Rick And Morty New Episodes Season 6 Reviews With Breakdowns And References

After what felt like an eternity following the Season 5 finale. New episodes of Rick and Morty are finally here. So be sure to check back here every week for my review of each new episode along with weekly breakdowns of every reference, easter egg, and call back for each new episode.Also, it should go without saying that this article will feature spoilers not only for each new episode but also for Rick and Morty Seasons 1 to 5. So please don’t read on unless you’re happy with seeing spoilers or you’ve already seen each week’s new episode. As this article is going to be breakdown first, followed by a list and discussion of all the references for each new episode.Next Read: Rick And Morty Season 6 – Release Date, News, Wormageddon Updates

Rick and Morty Season 6 Weekly New Episode Reviews:

Episode 1 – “Solaricks”

With this first episode, the Rick and Morty creative team have truly come out swinging for the fences. As this episode is loaded with the show’s trademark wit, humour, and satire, along with a tonne of lore drops, both subtle and overt.Honestly, this episode very nearly outdoes the Season 5 finale for how much is revealed in such a short space of time. As we either find out for the first time or have it confirmed that, in no particular order:This dimension’s version of Summer is one of one of Rick’s fall backs as she has a “Chores” server with plans and details on what to do in specific situations.It’s not that Space Beth didn’t care about her family, it’s just in her mind, that was what the clone was for.Rick was only in Morty’s original dimension in Season 1 because That is the dimension where the Rick who killed his Diane and Beth was from and he was hoping to find him.Rick has been “child proofing” Morty while he sleeps such as giving him the ability to breath in the ruins of the Citadel of Ricks without the need for a helmet or breathing apparatus.The Jerry that Rick and Morty brought back at the end of Season 2, Episode 2: “Mortynight Run”, Is Not, the Jerry that they dropped off at the beginning of the episode.After Diane and young Beth’s death, Rick made a computer AI of Diane specifically to haunt him that he couldn’t mute as he never wanted to forget what happened and wanted to torture himself over it.The Summer and Beth of Morty’s original dimension, the Cronenberg dimension, only referred to in this episode as mutants, died, leaving their Jerry alone in the apocalypse.When Rick left his original dimension, he left it in a time loop where everyone’s mind is stuck in the same day that Rick left, but their bodies still age and break down with time as if they were living normal lives.Rick may be softer on Summer because she reminds him so much of Diane.At 21 minutes long including the credits and after credits scene, the episode moves briskly, and never felt boring or slow as the jokes and satire of pop culture like Rick satirising Tony Stark’s opening monologue from Avengers: Endgame is hilarious. There’s also plenty of exciting action with Summer getting plenty of screen time this episode showing she can more than hold her own with her “Grandpa Rick” when it comes to intergalactic adventuring and fighting.Every joke is funny and hits exactly as it is meant to. But, the genius of the Rick and Morty writing is not in the visual gags or the spoken gags, even if they are brilliantly executed. Such as Rick’s sarcastic delivery of lines like “He basically threw a tantrum to announce he was quitting Twitter.” To which Morty then defeatedly replies, “Nobody quits Twitter…”No, the genius of the writing, is the way that the show continues to not only humanise Rick through his connection to his adopted family (as this episode reinforces that the entire family is now made up of family members from different dimensions, who love each other as if they were blood) and his pain and regret over what happened to his Diane and Beth. But, to also ensure that the audience never forgets that Rick is also a truly wicked and terrible human being because this is what he allowed his grief to twist him into.And crucially, Rick knows this.He knows what he has become. He knows how callous he can be, especially at his worst. As evidenced by the subtly horrifying scene revealing the time loop. As we see an old man man on a bicycle delivering papers, who we realise must have been a child at the time Rick started the time loop and who has now aged, through no fault of his own, while stuck in the time loop repeating the same routine every day, as evidenced by the dozens of newspapers underneath the tree outside Rick’s house. At the same time, we’re also shown a woman, aged into elderly years, as she drags the skeleton of her dog behind her on the street outside the house.These are horrifying images that may initially seem to be just there as sight gags, but in reality, they’re there to reinforce, as previous seasons have, that Rick’s actions more often than not have incredibly severe consequences that trap those affected by them while Rick flies or portals off to his next (mis)adventure.To further underline this, the episode ends with the Jerry who was left behind in Season 2, Episode 2, now returned to the family home, releasing an alien creature he found in Rick’s room called, Mr Frundles, before Rick can stop him. Mr Frundles then proceeds to bite Jerry’s leg turning it into a Mr Frundles, before biting objects in the house turning them into Mr Frundles as well. Before self replicating so much that we see the entirety of the Earth of this dimension become a Mr Frundles. As Space Beth flies everyone away, and when asked why he would have something so dangerous in their home? Rick simply replies he only brought it home because he thought it was cute.The self proclaimed smartest man in the universe brought home a highly dangerous creature with little idea of what it could do, just because he thought it was cute…It’s another point, in an episode full of them, that drives home, or at least should hopefully drive home that as fun and funny and even caring a character as Rick can be. He is absolutely not someone that anyone should ever aspire to be, least of all his own daughter or grandchildren.Now, again, because I feel like I should re-iterate this after what I’ve just said about Rick. This is an incredibly fun and funny and brilliant episode. And is brilliant precisely because of how deftly the writing and acting balances the humour of the episode with the pathos of what has come before and has still yet to come.With such a rock solid start to this new season. I can not wait for the rest of the season to see how many plot threads from this episode get paid off by seasons end and how many, such as the reveal about Jerry, will get paid off in future seasons over the next few years.In summary, I give this episode a 10/10 rating without any hint of hesitation as it’s that great an episode in my opinion.

Episode References:

Wow, this episode was packed to the brim with references, and below, I’ll break down as many of them as I personally noticed:Overly Dramatic Voiceover/Monologue: This one is always a reliable narrative device/trope for writers to get across information and here it gets skewered as only Rick and Morty can, with Rick chiding himself for doing it, saying “I guess when your dying, the first thing to go is your creativity.”Avengers: Endgame Opening: This comes directly from the reference above, for, as mentioned in my episode review. The opening voiceover gag is lifted directly from Tony’s voiceover then monologue in Endgame, right down to Rick calling out the reference directly in this episode.People Posting They’re Leaving Twitter On Twitter And Then Never Actually Doing It….: I may only be speaking for myself here but I really, really loved this joke. As it’s something I see all the time on Twitter, and it’s just, personally, really annoying to me. So, to see Rick skewering it in the opening minute of the show was just perfect.“In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream”: The iconic poster tag from Alien has been used for decades by Science teachers (or, hey, maybe it was just my teacher) to explain the reality of vacuums, and here it’s used for a great sight gag where Space Beth tries and fails to make an action movie one liner, because she’s outside in space, with Rick then hilariously explaining and chiding her for even attempting it.Rick, Morty, and Jerry Glowing Green: Depending on whether you’ve been following the recent Wormageddon global hunt/interactive episode, this reference may have either been a nice confirmation, or completely passed you by. As, at the end of the event, the official Adult Swim YouTube page released an animated video that summarised the event and teased the characters flashing green and disappearing, exactly as they do in this episode. Also, there is potentially an extra reference here. As, at the end of that animated short, we see several familiar Rick and Morty characters all racing, Mad Max: Fury Road style, towards one final giant Space Worm. Only to then see, first, Mr Nimbus, then Jerry, then Summer and Beth, the Space Worm, then Morty, and finally Rick, all disappear, just as Rick, Morty, and Jerry do in this episode.This to me implies that they were all in our dimension at the time of Wormageddon and when Rick resets the portal index, they’re all teleported back to their home dimensions, just as this episode’s, Rick, Morty, and Jerry are.Jerryboree: As first seen all the way back in Season 2, Episode 2 “Mortynight Run”, the Jerry intergalactic day care center created by Rick’s to look after their Jerry’s while they go on adventures, gets mentioned again in this episode. As we learn that the Jerry that Rick and Morty brought back, was in fact not this dimension’s Jerry but was a Jerry from another dimension.The “Cronenberg” Dimension: In another call back to the earlier seasons, this episode sees Morty returned to his original Dimension, C-137, also known as “The Cronenberg” dimension after the events of Season 1, Episode 1 “Rick Potion No. 9”.Rick’s Weapons Vending Machine And Summer’s Wolverine Claws: So, this one has both some obvious references, and one that seems obvious, but is a little more subtle I feel unless you’re an X-Men comics reader/fan.So, to begin with the obvious, in Rick’s weapons vending machine, as I have no other name for it right now. We see several items that look somewhat familiar, such as, a hammer that looks a lot like MCU Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. A visor that looks a lot like Cyclops of the X-Men’s visor, and a helmet that looks a lot like X-Men villain and later ally, Magneto’s, helmet.The other items, I personally, am not sure what they’re referencing. But, the little more subtle reference is Summer’s new gloves giving her “Wolverine Claws”. Which, seems straight forward enough as two big claws pop out of the knuckles of the glove, not unlike the titular, not so merry, mutant.However, X-Men: Evolution fans, comics fans, and Logan movie fans, will recognise that Wolverine has 3 claws, not 2. But, Laura Kinney, better known as X-23, has two claws that pop out from her knuckles, and what many may not know, is that in the X-Men comics she was given the name, Wolverine, in honour of Logan, her father, in his absence, and then upon his return, she still carries the name.“Like flies caught in amber”: This line from Rick’s neighbour trapped in the time loop he created in his original dimension seems like it could be a reference to the mosquito trapped in amber used to create the dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park movies.“Four Agreements, Eat Pray Love, The Dark Knight Returns”: Jerry mentions these as part of his process of burying his grief at the deaths of his Beth and Summer. The first two, are highly successful novels that focus on personal growth, dealing with grief, and learning to be at peace with one’s self and the world around you. While, The Dark Knight returns, the iconic and hugely influential Batman story from Frank Millar, is a story of what grief can do to someone and how the legacy they leave can impact the world around them in both positive and negative ways.Taken together, these three titles, at least to me, imply that this is how Jerry came to the realisation, in his words, that Rick was right all along, and that the best thing to do is just to let go.“Like, like, playing a ton of Minecraft, but all on a private server”: Honestly, this one I feel is pretty self-explanatory, haha. “Keyser Soze” – The Rick who killed young Beth, and Diane, taunts Rick that the other Rick, seen in the glass chamber, might be him. Or, it might just be a clone, or it might be him, Keyser Soze style. Which, spoilers for a nearly 30 year old movie (yeahhh, I feel old now), is referencing the iconic and later, much recreated, final reveal from The Usual Suspects, that Kevin Spacey’s, Roger “Verbal” Kint, the lone survivor of a criminal job gone wrong, was in fact the criminal mastermind behind the job. The criminal bogeyman, mentioned in hushed tones throughout the movie, “Keyser Soze”. “It might be like a Saw thing” – Okay, spoilers for a near 20 year old movie this time. As the other Rick (who I’ve called “Bomb Rick” in my notes) continues to taunt Rick over whether the other Rick in the glass chamber is him/Bomb Rick or just a clone by saying “it might be like a Saw thing”. In reference to that movie’s iconic final twist where it was revealed that the “dead body” on the floor of the room that Cary Elwes’, Dr Lawrence Gordon, and (one of the movie’s writers along with director and friend, James Wan) Leigh Whannel’s, Adam Faulkner-Stanheight, are trapped in. Is in fact not dead at all, but is actually their tormentor, Jigsaw (played memorably throughout the franchise by Tobin Bell).Kill Bots: Now, this is admittedly just a guess, rather than anything concrete. But to me, the Kill Bots employed by the other Rick looked not unlike the Promethan Watcher enemies from the Halo 4 videogame, and the Ghost assistants from the Destiny videogames.The Final 5th Dimensional Alien: Now, again, admittedly, this is just a guess. But, did the final form of the 5th Dimensional Alien that Rick and Morty crash into, look to anyone else like a Beholder monster from Dungeons & Dragons. As, it’s not an exact replica, but it definitely felt inspired by it, especially knowing how much of a D&D fan, Rick and Morty co-creator, Dan Harmon, is.“Fatality”: This is a direct reference to the Mortal Kombat video game series wherein, upon defeating an opponent in the final round of combat, players have the chance to perform a “Fatality” execution through a variety of button combinations depending on which execution they wish to perform.Also, while I can’t say for sure, the fact that C-137 Jerry says this after using a knife to try and kill Other Rick, could be a reference to Mortal Kombat mainstay, Kano.And, with that, that’s all the references I spotted in this first episode. I’ve left out references back to Season 3, Episode 1, and the Season 5 episodes showing Rick’s history as these feel like call backs that don’t necessarily need to be explained here.But, if there’s any references that you noticed that I didn’t, please, don’t hesitate to comment and let me know, and be sure to check Videogamer regularly for all the best videogame and entertainment news.