The problem with “Gotron Jerrysis Rickvangelion” is that, as more bizarre plot turns get thrown in, it doesn’t feel like a giant robot episode or a gangster episode it’s just a bunch of crazy crap. He most notably first showcased it in the season two Communityepisode, “Critical Film Studies,” which managed to be both a dual homage to Pulp Fiction and My Dinner with Andre, and its own interesting Frankenstein’s monster besides that.
This is one of co-creator Dan Harmon’s signature moves, combining two drastically different genres together. Yes, to an extent, the episode is a deliberate bait and switch it sets you up for a giant robot homage, but reveals itself instead to be a stealth gangster homage ( Goodfellas, mostly, though there’s some Scarface in there, and also a reference to The Aviator, just for kicks). Now, take “Gotron Jerrysis Rickvangelion,” which is ostensibly a Voltron homage episode, but which, in the end, actually has precious little in the way of giant robot vs. The show’s setting, too, feels solidly characterized as the episode builds upon previous plot elements-the Citadel of Ricks, the Cronenberg universe, and Birdperson-in fun and inventive ways. Furthermore, there are good, grounding character moments between Rick, Summer, and Morty as well as a surprising change in the family dynamic at the end when Beth announces she’s leaving Jerry. It’s a lot (this is also the infamous Szechuan Sauce episode), but it manages to stay coherent and focused because the drive of the episode throughout is Rick escaping and upending the Galactic Federation, thereby restoring order. We then see scenes from inside Rick’s mind, we get Rick doing a whole lot of body-swapping, and we witness the fallout of Rick singlehandedly destroying the Galactic Federation’s economy. In this episode, we learn that, since Rick’s incarceration at the end of the previous season, the Galactic Federation has colonized Earth. Take, for example, season three’s premiere episode, “The Rickshank Redemption,” which is one of the first episodes I can remember stunning me with just how stuffed with… stuff it was. The plots of older episodes probably worked for two core reasons: one, strong characterization kept everything grounded and, two, no matter how much crazy shit an episode piled on, it still felt like an extension of the initial, core premise.
I might need to rewatch the whole series to definitively figure out what precisely is going on here, but I’ll take a general stab at it. It’s therefore tough to say why “Gotron Jerrysis Rickvangelion” and all the other breakneck-paced, amped up episodes of season five feel so overwhelming and different compared to what we got from Rick and Morty past. This is a series with a setting of infinite universes and a protagonist who’s basically a god, so the scope of every episode should reflect that by going all out. After all, early in the series’ life, co-creator Justin Roiland said the goal with a Rick and Morty plot was to take a premise another show would’ve made a whole episode out of and instead just make that the first act, using the remaining acts to pile insanity atop insanity. It’s tough to pinpoint exactly how this makes it different from prior seasons.
If there’s one thing characterizes season five of Rick and Morty, it’s that everything happens so much, all the time. This RICK AND MORTY review contains spoilers.