‘Rick and Morty’ Season 5 Review
This past Sunday, September 5th, Adult Swim released episodes nine and ten of “Rick and Morty” season five, bringing it to a close. The episodes served as a two-parter, with episode nine and ten both being 21 minutes and having the plots closely tie in with each other.
As season five of the acclaimed adult animation show comes to an end, let's reflect on the season in its entirety.
Season five is probably the weakest since season one, but that doesn’t mean it is a bad season by any means at all. There are some weaker episodes, like “Rickdependence Spray,” which is the lowest rated episode in the show to date on IMDB. That being said, the season doesn’t fall short on drama, character development, random moments of very serious and intense emotion and of course, fart jokes.
The season started off strong with “Mort Dinner Rick Andre,” “Mortyplicity,” and “A Rickconvenient Mort,” episodes one, two and three of the season. Episode three brought in Alison Brie to voice the character Planetina, which provided obvious social commentary on climate change, but also gave a lot of character development to Morty as a romantic.
Throughout the show, Morty’s anxiousness and lack of self-confidence has always left him alone and stuck with Rick, but this season we got to explore Morty having more faith in himself as a romantic.
In episode one, he finally had the confidence to hang out with Jessica and invite her over, but not to audience’s surprise Rick’s selfishness and need for Morty got in the way of that. Then in episode three, Morty fell in love with a superhero, but then had to turn away from her because he didn’t like who she became.
This season had episodes that were more just comedy and didn’t have that deeper meaning that makes “Rick and Morty” fans love the show, but it did have a ton of character development. Another character that we learned about this season and who also changed a bunch was, of course, Rick Sanchez.
In episode eight, titled “Rickternal Friendhsine of the Spotless Mort,” Rick attempted to bring his old friend turned cyborg Bird Person back to life by going into his subconscious to bring him out. In Bird Person’s mind, we learned a lot about the back story between the two as they fought the federation throughout their years.
In the episode, Rick learns that Bird Person’s ex-wife, Tammy, had his child and Rick refrains from telling this to Bird Person. Rick didn’t want Bird Person having a life outside their friendship, but Bird Person found out why Rick didn’t tell him and decided he needed to go be a parent instead.
The post credit’s scene of the episode gave us a teaser of Bird Person’s daughter locked away in a prison where she violently murders another inmate.
In the two-part finale, Rick and Morty both go through an arc that comes back full circle by the end. In episode nine, titled “Forgetting Sarick Mortshall,” Rick and Morty both learn that they need some time apart and they are capable of being independent from each other.
In the finale, they both reunite after Rick was away doing samurai anime type adventures and Morty was at home just missing his grandpa. They venture to the rebuilt citadel where Evil Morty is president and is running a semi-democratic government. Evil Morty needed Rick to help rebuild the citadel and then he scans his entire brain to show Morty the person he is.
A flashback sequence kicks off where we learn a lot about Rick Sanchez’s mysterious past. In season three episode one, we are given a scene inside Rick's memory where a Rick from another dimension kills his wife and daughter Beth in order to show him the secret of portal tech, which allows Rick to travel to infinite realities.
For a while this was speculated to not be true, but it was indeed confirmed to be true in Season 5’s finale, titled “Rickmurai Jack.”
This led Rick on a path of vengeance where he became the Rick we’ve grown to love and, at sometimes, hate; Rick C-137. He spent years tracking people down and killing anyone he needed to, until he finally killed the Rick that murdered his wife and daughter. Morty sees this and feels empathy towards his grandpa, since he now understands why he is the way he is.
As the finale ends, Rick and Morty are back together, but it is more on a want basis not a need basis. Evil Morty finishes his plan of going to a reality where the infinite loop of Ricks and Morty’s exists, and he disappears into a gold portal.
Season 5 of Rick and Morty has been getting a lot of hate, which is undeserved. In areas where it lacks, the last three episodes of the season make up for it with character development and key plot points into the character pasts. It’s one of the weaker seasons of the Adult Swim series, but it is still great and proven time and time again to be a top tier show.
Review: 4/5
Sam Roberts is a fourth-year majoring in telecommunications. To contact him, email sam.robertspsu00@gmail.com.
