Review: Rick and Morty “Salute Your Morts”
OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)
Rick sends Morty and Summer to a “scared straight” camp when they get expelled, only for the two to find that the camp itself has been taken over by kids worse than them. Meanwhile, Beth and Jerry get stupid high.
OUR TAKE
We’re already at the penultimate episode of this season, which is kinda crazy to think about. It’s also the 90th episode of the series overall, meaning the hundredth is closer than ever. We’ve known the show was going to hit one hundred episodes for…god, almost a decade now when it got that seven season renewal so long ago, but to think we’re within just a season of it is insane. Unfortunately, that’s probably the most interesting thing about this episode because this is another that is just kind of okay. It’s by no means bad, and it’s nice to have a plot about Summer and Morty together, as opposed to being apart most of the episode like in Erickerhead, but a story about them just being asshole spoiled kids and learning to not be by meeting even worse asshole kids just feels lukewarm. But they can’t all be winners and, when you think about it, having a couple okay episodes in season full of certified bangers while nine seasons in really just highlights how strong this season has been, so even this one being a bit lackluster just ends up being another reason why this has been a strong outing overall for the show.
But okay, let’s just keep looking at this episode on its own outside of everything surrounding it. It’s got a lot of great throwaway gags, from Rick summoning Morty like Mjolnir (Mjortnir?), to Beth and Jerry’s back and forth about Jackson Pollock, and then their high as balls fit at Space Beth, who herself has a funny bit spotting Bill Pullman. This is a genuinely funny episode, and a kind of sweet one at that with the moments between Beth and Jerry as they bond while high out of their gourds. It just doesn’t really end up saying a whole bunch or digging into much that hasn’t been explored thoroughly, or doing stuff with the characters that we haven’t already seen. And again, you don’t necessarily have to do any of that. Some episodes are just about doing weird and crazy shit and just walking it off. Plus, we’ve got the finale next week, which is probably going to cover plenty of the boxes this one didn’t, which makes it the perfect time for one of these. Overall, solid episode, but probably near the bottom of the rankings for the season, which only helps the season look better. And now, onto the finale.
