Rick and Morty Season 4 Episode 1 Review

Part of the appeal, and much of the humor, of Rick and Morty, for fans like myself, is derived from the laughably large gap between the eponymous odd couple’s respective perspectives.

Rick, the mad scientist whose genius–in stride with the medium of animation–provides the means to travel between dimensions and planes of reality, to defy death, and to survive the lot of existence, is the de facto God of this godless cartoon universe. As such, Rick thinks of life as a meaningless, mundane, and endlessly mutable phenomenon governed mostly by chance and indifference–and proceeds about life largely according to this view.

Morty, on the other hand, is relatively dim-witted, physically small, and chronically nervous. His insecurities, exacerbated by Rick’s near omnipotence, cause him to cling to, and lurch for, meaning, function, purpose, essence, whatever. It is often these dueling motivations/values which produces the show’s conflict and comic effect.

Now entering its fourth season, the show’s creators are still mining this tension’s rich vein of comedy and profundity, and reminding us of it at the same time.

At the end of season three, we see Rick abandon his gloriously petty and absurd struggle with the President to reunite with his family, initially to kill Jerry, but then to relent to Beth’s wishes to be with Jerry. With the family reconciled, season 4 is like a new beginning for the Smiths, as Beth told us in the season 3 finale, “Things will be like they were in season 1.” Living up to this, the show’s staff explores this basic and primal vein with the same vigor as season 1.

When “Edge of Tomorty: Rick, Die, Rickpeat” begins, the Smiths’ are experiencing the good health the third season finale promises. Quickly, though, Rick and Morty jeopardize these good spirits by going on an adventure to retrieve “Death Crystals,” presumably for one of Rick’s experiments/inventions, echoing the adventure to collect Mega Tree” seeds in the pilot episode. For fear of spoilers, that will be all I reveal of the episode’s content.During the course of the adventure, the narrative divides into, and continues along, two tracks, as Rick and Morty, as well as the show’s makers, put their opposing worldviews to the test, albeit by accident and unconsciously.

Morty’s portion of the narrative proceeds, by the force of his own neurotic will, in a conventional linear manner which, generally, strives to build meaning, themes, morals for the anxious spirit to dwell in, a destiny to quiet the cowardice.

Rick’s portion, however, proceeds, by the force of his own genius and arrogance, in a non-linear manner which is cyclical and recursive, almost quantum in nature. Moreover, the world in Rick’s tract of story is hostile towards him. It is no ready-made home with a ready-made destiny for you to figuratively imbibe upon when you’re feeling blue, only booze for you to literally imbibe upon.

The episode concludes with a perfunctory synthesis of the two worldviews, stated in such a sardonic, matter-of-fact voice that we’d rather dispense with the lesson and cycle back through the adventure for the sake of living and the joy it gives us, just to end up right back here, dispensing with the wisdom for the experience it ornaments.