The 10 Best Rick and Morty episodes…so far
By Cory Thone
8. Pickle Rick – Season 3, Episode 3
The episode that spawned a million memes was apparently inspired by a Breaking Bad episode because of course it was. The Smith family is all set to go to family counseling when all of a sudden they discover that Rick has turned himself into a pickle. The family continues on to therapy without him, but before Rick can turn back into a human, hijinx ensue, which is a shorthand way to say all hell breaks loose as Rick ends up inside a secure government facility fighting a mercenary named Jaguar (Danny Trejo) before eventually joining his family at therapy.
In the therapists office, Rick is dressed down by Dr. Wong (Susan Sarandon) with such pinpoint accuracy it leaves Morty and Summer with mouths agape. “Rick, the only connection between your unquestionable intelligence and the sickness destroying your family is that everyone in your family, you included, use intelligence to justify sickness.”
It’s a pretty special episode that goes out of it’s way to remind us that Rick is horribly flawed, and has created a problem with his family. Also, the absurdity of turning yourself into a pickle is amazing in its simple stupidity. Like, I can imagine Rick remembering that he is about to have to go to therapy, and just grabbing whatever he hadn’t finished eating from his lunch. Justin Roiland can’t even get through a scene as a pickle without laughing.
7. Mortynight Run – Season 2, Episode 2
If this episode only existed to give us the “Roy” video game moment, then that would be enough for it to make my list. However, Mortynight Run has some of the best moments in the entire series, including multiple songs by Jemaine Clement, who plays a sentient floating ball of gas that Rick names “Fart”. Morty is trying to save Fart, and in the process they kill a lot of people. Most of them don’t die well. But in the end, Morty returns Fart to his home world only to find out that Fart is planning to return with an army to destroy all carbon-based life.
Yikes. Could have just spent the day playing “Roy,” which is what Rick wanted to do. This episode goes pretty hard at Morty’s optimism, and in the end, Rick’s nihilism wins out. Morty does the honorable thing, but the cost is great. And it leaves him scarred and jaded yet again.