Review: Rick and Morty “Summer of All Fears”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Rick’s attempts to teach Morty and Summer a lesson leads to trauma from a world that never was.

OUR TAKE

Typically, when someone doesn’t like a show or it consistently disappoints them, they stop watching or keeping up with that show. For me and Rick and Morty, it was the opposite problem, but the same result: I got so used to knowing that I would probably like it that I ended up not watching it as it aired for the past few seasons, which just so happened to be the last few years, so I got behind pretty quick. That’s such an odd phenomenon for me, like I need stakes about whether I will enjoy something in order to be more invested, even if I’ll still like it. Well, regardless, I’m keeping up with it again now, and it’s mainly because I’m being paid to! So we’re back with the eighth season of the show and the second with this new pair of voices for the title characters, and by now they’ve definitely gotten more comfortable in the roles. Other than that, it’s business as usual, with Rick traumatizing his grandchildren for causing him a minor inconvenience, as well as the second episode in a row where characters deal with being in some sort of simulation and questioning if they are still in the simulation even after they have left it. And also this and the last season’s finale both have “fear” in the title but are otherwise unrelated (and watching them both back to back for the first time legit made me think they were for a second).

This episode pretty much focuses on the idea of what happens when people are in a time dilated simulation but wake up back in their own unaged bodies and what that does to them. For Summer, she is mentally in her forties and can’t fully adapt back to life in her teenage status quo, but also we get to see the rare side of her that has Rick’s cynical pragmatism, as we learn that she had to basically use Morty, the only real thing in that simulator, in order to achieve her goal, even at the cost of Morty’s mental well being. And as for Morty, it’s basically him going through a Rambo/Killdozer mental breakdown to hilarious results. But the status quo must be reset, their memories are erased, and we can get back to normal adventures next time. So, pretty strong opener after more than a year off, and I am very much looking forward to seeing the remaining nine episodes. And even after that, we’ve still got like five seasons left anyway, so buckle up!