Review: Rick and Morty ‘Get Schwifty’
Spoilers Below:
Last week’s effort was near perfection, akin to the episodes last year that consistently scored on that level. It was the height of season two of Rick and Morty thus far, and set the bar for the rest of the episodes.
This week, a giant, powerful head appeared on Earth, and Rick and Morty headed to the Pentagon to help the government leaders strategize. Rick told them they needed to create a hit song to show the head what they got. The duo performed “Get Schwifty,” much to the head’s delight, and it was discovered that the song was part of an entry for an intergalactic TV show called Planet Music, where only one planet is named a winner, and the rest are disintegrated. Rick and Morty set out to save the world and prove they weren’t one hit wonders, working with Ice-T, who revealed himself to actually be ice. Doubting his grandfather’s ability, Morty left and attempted to save his family, but realized that he should have just trusted and supported Rick. The two reunited to create a winning tune.
Meanwhile, Principal Vagina started a cult to worship the giant head and a multitude of other visiting floating heads, believing it to please them. Summer became a follower, and almost sacrificed her parents when they failed to join as well. Eventually everyone realized that their behavior was completely meaningless.
In Case You Missed It:
1) The-Dream is an R&B/pop musician that actually did write “Umbrella” and “Single Ladies.” He also wrote Justin Bieber’s “Baby,” so fuck that guy.
2) “Principal Vagina. The name’s real. Possibly Scandinavian.”
3) The deviants marked for ascension were labeled: thief, goth, and movie talker.
4) “In bird culture, this is considered a dick move.”
5) The extra bit at the end advertised a fake show called Water T and the Rise of the Numbericons.
Simply put, this episode was probably the worst Rick and Morty ever. Wait, wait. Save your angry emails and letterbombs (unless you agree with me, in which case: high five, bro!) It actually wasn’t terrible, it just happened to not be as good as any episodes last year, and is the weakest of the five second round entries.
The plot was extremely tame for this show. In fact, I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before (South Park? Futurama? Let me know in the comments or on twitter if you agree.) But I won’t fault the show for that, I’ll just express my displeasure for the lack of complexity and intensity. I think I enjoyed this installment about as much as “Mortynight Run,” but at least the storylines in that one were more amusing. I feel like a healthy dose of randomness and absurdity is almost required in Rick and Morty, and with a lot of chances to provide this (the different band performances, to name one) the show somehow faltered.
Was it funny? A bit. Enough to not be a failure. The biggest laugh, in my opinion, was the man who floated by whilst attached to balloons and pleaded for help. Humorous, and just a bit dark – the way the show’s jokes are always best served.
Still, it’s just so obvious that this was a crappy episode, and about at the halfway point of the season (I believe), the show will really have to have a strong second half to lift the overall quality. Otherwise Rick and Morty, like the titular characters, will have to prove it’s not a one-hit wonder.
