He then reveals that the whole tale was a ruse to gain control over Federation technology, free himself, and wreak all manner of havoc. He offers a sad backstory to Cornvelious Daniel, the Galactic Federation agent who infiltrated his mind, one that seemingly involves the loss of his wife and daughter in a Batman-like defining moment. Nevertheless, the episode spends most of its runtime teasing the audience in either direction, suggesting in turn that Rick is a champion, an opportunist, an unscrupulous crackpot, or perhaps just an incredibly complicated individual. “Rickdemption” appears to offer a disquieting answer, one that pulls back from the ways in which the show softened Rick over the course of its second season. There are few shows on television with such a commitment to mind-bending storytelling and madcap left turns all over like Rick and Morty.īut what elevates the episode is how it serves as the perfect follow-up to the question the show asked in its Season 2 finale: What motivates Rick Sanchez? Is he a hero, as Summer thinks, some sort of demon or crazy god, like Morty thinks, or is he someone whose motivations are so opaque and arbitrary that he more or less defies that sort of binary characterization? The bits of thrilling sci-fi weirdness - from Inception-like journeys into the mind to leapfrogging consciousness transfers, to neon-hued battles between disparate forces across space - were colorful and inventive from start to finish. When it’s firing on all cylinders, the show combines off-the-wall, imaginative sci-fi action with dark, introspective character moments, and if “Rickdemption” is any indication, there’s plenty more of each to come.
The surprise debut is a way of toying with the show’s devotees, just as “The Rickshank Rickdemption” constantly finds ways to play with the audience’s expectations: about how Rick will escape from prison, about his backstory, and most importantly, about whether he is a good person in pain or merely a self-absorbed bastard.Īt its best, Rick and Morty is the sum total of these things. But it also fits the specific episode that kicks off the season.
It fits with the series’ “pull the rug out from under you” spirit. There’s something perfect about the much-awaited third season of Rick and Morty debuting, without warning, on April Fool’s Day, even after Adult Swim had announced the show would not return until July.
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