#kriprik thinks

[kripoked]

SEASON 9 EPISODE 4 SPOILERS

+ episode analysis & rickorty (apologies in advance, i basically wrote an essay down below before realizing it.)

honestly, this episode didn’t stick out to me all that much. it felt like a rehash of certain plot devices we’ve seen before (the omniscient fart cloud guy with a funny voice and the blue cloud possessing jerry, rick bot and reese, and vodka planet and car battery miniverse). but, i think it paints all these tropes in a different light.

this episode holds such a different tone to the previous one. in the rick fu episode, everything goes to shit and they argue but they make up and everything’s fine! it’s super wholesome. this episode follows the same exact plot line—with the only difference being rick’s alcoholism.

this clip shows just how fucking toxic everything gets in light of rick’s alcoholism—specifically his behavior when he’s drunk. literally nothing changes in terms of the familiar plot structure we all recognize besides that. and i think rick knows he gets abusive when drunk, and he built this robot not just to protect morty, but to protect morty from rick. notice how reese literally interjects whenever rick is in the middle of berating morty in this clip? it happens both times rick gets drunk and starts berating morty! and the second bot—georgie boy—literally interjects again when rick is angry drunk!

that’s the only thing that stood out to me, theme-wise, about this episode. when i first saw the clips with reese, rick, and morty fishing together, i thought it was gonna be another jellybean situation where we get to see rick protect morty, but it wasn’t. i was right about another thing though! rick was paul in this episode and morty norman, if we’re still sticking to the book a river runs through it the episode title was based on. i was also right about previous episode setting up for this one! the sweetness juxtaposed against this episode to make rick seem more cruel.

as for rickorty content, i think this episode shows that rick and morty are on even ground. morty can hold his own as we can see, but rick always starts it—especially when drunk. in fact, while we all know rick’s emotional intelligence is really fucking low, it’s lower than that of a 14 year old (how old is morty now bruh, he’s been 14 for over a decade). did you see the way they argued? actually, flashback to the beginning of the episode where morty checked up on drunk rick. doesn’t that remind you of a spouse checking up on his husband to make sure he doesn’t get himself into shit? we see that morty has to take care of rick, and has done so consistently (does the same thing in the ted episode!)

rick’s the abusive drunk in this relationship and he fucking knows it. also, the comment about the alcoholism being genetic at the end? that feels like a callback to the therapist episode where rick is called out on him using his intelligence to be toxic—he can’t fight genetics so might as well lean into the alcoholism, right? but, while he knows he can’t change, he has to protect morty from himself, hence reese’s existence.

before the episode came out, i also remember people talking about morty being rick’s password. i was thinking “hm, the writers went a little heavy on rickorty this season. it’ll probably be diane because they’re both 5 letters, and we’ll see morty surprised at the fact rick is still hung up on his dead wife.”

NAH! i was proven wrong. dead wife who? fuck no, grandson across infinity forever bitch. rick even admits it, the emotionally stunted asshole. it’s funny how much rick emphasizes how much he hates morty. morty has so many reasons to hate rick, but i theorize rick actually hates how much he loves morty and how dependent he’s gotten on morty.

overall, i’m appreciating how the writers are addressing the dynamic rick and morty have together in contrast to last season. they’re uncomfortably reliant on one another as grandfather and grandson, too close to be considered a familial relationship, literally hold a dynamic perfectly connected to each other across infinity (brainwaves, wonder when they’re gonna address that again), and in consideration of all this—can hurt each other with the same intensity. rick, even more so.

[kripoked]

SEASON 9 EP 3 SPOILERS

last clip analysis

JK! please don’t click off. still really funny they finally referenced some of that gen alpha brain rot.

this clip is also one of my favs not just cause of rickorty happiness, but also because it shows an outsider’s POV on rick and morty. the happiness between the two lasts for too long, instilling an “ok, we get it” moment. then once it passes that threshold, it turns into an “ok wow, this is uncomfortable. why tf are they acting like this.” this is how a couple acts! again, probably the writers trying to reference the emotional incest happening between the two or play up awkwardness to create a funny moment, but another thing the writers could be doing is setting up for the next episode. the way they’re acting is too happy. they want audiences to notice that.

i will be so embarrassed if this episode isn’t a set up for the next one, but i’m really hoping it is. this episode could genuinely just be a reference to the cheesy, wholly unrealistic kung fu movies people would watch growing up. next episode is a reference to the book a river runs through it. from the spark notes reading i’ve done on the book: i have no idea. trying to assign characters to characters strictly one to one from an old book to a new piece of media is a bit difficult when i haven’t done any reading of the novel.

i do know paul is considered a master fisher and out of control, while norman is his brother that’s more calm. paul eventually gets beaten to death because of his chaotic life style. it feels safe to say rick is the paul in this episode while morty is the norman—but who knows what the writers will be doing? i’d love to see an out of control morty with rick reeling him in (haha reel, fish, you get it right?), similar to the purge world episode. this idyllic honeymoon happiness between rick and morty will end eventually though, i believe.

honestly, i could be reading too much into things. i will be thoroughly surprised if any of what i wrote comes to life in the show. thoroughly surprised.