Rickmancing the Stone

Rick and Morty are back, and as a loyal fan of the show for some time, I say this episode is one to watch over and over again like so many others. Will the divorce be forever, will Rick fulfill his quest for power? The strange worlds, or strange alternate worlds are great and the only thing that could be better is if it were twice as long. However, I guess leaving us wanting more is important. Keep it up I say, make 10,000 more episodes and a 100 movies, and maybe 10 video games.

Summer is brilliant. The jokes land and it's so absurdly over the top.

The wit, the deadpan humor, the pacing, the creativity: all discarded in this installment for boorish detail and pointless narratives -- both devoid of the kind of irony and honesty that we have an apparent luxury to expect from Rick and Morty. Considering how it almost played out like a completely different show, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the person who wrote "Rickmancing the Stone" has never viewed a single episode of the previous two seasons, but has been described in shallow depth the characters and humor featured and so beloved on this program. While invested fans may arrive at disappointment, however, they needn't keep their prospects so narrow for the forthcoming episodes of this usually kinetic series; after all, this actually may not be the worst script produced of the entire show, as it is just so bewilderingly incompatible from everything that preceded in its path.

The First two seasons were excellent with dark humor and adult jokes. The third season so far has not lived up to the standard of the first two seasons. The animation seems the same, but the writing is just off. Every episode of the first two seasons had me laughing out loud at least once an episode and really engaged in the weird outlandish sci fi story lines. This particular episode was boring and straight up not funny. It felt like a milk toast Simpsons episode where it tries too hard to be funny and just couldn't get there. This episode was mildly entertaining, but felt completely out of place in the series. I am not sure what has happened to the shows writers (Did they hire new writers and fire the old ones?) but this was the worst Rick and Morty episode of all the shows-- It just wasn't funny,and kind of boring.

The Rickshank Rickdemption was easily one of the funniest, most action-packed and all-round best episodes of the entire franchise. Rickmancing the Stone would therefore have a lot to live up to. But as other users have already written, this episode seemed like something from an entirely different (writers') universe. A little research reveals writers of the episodes linked to The Simpsons (which have been stale and boring for some time now), and which explains the one-dimensional, all-too formulaic and simply boring plot lines. There is a lot to be said when the funniest moment is the end-credit scene, or when Beth is the most accurately portrayed character in the entire show, even though she appears but three times.

I don't want to discredit the show entirely, and I hope that this episode is a ricknomaly, in every sense of the word. It didn't feel right, and I am a little frustrated at out how it made it past Roiland & Harmon, nevertheless, especially given the hiatus... Please, please return to the philosophical, the absurd, the ricktastic, the non-canonical and the wonderfully quirky Rick and Morty we all love. Do not invest too much into the episodic or in trying to move the show more towards a main-stream audience (just because of its increased popularity).

I have excessively high hopes for 'Pickle Rick', nonetheless. It looks every bit the return to true form that it should be. Otherwise this season will fast be forgotten or ignored entirely...