Review: Rick and Morty “Nomortland”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Jerry meets another Jerry, one who has learned how to wander the multiverse without Rick’s portal tech.

OUR TAKE

It’s a Chris Parnell-athon on this week’s episode as Jerry, Jerry, and Jerry take the reins. Weird how the weakest episodes of this season so far have been the ones that do the traditional Rick and Morty dynamic and the strongest ones are either unconventional pairings or about multiple versions of the same character bonding over their shared misery. The third episode was a bunch of different Ricks and Mortys, a couple weeks ago was about the two Beths, and this week gives Jerry a turn when he gets to go wanderlusting with a emotionally detached doppelganger just like Beth and Space Beth did. I’m honestly surprised the Jerrys didn’t end up screwing too. And also grateful. But yeah, in terms of self-examinations of Jerry as a character and how he has different struggles than the rest of the Sanchez-related family, this was pretty interesting. Usually Jerry is seen as a nuisance, a burden, even a liability to the family, but what is he if he is completely separated from that? We saw a bit of that in the Season 2 episode “Mortynight Run” where he, or at least the one we were following at the time, was sent to a Jerry daycare to keep him from harm during adventures, but that’s still within Rick’s framing of him.

Here, he meets Mooch Jerry, someone who, in a way, kind of became the Rick of Jerrys, wandering from universe to universe simply to not feel any of the crushing cosmic horror existing with his own family. This is fun at first, like anyone first doing a cruise through the finite curve, but it’s not long until they find Jerrys who have learned to consolidate power for themselves. And just like the social dynamic between the Ricks and Mortys at the Citadel, put enough Jerrys in a universe and they’ll just need one Jerry below them to feel at home. Luckily this is worked through and Mooch Jerry reconciles with his family (as well as a Paul Fleischman, also from Mortynight Run!), and regular Jerry better appreciates his place with his own family. Another really strong outing for this season, and surprising that the next episode is called “Morty Daddy” when this was about Morty’s actual dad. Though in that case it’s more about Morty BEING the dad, but I’ll explain things better when we get there. For now, pull up a chair and watch some weird shows nude on the couch! It makes sense in context.