Review: Rick and Morty Season 3
Jake DeLaurier, staff writer
After waiting a year and a half, Rick and Morty fans were finally treated to the third season. Creators Justin Roiland, Dan Harmon, and their team of writers have crafted yet another amazing set of ten episodes that are easily some of the best content on TV.
Season three started on a high note with easily the series best season opener yet with “The Rickshank Rickdemption.” Picking up after the season two finale, this episode saw Rick escaping from the Galactic Federation Prison. This was definitely the most action-packed episode of the season, which added to the overall quality of the episode. I also really enjoyed the numerous callbacks to season one in this episode such as the dead Rick and Morty bodies and Cronenberg world from “Rick Potion #9,” the Council of Ricks from “Close Rick-counters of the Rick kind,” and the ending from the “Pilot.”
While this season seemed to have a heavy focus on Rick-and-Morty-centric episodes when compared to previous seasons, other characters still got their own chance to shine in this season. Episodes like “The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy” was a really well done Jerry focused episode that gave a somewhat depressing new incite into Jerry. “ABC of Beth” dealt with the father-daughter relation between Rick and Beth in an unexpected way and its ambiguous ending was one of the highlights of the whole season.
The creativity that Rick and Morty is known for was on full display this season. Episodes like “Pickle Rick” and “Rest and Ricklaxation” would have worked just fine on their premises alone; however, it was the little creative details that made these episodes even better. Other examples of creativity in this season would be the episode “Morty’s Mind Blowers.” Similar to the two “Interdimensional Cable” episodes from previous seasons, “Morty’s Mind Blowers” had a lot standout moments for the season like the hilarious reveal that squirrels secretly control the world.
However, my favorite episode of the season, if not the whole series, was “The Ricklantis Mixup.” Everything I love about Rick and Morty was in this episode, creative and layered storytelling, moments of unexpected darkness, and hilariously written comedy. Of course, I can’t talk about this episode without mentioning the ending. I’m not going to spoil it, but it was still stuck in my head days after I saw it.
This season was not without its shortcomings, with one of them happening early on in the season. At the end of “the Rickshank Rickdemption,” Beth and Jerry get a divorce. Seeing how a show like Rick and Morty would tackle the topic of divorce was interesting. After a few episodes, this plot point is abandoned and is never brought up again until the ninth episode, later concluding awkwardly in the season finale. This brings me to the second shortcoming, the season finale. While this season had the series best opener, it ironically had its weakest season finale with “The Rickchurian Mortydate.” This was by no means a bad episode, but it did feel like an episode from season one in that it felt a little uneven and rough around the edges. The episode also ended abruptly, which added to my disappointment. When compared to the amazing season two finale, this one left me feeling underwhelmed.
Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed season three of Rick and Morty. The biggest takeaway from this season is that Harmon and Roiland are saving the unanswered questions from this season for season four. For now, I will be patiently waiting for season four. Let’s just hope the wait for season four is not as long as season three.
