Overview (Spoilers Below)
Terrorists take over an arcade and while Rick tries to free Morty trapped in a video game, Sum-Sum has to pull a die-hard and defeat the terrorists.
We come to find out that the guy running these terrorists is a big Die Hard fan and is totally understanding of what “pulling a Die Hard” entails.
Meanwhile, Rick finds a “Marta” and teams up with her to help concoct a way to reset the game and subsequently free Rick and Morty from their Tron-like prison. The problem is Rick trying to convince everyone to come along with his plan.
Our Take
Ya know what this week’s episode of Rick and Morty reminded me of? Sports fans love their teams, I know I do. In baseball, I love the NY Mets, and have been a fan since I was a kid. There have definitely been games where the Mets just start out horribly, maybe down 5-0 as we head into the 8th or 9th inning. Then all of a sudden, bats come alive, and the Mets get to 5-4 or even tie up the game. But, then the opposing team gets that one last run that just kinda seals the game. Those are the kind of games one can feel good about, you nearly make that comeback victory, but either time runs out or one stupid play happens, and it just wasn’t meant to be, but you still thought the Mets played well at the end and are hopeful for the next game. Granted, it’s a loss in the record books, but a good game nonetheless.
“Rick: A Mort Well Lived” was pretty much the Mets in this scenario, except the disparity between runs was just so much greater. The joke of the episode was more akin to “One Crew over the Crewcoo’s Morty” where the producers of the show are more-or-less telling you that they are going to hit all of the beats that comes with doing a parod, in this case Die Hard, and that’s exactly what happens, topped off by Peter Dinklage’s excellent take as “Aliens Hans Gruber” that was so close I thought that somehow Alan Rickman was brought back to life just to take on the role.
Meanwhile, Rick and Morty take part in what is largely a Tron parody, but sort of like what the writers did with “Claw and Hoarder: Special Ricktim’s Morty“, we get acknowledgment of the “A” plot being ridiculous while the “B” plot is largely the same but hopeful of hitting different. The difference is THAT episode was funny. What’s interesting is when the plots in this week’s episode intertwines a perfect landing of an ending comes out of nowhere which leaves me hopeful for the next couple of episodes, but that’s not without most of the episode falling by the wayside in the areas of dialogue, dialogue, and another sighting of the “I’m Summer, a Zoomer, I buck the trends set forth by the millennials” trope that really started to rear it’s ugly head as far back as “Childrick of Mort“.
Dinklage’s performance alone might be enough to stomach this week’s episode, but overall, this week’s episode of Rick and Morty feels like a thrown away plot from Solar Opposites. I think if I was Justin, with all of the “almost Mortys” running around, I would’ve liked to have seen different voice actors try their attempt at the character so that you can get at least a bit of nuance in the plot that was attempting to be pulled off. The Die Hard parody can eat shit for all I care.