Rick and Morty save Christmas so they can ruin it in the season 6 finale

Rick’s Christmas present to Morty ends up having world-ending consequences, as per usual. Everything I said about Rick in my last review is proven null and void as it turns out the Rick we’d been following was a robot designed to be nicer. Things go even more sideways when the President comes a knocking at the Smith house. It’s a holly jolly season finale in the season finale, “Ricktional Mortpoon’s Rickmas Mortcation.”

Overall, this is a pretty good episode. For starters, it once again puts Morty at the center. He kicks off the events of the episode after dropping his gifted lightsaber vertically to the center of the Earth, and quickly takes the lead to try and fix his own mess. The twist is that, instead of having a consistent partner throughout the adventure, Morty is forced to work with multiple allies. I found that pretty interesting, since we usually see Morty with one person by her side throughout the length of an adventure. This episode shows he can work with anyone, which again suggests that he can do more than just take the lead from Rick.

While the writers are keen to show Morty’s growth, they love to mock the idea that Rick is even capable of change, going so far as to dangle the idea for two episodes and then yanking it away. So that’s disappointing, but I suppose I’ll give the show credit for constantly tricking me about it in new ways.

Rick and Morty keeps teasing that Rick is actually a good guy (and then not following through)

As disappointing as this turn was, it does lead to some interesting dynamics. It means Morty doesn’t entirely trust Rick this week, which leads to him teaming up with the President. It’s also fun to watch Robo-Rick go through a crisis of conscience.

My one gripe with this episode is that the show keeps trying to imply, despite continually proving that this is not the case, that Rick is a “good person” or is changing deep down inside. SPOILERS incoming, but as Robo-Rick is dying he mentions that he and Rick share the same kindness, but that Rick is just unable to show it…or something. There are some acrobatic twists of login in there. Personally I’m tired of it. If Rick’s just going to keep being a dick, then I’d like the show to just embrace it at this point. I don’t need it to keep gaslighting Morty (or us) that he should stick with Rick because, really really really really deep down, he has a modicum of decency.

Well anyway, that’s all for this episode. I do think it is a pretty good episode, disappointing reveals included. Maybe not much of a finale, but I can live with that. What will next season of Rick and Morty hold? Knowing Dan Harmon, probably incest.

Episode Grade: B

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