Wake up Call, Rick and Morty
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Wake Up Call, Rick And Morty.
0. Introduction
1. Quality Check
Episode 1:
Episode 2:
Episode 3:
Episode 4:
Episode 5:
Episode 6:
Episode 7:
Episode 8:
Episode 10:
Episode 9:
2. “Prequel-bashing”
3. Admitting Resentment, But That’s Okay.
Wakeup Call, Rick and Morty, Or: How I Lost It To The Mainstream, And That’s Okay
0. Introduction
Consider this metaphor: Season 3 is to Rick and Morty what the Prequels were to Star Wars. A very high bar was set for it, and not only did it not reach that bar, at some points it actually struggled with some basic fundamentals of its medium. Because of that, hardcore fans of the series were enraged, and most new fans that didn’t have the same context thought it was decent.
In this video, I want to go over why I think the season was bad, and more importantly, I want to go over some revelations I had about why I’ve bashed this season so much. If I can’t convince you of why this season was subpar, hopefully I can at least show you where I’m coming from.
But before we jump into it, it’s time for all the introductory crap.
I’d like to give my deepest respect and admiration for Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland, Ryan Ridley, and everyone else involved with Rick and Morty. I make these videos not to tear them and their show down, but in hopes to see them improve. I once loved this show, and if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be spending my time writing, recording, and editing videos like this.
This video is my fourth and final attempt to summarize my feelings about Season 3, and will be serving as a replacement video for the two I’ve previously unlisted. Neither of them are as good as this video, but If you want to go watch them, you can find a link to them in the description, or find them in my Original Videos playlist.
Now, with that out of the way, let’s begin.
1. Quality Check
Let me pitch you some questions:
Did the plot twist with Toxic and Healthy Morty intrigue you like the plot twist in with the triple layer simulation did?
Did The Vindicators leave as strong and as marketable an impression on you as Mr. Meeseeks did?
Did Jerry’s struggles with his kids and [the alien lady] endear you and give you a sense of fulfillment in the same way as Jerry handled the Plutonians?
Did Beth panicking over possibly being a clone have the same emotional impact to you of Morty having to bury his own body?
Did Rick monologing to Beth about her intelligence and the universe have any of the profoundness to you of Morty revealing his self-grave to Summer to make her understand the idea of nihilistic freedom?
And god forbid, did any of the skits in Morty’s Mind blowers entertain you like the improv in the Interdimensional TVs did?
Did anything in Season 3 live up to the highlights of Season 1?
Even beyond the highlights, did the standard of episodes feel up to the same quality as Season 1’s?
I don’t think it did. Every time I watch through this season, I see so many problems. Pacing and spacing issues were rampant. Actual laughs were scarce. The majority of the character development was predictable and uninteresting. The overall arc for the season was lame and pointless. I believe that, objectively, Season 3 did not live up to the same standard that Season 1 and Season 2 had set for it.
So lets blitz through each episode and dive into some specifics.
Episode 1:
At the end of Season 2 we were lead to believe that Rick was ultimately sacrificing himself for the good of his family, and that somehow someone was going to break him out of prison. This episode says PSYCHE, he doesn’t really care about his family, it was all just a chess game to him. I find that to be pretty lame, because I actually liked the fact that they were having Rick do good things for good reasons for once. Other than that, however, it was a very solid episode.
Episode 2:
Once again, a solid episode, until you take it in context of the rest of the season. Where the fuck does badass road warrior summer go for the rest of the season? Why is the only other plot she gets about her crying over breaking up with Ethan and fucking up her body in response? Also, doesn’t it seem a little wrong to have Morty and Summer come to terms with the divorce the very next episode after it happens? And why have Summer have this neat coming to terms scene with Jerry when the next time we see them together, she acts like she hasn’t a drop of respect for him? How can you consider either of these two things to be character development when they’re completely ignored later on in the season?
But what irks me the most about this kind of thing is that they’re trying to have this overarching plot of the divorce throughout the season, but don’t actually bother to let anything else arch over multiple episodes. Why are you taking a half-step? Either commit to being Venture Bros for a season, or stick to being Futurama. Whole-ass one format, don’t half-ass both.
Episode 3:
I want you to imagine how absurd it would feel if you were watching a cop movie and they just literally stopped the car chase at a red light and spent the next 5 minutes lecturing the police about how they’re endangering civilians. That is what this episode is. I don’t care how much you liked or hated the fact that the therapy monologue was bringing Rick down a peg. It absolutely kneecaps the entertainment value of the rest of the episode. I can see no good reason that someone would write like