Review: Rick and Morty “Thanksploitation Spectacular”

 

 

Overview:

While attempting to steal the Constitution, Morty pulled a boner and destroyed it and the Statue of Liberty. Now, the President and US Government are cracking down on Rick and his constant antics. 

Thankfully, Rick always has a plan.

By turning Morty and himself into turkeys, Rick plans on receiving an official Thanksgiving pardon from the President himself. However, the President is on to Rick’s old tricks and has enlisted special operatives to also transform into turkeys. And when things start to turn, the President himself turns into a turkey.

Unfortunately, there was a slip up when turning everyone back, and the wrong turkey was given the Presidents body. Now, Rick, Morty, and the President must combine forces before a race of super-soldier turkeys take over the country.

 

Our Take:

Thank goodness we did not have to wait for new episodes of Rick and Morty. The fifth season marks the first year that the series did not take a mid-season break. Meaning, this is the first time that we are receiving ten fresh episodes back-to-back. And what better way to say thanks than a Thanksgiving spectacular.

Sure, Thanksgiving could not be further away on the calendar. However, considering we do not have to wait for fall, we can pretend for Rick and Morty’s sake.   

This episode does not disappoint diving into the rich history of the United States of America off the bat. Well, destroying significant parts of it, but whatever. This was not a traditional episode of Rick and Morty. Instead of dimension jumping and space travel, this piece dives into the crazy world that is America, in a National Treasure type theme.

This is the third time, so far, this season that the President has played a significant role in an episode. Perhaps the series is attempting to stay more grounded. However, contradictory to that, the stakes have been much higher for the show, this being the second time in a few short weeks that Morty and Rick had to help save the USA. They may have inadvertently caused both disasters, but who’s to judge?

This was one of the stranger episodes of an already strange show. The back-and-forth transformations between humans and turkeys were enough to make this a weird piece. However, the inclusion of an ancient alien race and an FDR/spider monster added to the convolution. The craziness is only comparable to a former Rick and Morty episode involving Rick turning into a pickle.

Although, the only thing that could have made this episode better would have been a classic story twist. At multiple points throughout it would have been exciting for Rick to turn things around and say that it was all a part of his plan. Either he needed the pardon, or he needed to know what was in the crypt below Capitol. It is better when Rick is the mastermind and not just trying to survive like everyone else.

Still, this was an exciting addition to season five after a couple of sleeper episodes. There were plenty of layers to the story to keep it moving through each act. This was as unpredictable as they come, mostly thanks to the strange turns that happen throughout. So while it may be a few months early, this episode definitely made me thankful.