Review: Rick and Morty “Jer Bud”
OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)
Jerry is pressured to take some alien anxiety remedy before his first big job interview in awhile, and Morty takes a vacation to meet up with an old best friend.
OUR TAKE
We’re already halfway through a mostly good season, kinda made better for the fact that it can be good at its NINTH season, but we still have to also assess these episodes for what they are at face value. Luckily, this week is another solid one with a pretty deep continuity pull, as Morty’s
B plot involves him reuniting with Snowball, the family’s dog who gained sapience thanks to Rick’s tech in “Lawnmower Dog”, the second episode of the entire series. For an episode that I figured was just meant to showcase the show’s writing of kooky sci-fi concepts, I fully expected to never see Snowball or his dog uprising again, but it’s actually quite nice to see this followed up on. It’s less nice for Morty, as it seems that Snowball’s regime has taken to treating the local sapien population like domesticated dogs were and breeding them into ghastly monstrosities, as well as inciting its own rebellion of “Mancors”, who hastily enlist Morty to their cause despite his clear reluctance. He brags to Rick later that he never took a moral stance, which I would normally frown upon, but this whole thing is really not his business in the first place anyway, and it seems like Snowball and the dogs are on their way to some compromises by the end after he and Morty reconcile.
However, the main focus of the episode, at least based on the title, is on Jerry, the two Beths, and Rick, as Jerry taking some “Worry Worms” does help him impress the boss he is interviewing for a new advertising job. Remember when Jerry was doing advertising work and got fired in the fourth episode? They joke that no one’s made fun of him for being unemployed in awhile, but his going for an interview and ultimately getting a job does genuinely feel like a sign of growth for him and the family. Jerry is still very much the punching bag for everyone but it at least doesn’t seem like it’s just Beth trying to help him back up anymore. His use of the worms does lead to insane death defying stunts as he is compelled by the worms to induce more anxiety for them, so that sucks, but he still gets the job and everyone is actually happy for him! Even Rick, who has to come to terms with him feeling anxious about this change as the one who was designated as the bottom of the ranking is finally taking steps to improve. And as someone who is also desperately looking for work and trying not to be discouraged by constant rejection, this does give me a bit of hope, which is also nice.
