After nine seasons, we all know that a vacation for Rick is never just a vacation. Either he'll find a way to screw it up, or someone else will barge in and wacky sci-fi hijinks will ensue. "Ricks Days, Seven Nights" follows this format that we've seen in "Rest and Ricklaxation" and "The Old Man and the Seat," but with an extra twist: Rick wiped his memory beforehand, so he genuinely believes that he's a PVC salesman named Ted who's lived on this planet all his life.
Unfortunately, his cyborg gadgets make a surprise appearance during a robbery, forcing a hologram Rick to confront him with the truth. At this point, the plot pretty much proceeds how you'd expect. Ted doesn't want to go back to being Rick, so he tries to cut off contact with the Smiths and stay on this planet forever before he finally gets fed up and decides to confront Rick for good.
At this point, I was a little confused. I couldn't figure out if Ted is a mind-wiped C-137 Rick or a clone that Rick sent out to go on vacation--which wouldn't make sense because then he wouldn't experience the vacation himself, but if Ted's going back to Earth to confront Rick, who exactly is he going to face?
Ultimately, he ends up beating up a hologram. This scene started to lose me because he could've avoided that situation by not going back to Earth at all. Maybe "Ted" thought he was going to encounter a flesh-and-blood Rick? I'll admit that I had trouble following this episode at times and needed to rewatch a few scenes to get a clearer picture.
The episode ends with "Ted" hitting the button that turns him back into Rick, although the writers dragged it out so long that I was worried that we'd have to accept Ted as the new Rick. Luckily, we don't, but the change--or lack thereof--is almost just as devastating.
The more Rick changes, the more he stays the same. He's a lot gentler now (even his "mean" scenes in this episode are tame compared to the atrocities he's committed in the past), and when he has a breakdown, he doesn't destroy the galactic government or murder thousands of versions of himself or berate his grandson in the garage.
Instead, he's just a sad drunk. He gets wasted, makes a fool out of himself and snaps at the people who care about him, which drives him to drink even more. And even when he tries to become a different person, his self-hatred doesn't disappear. Rather, it goes dormant until he starts to get bored and metaphorically (or literally) lights everything on fire, just as he did in "Something Ricked This Way Comes" all the way back in season one.
To make matters worse, the end credits scene reveals that this isn't the last time a vacation goes haywire--and it probably wasn't the first, either. You'd think that he'd stop wiping his memory already and look for another way to relax, but since this is an ongoing cycle, I suspect that he secretly enjoys the chaos and destruction.
After all, what else does he have? Romantic relationships blow up in his face. Another Rick murdered his family decades ago, and while he loves his current family, their relationship is strained. His brilliance brought him nothing but suffering. Rick's a deeply traumatized man who doesn't know how to exist without pain, and that's the only thing that makes him feel alive.
However...that brings me to my main criticism. This episode is entertaining, suspenseful and well-written, and the scenery is beautiful and immersive. Still, we've seen Rick repeat this cycle so many times that it's starting to feel like the writers are trapped in a cycle themselves.
I realize that he can't become a great person overnight, especially now that the show might be going on indefinitely, but how many times do we have to watch the same scenario play out? Rick improving himself doesn't have to ruin the show. "Cryo Mort a Rickver" and "Full Meta Jackrick" are just a couple of examples where a kinder Rick adds to the episode instead of detracting from it.
I mean, how long is this going to last? Are we going to be on season 23, watching Rick embark on another drunken bender with Morty reassuring him at the end, followed by another episode where Rick's inexplicably nicer because the plot requires it? I don't want to be negative, but I don't think Rick's the only one who needs to break the cycle.
Morty's pep talk at the end was a bright moment in the episode. I think the writers intended this to serve as a brutal contrast to Rick's real life--but, honestly, most of Morty's speech was true. Rick IS really smart. He IS really important. He DOES have a great family (okay, they're a hot mess, but still), and he DOES have a lot of friends. And, despite everything, they DO really love him.
Unfortunately, happiness is the one thing that his intelligence can't give him. "Ted" drunkenly claims that if he were smarter, he could just figure it out--but, after he presses the button, he realizes that Rick and Ted were one and the same. Vacations won't help him. Getting drunk won't help him. The man needs mental help...but, at this point, I'm not sure if the writers are going to give it to him.
