WARNING – MAJOR SEASONS 1-3 SPOILERS
There are quite a few animated TV shows with notoriety for being static and unchanging—perhaps stale is not the right term, especially when applied to animation monsters such as The Simpsons, Spongebob Squarepants and Family Guy. Each of these shows focuses on stories that run on an episode-to-episode basis, wrapping up neatly (or perhaps not neatly at all) and, regardless, beginning the next episode from a blank slate.
Rick and Morty began with a similar route, although despite being a show based upon absurdist humor, it has always seemed to feel a responsibility to make the world right again at the end of the episode for the sake of continuity — or, if not everything is made right again, things will remain changed for the rest of the series. A prime example of this is the sixth episode of the first season, Rick Potion #9. That episode — a personal favorite of mine for a couple of reasons — twists the trope of a Snap Back. This is when everything snaps back to normal with little to no explanation in a TV show, as many animated shows have famously done. However, Rick Potion #9 does not merely adjust this idea; it grabs the idea’s arm and twists it, the idea screaming and kicking the entire way. Rick and Morty quite literally destroy the world as they know it due to a combination of poor decisions, and must essentially find a reset button. After a few attempts that make things (debatably) progressively worse, Rick’s final idea for a Snap Back ends up looking more gruesome than initially perceived. They enter an alternate reality and watch themselves get brutally killed by a faulty machine before silently taking their places in this reality.
From season one, Rick and Morty has been unafraid to toy with the tropes of animated TV shows that snap back every episode. However, the stories were still generally self-contained, save for a couple changes that are referred to later in the season, and the last episode which continues into season two.
The second and especially third seasons, however, take bolder moves than before to point towards an arc-based story that matches those of dramas or sitcoms. The last episode we encountered this past Sunday, The Ricklantis Mixup, pushed these stereotypes out the window and laughed in their lifeless faces. With this latest episode, the show made a point to completely ignore the self-contained adventure of the Rick and Morty we know and love, instead basing the plot line upon Ricks and Morty’s from other realities as they try to rebuild the citadel of Ricks. This episode is one of the first episodes that a random viewer may find absolutely baffling, completely unable to understand what is going on. The episode sincerely requires an extent of understanding of Rick’s and Morty’s characters, which animated shows such as this one generally tend to avoid. (Can you think of a Family Guy episode that requires a genuine understanding of the characters to understand the story? No, of course not. Family Guy is not designed that way. In fact, you should be able to pick it up halfway through the episode and still be able to somewhat understand what’s going on.)
That change in the show’s dynamic is exciting and unique. The episode felt like one made just for dedicated viewers, along with connecting loose plot ends and showcasing references from countless episodes such as Eyepatch Morty from Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind, the trunk people from Rixty Minutes, the destruction of the Council of Ricks from The Rickshank Redemption, and various other parts of the series that may have seemed forgotten or unimportant.
I’m looking forward to what comes next. The election of a Morty as president of the Council of Ricks — and the concept that this Morty has no regard for the lives of Ricks that do not cooperate with him — is fresh within the series, and provides countless avenues for an arc-based story that can provide for incredibly interesting and entertaining individual adventures along with rewarding the viewer for following along with the intricate plot within a show existing in a genre that is not expected to have intricate plots of any kind.
The Snap Back is being attacked — I only hope that Rick and Morty continues along this avenue of arc-based storytelling while also tearing down and reconstructing animation and television tropes and stereotypes along the way
Marco Omta is a junior studying music production. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Do you watch Rick and Morty? Email Marco at mo183714@ohio.edu.
