Rick and Morty turn a new page in “A Rick in King Mortur’s Mort”
Invited to join the Knights of the Sun, Morty refuses the noble sword after finding out it will cost him his own. Somewhat uncharacteristically, Rick helps him out with a minimum of mockery. It’s always nice to have support when starting a solar war. All this and more in this week’s episode of Rick and Morty, “A Rick in King Mortur’s Mort.”
Morty started out the show as a more-or-less innocent kid who was traumatized into maturity during seasons 1 and 2. In later seasons he’s more willing to take the wheel and accept responsibility for this actions. He’s come a long way, and there isn’t much new left to to do in his transformation from hapless sidekick to hardened Rick-in-the-making.
But there are still places to take his relationship with Rick, which is what “A Rick in King Mortur’s Mort” tries to do. At the top of the episode, Rick dismisses Morty’s accepting the sword of the Sun Knights and Morty calls him a boring, cranky drunk. I laughed pretty hard, thinking it was another instance of Morty showing some backbone. But little did I know that it would actually trigger another change in Rick’s character.
Rick and Morty is committing to developing Rick’s character
The truth hurts. Rick is getting boring, and I think his sudden recognition of that is a way for the writers to signal to us that they feel that way too, hence why Rick’s attitude has been changing in the past couple episodes. It was a a breath of fresh air to have Rick playing a supportive role. And they don’t push it too far either; Morty is still able to sink or swim based on choices he makes. And he does rather well, given his plentiful experience with world-threatening situations. We know Morty has grown, but we haven’t really seen it change his dynamic with Rick. It was fun to watch them act a little more like equals.
Beyond that, this episode has a fun premise and good jokes. The representatives of the solar system were a humorous bunch. I’m shocked that Rick and Morty took the high road and didn’t show us people from Uranus.
That’s all I’ve got to say about this week’s episode. Very satisfying and heart-warming, which is something I don’t expect from Rick and Morty, so it’s a pleasant surprise. And I like that the show is finally developing Rick instead of peppering us with jokes about fighting against it. That has me excited for the future. Hail the sun!
Episode Grade: B+
Next. Rick and Morty hits the mark in “Analyze Piss”. dark
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