Rick and Morty bring us Gotron Ferrets, mafia movie parodies, and the return of everyone’s favorite incest space baby in “Gotron Jerrysis Rickvangelion.”
Let’s start with a quick episode summary: Rick, Morty, and Summer are off to Boob World, or at least that’s the plan until Rick changes course when he discovers the wreckage of a Gotron Ferret. Not just any Gotron Ferret, but the last Blue Gotron Ferret out of a total of five; when they combine, they form a Mega Gotron Ferret. Rick believes this takes precedence over Boob World. Morty disagrees, but Summer is with Rick.
That’s our main conflict this week, which might give you a sense of deja vu. We’ve seen Morty and Summer battle over being the favorite grandkid before (in “A Rickle in Time” from season 2, for instance). But this time it’s a little different. While Summer and Morty do argue over Rick, it never comes off as Morty being jealous; rather, he doesn’t want Summer to push Rick too far into excess, which Summer does throughout the episode. I can’t help but feel that this behavior is weird for her character. For one, Summer should know as well as Morty by now about Rick’s destructive tendencies, and two, in most episodes, endearing herself to her family members is usually the furthest thing from her mind.
Now, let’s talk about the main ideas of this episode. “Gotron Jerrysis Rickvangelion” juggles two separate parodies at once: giant robot stories like Voltron and mafia movies like Goodfellas and Casino or any Martin Scorsese movie where there’s a lot of voiceover. Rick and Morty links these genres in a couple ways. Morty and Summer have a lot of voiceover narration throughout this week’s show, Rick gets more drunk with power the more Gotron Ferrets he collects, and alternate Ricks come in to help with his Gotron business, each a parody of a character from a different crime movie.
It all works well enough, but nothing particularly surprising comes out it; the Gotrons form a bigger Gotron, and we go through the beats of a mafia movie without much of a twist. Yes, we’re collecting mecha robots instead of selling drugs, but that went without saying.
The episode heats up a little bit when the Gotron Ferrets’ original owners come into the picture, seeking their mecha robots back. This gives the animators a chance to tackle anime-style animation, and it’s fun seeing what they do with the opportunity.
Anyway, the owners get Morty in a limo and try to bribe him to double cross his family. But Morty sticks to his principles, and when threatened, instead of cowering and going “Oh geez,” unleashes his inner Rick and gets himself out of trouble.
I really enjoy the moments in season 5 where we see Morty’s character growth. Not only do we see him become more independent and resourceful; he also resists surrendering to his desires if it means betraying a principle he holds. He’s becoming like Rick, but with more of a conscious. I’m really curious as to how that will come to a head at the end of the season.
But back to the plot: one by one, Summer starts firing her family from the Gotron operation until she herself is fired by Rick and replaced with the original Gotroners. This means doom for Rick, as the Gotroners plan to kill him. The family, bitter about being fired, seem fine with this at first, but Morty reminds them of the importance of family.
We also get an update on the gigantic incest monster space baby, which I won’t go into here because it’s a long yarn to spin, but the Smiths come to Rick’s aid with their youngest and biggest family member. They save the day, and all is well.
There’s nothing jarringly wrong with “Gotron Jerrysis Rickvangelion,” it just didn’t quite work for me. There are some bits and jokes that really worked, though. Morty’s Gotron Ferret being in a parking garage is pretty funny, it’s always neat seeing unique Ricks from other dimensions, and the final joke with the voiceover narration is good. And Jerry is given a lot of wonderful quips this episode. Other than that, the episode feels pretty average to me.
Grade: C+
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