Rick’s past is revealed in “Rickternal Friendshine of the Spotless Mort”

On this week’s episode of Rick and Morty, Rick hops and drops through his own memories on a mission to save his old friend Birdperson.

At the start of the episode, we see the Smith family going away for a cruise, splitting up Rick and Morty yet again. With them gone, Rick has the peace and quiet he needs to start work on reviving Birdperson, still in pieces from their fight at the end of season 4. The repairs to Birdperson’s body go well, but trouble is brewing in BP’s mind. Rick will have to dive in there to save him, and in doing so, relive his own past.

Now that is a pretty sick premise for an episode. Not only do we get to tie up a thread left over from a previous season, but we get to see more glimpses of Rick’s past life before Morty, something the shows loves to tease and not deliver on. And since we see everything through Birdperson’s eyes, we know the memories are legit. Even if the episode is lacking it parts, and it is, this is exciting.

While the adventure as a whole is enjoyable, the episode suffers from the lack of Morty, for two reasons. First, Morty gives Rick a reason to explain himself out loud, and then we can be in the know as well. The show subs in two new characters for Rick: the Garage Computer and Memory Rick, and they just don’t work as well.

Rick consults with the Garage Computer at the start of the episode about how to repair Birdperson. Thing is, when does Rick need to consult with anyone? He doesn’t, but it’s a necessity here, because without it he’d be staying quiet or talking to himself. So I understand the inclusion of the Computer, but it doesn’t quite work. The dialogue between it and Rick is long-winded, and I think the episode would have been better off by sticking with the main adventure the whole way through, instead of popping back out to check on what the Computer is doing during Rick’s memory hopping.

The second great thing about having Morty around is that he’s emotional, far more than Rick usually is. This is where Memory Rick comes in. Not only is he someone to exposit to, but as a younger version of Rick, he’s more idealistic and prone to emotion, and so he gives the episode a bit of that missing dynamic. Memory Rick fairs a lot better as a new character. It’s an interesting dilemma for Rick, having to confront a younger memory of himself who he finds embarrassing.

Here’s the thing, though: Memory Rick is still more a Rick than a Morty. He’s still pretty cynical. Add in normal Rick and you have double the cynicism. For me, this takes away from some of the tension of the episode, because neither character seems too pleased to be experiencing it. If the main characters are uninterested in the story, why should we be?

Things rapidly improve once the Ricks finally catch up to Birdperson. Their banter is a lot of fun, and their escape out of Birdperson’s mind is rife with call-backs, background lore, and all that fun stuff. One fun detail: Rick has to use the memory gun from “Morty’s Mind Blowers” as a sort of portal gun to get to multiple past events as they make their way out of BP’s collapsing subconscious. That’s pretty clever.

So while this episode stumbles, “Rickternal Friendshine of the Spotless Mort” is still a can’t-miss installment for Rick and Morty fans. In fact, I suspect this episode is going to become the subject of much discussion on account of all the lore. I can see the article headlines and Youtube thumbnails now: “TOP TEN THINGS YOU MISSED FROM RICK & MORTY S5E9!” and so on. I’ll spoil a couple of those top ten lists with stuff I noticed on my watch:

1. When Rick and Birdperson are fighting the other Ricks, one of them says, “This won’t bring her back?” Who is this “her”? Was the false memory that Rick made up in the season 3 premiere about his family actually true?
2. In the last scene, Young Rick is wearing a yellow shirt. Remind you of anyone?
3. Later in the hallway, if you look closely you can see a portrait of Rick’s parents. Rick’s dad had a sweet mustache.

I’m sure there are more treats and easter eggs. Details like that will make this episode a big hit with hardcore fans, and for everyone else, “Rickternal Friendshine of the Spotless Mort” is still a solid episode.

Grade: B

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