Rick and Morty – Air Force Wong Review

“Air Force Wong” sees the return of many Rick and Morty characters for a character-driven episode.

When President Curtis calls Rick to solve a situation with the Loch Ness Monster, they enter into another conflict due to the President being attracted to Rick’s therapist, Dr. Wong. President Curtis recruits Dr. Wong to investigate why Virginia has certainly become a utopia. This phenomenon ends up being related to someone from Rick’s past.

“Air Force Wong” was a surprising episode because it was a sequel to Season Two’s “Auto Erotic Assimilation.” Season Two was when Rick and Morty was at its high point since it was producing banger after banger. “Auto Erotic Assimilation” was the episode that showed Rick rekindling his relationship with the hive mind Unity. That ended with the pair breaking up and during an alcohol-fuelled depression, Rick tried to kill himself. It was one of the best episodes in the series because of its humour, social commentary, and an emotional gut punch.

“Auto Erotic Assimilation” was a great episode to show there was more to Rick than his surface-level nihilism but Unity did seem like she was going to be a one-time character. So, it was unexpected that she came back. This episode changed the dynamic between the two since Rick had been ghosting Unity and she was trying to contact her ex. They broke up because Rick was bad for Unity since they just drank, took drugs, and partied all the time. “Auto Erotic Assimilation” ended with Rick drunkenly trying to win Unity back.

Unity returned because she heard of Rick trying to find Rick Prime, the murderer of Rick’s family. She said the hunt for Rick Prime nearly killed Rick and it’s easy to believe. The Season Five finale showed Rick going on a rampage to find Rick Prime, but he became dejected as time went by and in “Ricktional Mortpoon’s Rickmas Mortcation” Rick had locked himself in a room to try and find his nemesis. Rick tried to push Unity when she was trying to help him. It showed that Rick could be seen as a complex and compelling character.

Relationships were the big theme of the episode. It started with President Curtis becoming interested in Dr. Wong and Rick becoming defensive. It was a four-way clash as President Curtis was trying to woo Dr. Wong, Rick was trying cockblock the President, and Wong was trying to get Rick and Unity to talk to each other. Dr. Wong dissected Rick’s character as she said Rick does change but slowly. Morty did the same thing in the previous episode when he broke down Rick and Jerry’s relationship. This does lead to an issue that the showrunners don’t have confidence in the audience figuring this out for themselves. Dr. Wong was right, since in “Pickle Rick” Rick turned himself into a pickle to avoid therapy. Now he’s willing to have one-on-one sessions with Dr. Wong.

“Air Force Wong” was also a funny episode. There were plenty of witty lines and scenarios during the episode. Susan Sarandon’s dry delivery enhanced the comedy, especially when President Curtis said they were going into a ‘hippy sex cult.’ President Curtis was shown in a different light since he was desperate to be loved. He wanted to be loved by Dr. Wong and by the American public. He acted like a teenage boy looking for approval and took drastic action to achieve this. It was a different performance from Keith David who has a voice with a lot of gravitas.

I criticised the first episode of Season Seven for its random plotting and blatant pop culture references. “Air Force Wong” was a massive improvement. There was a setup and payoff regarding the storyline in Virginia. This was an episode that ended with the President controlling a zombie horde and it felt organic. It was the best-written episode in the season so far. The pop culture references were much more subtle. Unity was a combination of The Borg from Star Trek, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and even Stephanie Meyer’s The Host where a hive-mind alien turns America into a utopia. There was also a bit of The Simpsons Movie/Under the Dome due to a forcefield that was put around Viriginia to break the connection with Unity. I have recently read Omar El Akkad’s American War and I noticed some parallels between the novel and the episode which had an American state being walled off by residents who had turned into husks. American War was about a Second American Civil War and President Curtis did go around in a helicopter shouting ‘Civil War!’

“Air Force Wong” was the best episode in the season due to its better writing and plotting and it moved the wider story on a little bit.