“Rick Die Repeat” is a great return to the classic Rick and Morty format

Seven-hundred and seventy days is indeed a long time to wait for a new episode of Rick and Morty, despite what the Adult Swim bumper said before the episode. Episode 401, “Edge of Tomorrow: Rick Die Repeat,” finally aired on Sunday, November 11, and it was a fun return to basics for the show.

The Rick and Morty universe is already huge, what with the never ending multi-verse of options to play with, so it was nice to have an episode where we just get a Rick and Morty romp. Summer, Beth and Jerry are around with some good zingers, but as a whole it truly is just a Rick and Morty showcase. And sometimes a show needs to return to its roots, especially with 70 more new episodes on the way.

In “Rick Die Repeat,” Rick and Morty go to collect “death crystals”, magical rocks that show you how you die. But the deaths you see aren’t fixed, and the crystals can be put to various uses. Rick uses them to see when the a gang of crystal poachers are reloading so he can get off a shot without dying.

When Morty holds a death crystal, he sees multiple possible ends for himself, none of them good. Seriously, go back and pause the episodes for some messed-up visions of the future; in one of them it looks like he’s impaled through the mouth by what looked to be rebar…at least we hope it’s rebar.

Anyway, one of Morty’s deaths is him as an old man, with an elderly Jessica by his bedside saying “I love you, Morty” as he peacefully passes into the great beyond. Naturally, Morty makes it his mission to get this death, and walks a narrowly defined path according to the visions the death crystal gives him.

Rick and Morty has taken time in multiple episodes to focus on Morty’s unhealthy obsession with Jessica, and how when unchecked, he tends to become a bit of a sociopath about it. It seems when he’s untethered from Rick, his personality takes a turn. So when Morty crashes the ship and it throws Rick through the glass and kills him, Morty chooses not to immediately clone Rick. When he’s moves toward cloning his grandpa, the death crystal shows him visions of his untimely demise. If he does something else, he has visions of Old Jessica death. He marches towards that one.

Morty chooses Jessica over Rick, and we’re treated to hologram Rick protesting his decision, at one point becoming group of hologram Ricks with protest signs and chants. Rick’s fail-safe kicks in and his backup clone reverts to a new dimension. And it seems that no matter what dimension he spawns in, it’s a fascist dystopia. There are lots of great gags where Rick keeps spawning into a new universe, into an unused clone, and then tries to escape back to his reality. There’s a human Rick that is definitely Hitler in his universe, then a shrimp universe that is also fascist, leading Rick to wonder why this is the default.

Finally, Rick ends up in a wasp universe that isn’t fascist because wasps are already born assholes. However, Wasp Rick mentions to not bring up the Hitler stuff because Morty has been on “some weird message boards” lately, again referencing Morty’s propensity for easily influenced obsession.

Back in the A plot, Morty has gone off the deep end. He refuses to clone rick and bring him back, instead opting to use the crystal and advanced weaponry to ensure his Jessica death. “I will die old” he shouts as he levitates over the national guard, shooting a laser that detaches soldiers’ DNA and thens then into goo.

You know…classic Rick and Morty adventures.

The episode climaxes when Morty cocoons himself in some sort of anime reference. I’ve never seen Akira, but Morty’s new body is bad news. Original Rick crashes the scene back in a human body, riding on Wasp Rick, and with side commentary from Hologram Rick. They remove the crystal from Morty, and eventually the…goo stuff…that Morty was wrapped in latches onto Hologram Rick, forcing Wasp Rick to lay eggs in the now-giant Hologram Rick’s eyes.

Again, classic Rick and Morty adventures.

The episode wraps up with some meta commentary from Rick. “There’s a lesson here, but I’m not going to be the one to figure it out.” Eventually Morty comes back with the idea that you should live in the moment, but Rick shoots back “what is this, Full House? I lived in the moment and kept getting killed by Nazis.”

The ability to set up a moral at the end of the episode then immediately subvert it is what makes Rick and Morty so much fun. Whether it’s Rick’s relationship with his family, Morty’s obsessive nature, or Jerry and Beth’s relationship, there are no easy answers or gift-wrapped finales. Just try to not be a Nazi; that shouldn’t be your default.

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This was a great start to the season, but I do think this is the kind of episode that you’ll eventually skip over when looking for an episode to watch. I love the return to the Rick and Morty format, but I can’t wait to see how this season will expand the R&M universe.

Favorite Moments:

• Summer trying to raise Jerry’s cholesterol so he’ll die and she can take a “hot funeral selfie”
• Fascist Teddy Rick
• Kirkland brand Mr. Meeseeks
• The return of the Meeseeks and seeing how they can be used for evil
• Berkeley Hologram Rick with his “Legalize It” sign, looking super high
• Dunking on Nancy Grace is always fine
• The post-credit scene where we find out Jessica wants to be a hospice nurse, therefore Morty killed all those folks and acted like a tool for nothing. That was almost inevitable but still hilarious.

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