemble the giant robot, Gotron. But enough is not enough for Rick.  

A deal is struck with four other variant families from across the multiverse. Soon, five families work together to create the extra-large Gogotron. With Summer becoming Rick’s new number two over Morty, the escalation continues. 

Soon, Rick is building a Gogogotron with hundreds of Smith families. Unfortunately, it gets out of hand when the family falls apart, and Rick starts outsourcing Gotron pilots.

 

Our Take:

After a couple of slower outings from Rick and Morty, season five has been ramped back up. This fresh episode includes a satirical combination of the giant robot and mafia genres. The family-driven piece avoids the drama by pulling out the toys and having fun. And in good ol’ Rick and Morty fashion, things escalate out of control.

It is the Smith family as we have never seen them. For the first time, we have seen them collaborating on one of Rick’s crazy adventures and loving every minute of it. They are a cohesive unit of monster-killing destruction and bonding unlike ever before. A new era for a family that, when we met, was on fragile ground. Over the years, they have come closer together. Up unto this point where they are a team that even Rick accepts.

While this episode establishes the new dynamics of this functional family, it also points out their weak points. Ultimately, the plot is about what would happen if Summer was Rick’s partner instead of Morty. But for that to happen, Summer had to take charge, leaving Morty in her dust. Which only proves – by the end of the episode – Morty’s value.

Morty is in a new age himself. Still, he holds onto the dogmatic morals that make him so lovable. However, he is becoming a force to be reckoned with. More than once this season, Morty has turned into a badass, just as capable as his grandfather at getting out of dangerous situations. All he really wants is to have fun and go to Boob World, but he has a responsibility to keep Rick and his family in check.

All the family gained some depth from this episode. Jerry, no longer the butt of the joke, was free to drop his trademark one-liners. And Summer goes from having significant influences to revealing a bombshell of a secret that she has been mothering her giant space incest baby.  

Some of these relationship dynamic changes through season five have caused the series to slow down at times. But this episode found the right formula. Enough was going on, from giant robots to voiceovers to domestic issues that the story kept a strong pace. The character growth happened naturally and authentically.

Rick and Morty may be playing things closer to home this year. But diving headfirst into these obscure subgenres is in the show’s bones. If we can have all the fun of giant robots and grow with this strange family of familiar characters, I would call that the best of both worlds. So, while this may look like a new era for the series, it is a natural progression into something more.