Review: Rick and Morty “How Poopy Got His Poop Back”; “The Jerrick Trap”

Overview:

Rick and Morty are back for another season of sci-fi shenanigans and they sound normal-er than ever! The Smith family take a backseat to a standout supporting player when Mr. Poopybutthole’s past pain and reckless lifestyle catch up with him and reach a breaking point. Desperate to help this kind soul get back on top, Rick prepares himself for a difficult conversation with his controversial friend, but some reinforcements might be in order.

Meanwhile, a simple vendetta between Jerry and his neighbor turns into a radical brain-swap exercise between him and Rick that leaves both of them learning a valuable lesson in how the grass is always greener. This ultimate example of how opposites attract becomes an unhinged exercise in buddy cop theatrics and family bonding. 

 

Our Take:

Rick and Morty has many skills and areas in which it’s unparalleled. The show has become incredibly accomplished at injecting depth into the shallowest of ideas where storylines often infinitely double-down on themselves until they’re deconstructed on a molecular level. Mr. Poopybutthole is a ludicrously-named figure who’s continually been used as both a storytelling trope and a subversion to said tropes. Regardless of his application, Mr. Poopybutthole is a basic character who audiences have gotten comfortable seeing in such an insubstantial context. Similarly, Jerry is a character who audiences have repeatedly written off to the point that Rick and Morty had to actively institute his character rehabilitation. In this sense, they’re the perfect unassuming catalysts to kick off Rick and Morty’s season in a productive manner that prioritizes character and chaos. 

This character-driven angle feels like the right approach for Rick and Morty’s new season, as if to proudly state that this year is committed to putting in the work so that even the most threadbare of gags and characters can sustain entire stories. Mr. Poopybutthole gets told, “don’t accept other people’s limitations,” during a pivotal moment in “How Poopy Got His Poop Back”. This becomes a guiding mantra that helps Mr. Poopybutthole figure out what he really wants, but it extends into a broader lesson of teamwork and self-realization for Rick, his friends, and Jerry.

“How Poopy Gets His Poop Back” is a dialogue-driven episode that features plenty of Mr. Poopybutthole and Rick, but the rest of the show’s core cast is discarded for Rick’s core friend group. This season premiere goes on to teach Rick an important lesson, but a lot of this episode’s enjoyment will come out of the audience’s relationship with this one-note character and Rick’s supporting crew of outcasts. The season’s second installment, “The Jerrick Trap,” adopts a similar approach where Jerry and Rick spend the episode in the spotlight at the expense of the rest of the characters. Whether it’s intentional or not, this strategy helps naturalize the new season as audiences spend time with Rick and Morty separately across these two episodes instead of adventures that are built upon their banter and interaction

Rick and Morty has built a surprisingly robust lore for Mr. Poopybutthole across six seasons’ worth of ending tags and epilogues. This character has had more than his share of struggles, but “How Poopy Got His Poop Back” features him at rock bottom as he comes off a horrible bender and a codependent relationship with the Smith family. “How Poopy Gets His Poop Back” is largely focused on its eponymous character’s meltdown while “The Jerrick Trap” further develops Rick’s frayed relationship with his son-in-law. However, there are still teases towards Rick and Morty’s ongoing storyline where Rick chases down Rick Prime. These episodes begin with plenty to say, but reminders of Rick’s grander mission will likely help provide some focused narrative drive beyond episodic sci-fi silliness this season.

The basic obstacles in “How Poopy Got His Poop Back” and “The Jerrick Trap” both involve helping their titular characters regain their footing. These agendas can be achieved through limitless means and the premiere initially tees up a “Robo Ghost,” a concept that’s so damn brilliant and classic Rick and Morty nonsense where a hat is put on a hat, but to excellent effect. The whole concept of building a robot, giving it “business,” and then killing it before it can finish said business so that a vengeful ghost is born is such a playful exercise that leans into the apex of both sci-fi and horror extremes. “How Poopy Got His Poop Back” could do so much with this concept, but it’s discarded almost as quickly as it’s introduced as a way to showcase that any of Rick’s intense solutions won’t work this time. It’s intervention and emotional honesty instead of Robo Ghost cyber-poltergeist shenanigans that’s key to Mr. Poopybutthole’s salvation.

Rick’s good intentions spill over into the gang that he assembles. All of this stems from a place of genuine kindness, but these theatrics are still Rick’s plausible attempt to put off this confrontation with his friend and push off the inevitable for as long as possible. It’s a convoluted act that absolutely feels true to Rick’s character. It broadens the episode’s perspective and allows fan favorite characters like Gearhead and Squanchy to show up for some brutal catharsis. It also leads to a fantastic montage that utilizes some extremely smart applications of Rick’s portal guns. “The Jerrick Trap” similarly turns to chaotic genre nonsense in order to push its characters to emotionally vulnerable and honest places.

These episodes also include an unearned celebrity cameo who becomes a rogue agent of chaos that’s actually the weakest part of these entries. It’s something that would be more at home in Koala Man. The whole point of this character is just how over the top he is, but none of this particularly lands. It’s Rick and Morty at its laziest and most random. It’s the opposite of a Robo Ghost. This broad material does at least push Rick and Mr. Poopybutthole to get honest with one another and speak their minds, even if it comes from a reactionary place. In doing what’s best for his friend, he’s in turn ostracized by a bunch of enablers. 

“How Poopy Got His Poop Back” would benefit from keeping Rick apart from the rest of his pack rather than pushing him to such a fast reconciliation, even if it’s one that he doesn’t believe in and is under duress. It’s a mixed way to illustrate that Rick is truly there for his friend and a little more resistance would go a long way. It’s just too pat of a resolution that isn’t willing enough to really shake up the status quo with this supporting player. These generalizations carry over into “The Jerrick Trap” where Rick and Morty achieves strong emotional closure, but one that’s reached too easily and doesn’t tap into its premise’s full potential.

Rick and Morty doesn’t pull any punches with its confrontational scenes and this is one of the few series where it’s possible to dig into such raw, ugly truths. “How Poopy Got His Poop Back” and “The Jerrick Trap” can occasionally be difficult watches, but they tell important stories that reinforce this series’ duality and the yin and yang of comedy and drama. It’s completely coincidental that this episode is the first post-Roiland installment and that it’s focused on a bunch of friends who try to find the right way to tell a loved one that they need to get their shit together. There’s no metatextual take on Roiland that’s going on here and this episode was written far before Roiland’s exodus. However, it does make for an ironic, fitting return to the series. Fortunately in Rick’s case, he does manage to repair this friendship and get Mr. Poopybutthole–as well as Jerry–back on healthy roads to recovery.

There’s of course the obvious elephant in the room when it comes to this season of Rick and Morty and it’s ultimately for the best that these new episodes don’t address the new voices in any capacity. The new performers are specifically hired to be soundalikes to the original performances and sound alike they do. They do a good enough job with the assignment, even if this may be creatively stifling for the voice actors on some level, and most importantly they’re not distracting. This is the best possible scenario here and while Rick and Morty loves to indulge in meta madness, it’s better that Solar Opposites takes the self-aware angle to its Justin Roiland casting. Rick and Morty has more than enough on its plate in this season premiere that it doesn’t need to get lost in tongue-in-cheek jabs at itself. Any shortcomings in this department might also be more apparent in an episode that’s largely based around both Rick and Morty. It’s smart to introduce these new voices in episodes where only one of them is central.

“How Poopy Got His Poop Back” and “The Jerrick Trap” are episodes about closure, teamwork, and how to not wear out one’s welcome and become a burden over a blessing. Seven seasons in is around the point that any show, even an incredibly strong one, can spin their wheels and go through the motions. “How Poopy Got His Poop Back” is a mixed bag of a premiere that carefully toes the line with irrelevancy while “The Jerrick Trap” teases more confident and experimental storytelling that effortlessly transforms a “concept episode” into a concentrated character study that’s more in line with standard Rick and Morty stories. Nevertheless, these pair of episodes collectively prove that Rick and Morty deserves to be around while it climbs closer towards that 100-episode benchmark. This graceful start to the season is allowed a little leniency, but Rick and Morty will need to up its game for the rest of this year’s genre exploits.