Review: Rick and Morty “Valkyrick”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Space Beth gets wrapped up in a Groflamite plot and has to ask Rick to bail her out.

OUR TAKE

Here’s what may be a hot take: I think it’s more interesting if Space Beth is the clone. I realize that we are years past any of that mattering since she’s become her own distinct character and is just about a full time member of the cast in weird polycule with Regular Beth and Jerry, but back when “The ABC’s of Beth” came out and had that ambiguous ending, I always interpreted it as Beth choosing to stay was the neater option, as it showed how she was choosing to be different from Rick (at the time) by staying with her family. I bring all that up, not just to get it off my chest after all these years, but also to note how that also adds nuance to her and Rick basically getting a whole episode to themselves here, along with a bunch of other serialized elements of the show coming together at once like the Groflamites and Birdperson with Birddaughter. This whole episode is basically just a testament to how Rick and Morty has impressively managed to make these long-running plots and elements not feel stale after all this time, mainly because they’re utilized very sparingly.

The Groflamites are pretty much just meant to be a stand-in for a overbearing bureaucratic evil empire whenever the show needs one to fight, but their appearances have at least managed to add distinct character or features to them, like adding a queen or having a rogue scientist trying to make them all get buff super forms. And Space Beth ends up joining a “Defiance”, basically a Rebel Alliance that likes to have its own brand, but are also too indecisive, leaving her to embrace her inner Rick and go it alone, leading the more developed Rick to come and bond with her while helping her out. Solid premise, solid execution, plenty of great jokes and interesting worldbuilding while further growing Rick and Space Beth’s characters in a specialized scenario that really only these characters would work in. I think this might be the first episode that ANY Morty is not a featured character here. This season continues to be going strong, especially for an eighth season of a show that has begun waning in its once domineering popularity. So, I’m very much looking forward to see what the remaining eight episodes have in story for us.