Rick and Morty – Claw and Horder: Special Ricktim’s Morty Review

The fantasy-themed “Claw and Horder: Special Ricktim’s Morty” has quickly earned a reputation for being one of the worst Rick and Morty episodes. But is it really worthy of this status?

After an off-world adventure, Rick has to live up to his promise to give Morty a dragon. However, the dragon, Balthromaw (Liam Cunningham), is unenthusiastic about the arrangement and the fire-breathing reptile ends up bonding with Rick, leading to Rick, Morty, and Summer to enter into a fantasy world. Whilst Jerry has his own adventure when a talking cat (Matthew Broderick) arrives in his bedroom.

“Claw and Horder” is not the worst episode the Rick and Morty have ever produced: that dishonor goes to “Interdimensional Cable 2: Tempting Fate.” “Interdimensional Cable 2” was just a collection of random skits that were barely connected. “Claw and Horder” actually had a story.

After “The Old Man and the Seat” and “One Crew over the Crewcoo’s Morty,” “Claw and Horder” was a return to a more traditional episode structure: there was a main plot involving Rick and Morty and a B plot for a member of the Smith family. The episode does a decent job balancing these out.

“Claw and Horder” was a parody of fantasy stories with Dragonheart being the main target. The soul bonding between Rick and Balthromaw was like what happened between Drago and King Einon in the 1996 fantasy film if a bit kinkier. Rick and Batlhromaw were able to feel each other’s physical pain. Morty rode Balthromaw like how Atreyu rode Falkor in The NeverEnding Story, but whilst Morty was excited, for Balthromaw it was a mundane task. There was also in a little bit Smaug in Balthromaw because he has an underground laid filled with treasures.

The storyline where Rick and Batlhromaw get intoxicated and bond mirrored what happened to Stan and Roger in the American Dad episode “Roger ‘n’ Me.” During a bender, the characters end up bonding during their antics and pretty much have a one night stand which ends up having bigger implications all involved.

The storyline involving Jerry and the talking cat was similar to Ferris Bueller’s Day off. No coincidence because Broderick starred in that film. The cat was able to talk Jerry into going to Florida so they can party and have fun but forget responsibilities. Jerry ends up spending a lot of money on a flight to Florida. Broderick’s voice and the cat being able to talk without moving his mouth reminded me of Garfield. On a broader point, someone in the writers’ room doesn’t like cats because the talking cat was a bit of a jerk and at the beginning of the episode a cat-like alien gets killed after helping Morty.

The episode ends on a reveal that Rick and Jerry finding out a secret that’s so terrible that it required mind erasing. This reminded me of the Doctor Who episode “The Beast Below” where people in a dystopian society find out the horrific truth about their society and choice to live in ignorance.

“Claw and Horder” does have a few callbacks. The most obvious was Rick referring to Jerry’s adventure to Pluto. The pre-title sequence had boarder references. In that sequence, Morty gets an item that Rick says is important but it turns out that it was only for Rick’s selfish interests. It does lead to the question of why does Morty continue to truth Rick, but the episode “Morty’s Mindblowers” shows that Rick’s willingness to erase Morty’s mind. Morty’s demand for a dragon and finding out it wasn’t as thrilling as expected was like Morty’s demands to choose an adventure that ends up having drawbacks. Finally. Chachi’s fate was the same as any other creature who helps Rick and Morty i.e. death. It adds to the show’s nihilistic, twisted viewpoint that no-one should help anyone else; although in Rick and Morty‘s case this is done for dark comedy.

“Claw and Horder” was far from vintage Rick and Morty but it was still humorous and entertaining. Even though the episode has the lowest score on IMDB, it’s 7.5 rating is still better than many modern Simpsons or Family Guy episodes.