Rick and Morty – Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Repeat Review

RREveryone’s favourite grandfather and grandson duo are back for a fourth season and more sci-fi adventures.

On their latest adventure Rick takes Morty to a planet where he can obtain death crystals – items that allow people to see how they die. Ironically, Rick doesn’t foresee his own death due to Morty seeing a future where he dies old with Jessica. Morty does everything he can to ensure this future comes to pass whilst Rick’s conscientious goes universe hopping.

The previous two Rick and Morty season openers were a continuation of the previous season finales. “A Rickle in Time” saw Rick, Morty, and Summer splitting into different timelines after freezing time for six months, and in “The Rickshank Rickdemption” Rick escape from Galactic Federation custody. “Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Repeat” doesn’t do this – it is basically a standalone episode. There is some connective tissue because Beth and Jerry back together and there were some references to previous episodes. Yet newcomers could follow this episode without much issue.

“Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Repeat” has a tried and tested catalyst – his attempt to woo the opposite sex. And when it happens the results tend to be bad for Rick and Morty. In “Look Who’s Purging Now” Rick and Morty get caught on a Purge planet due to Morty’s libido and when Morty tried to give Jessica a love serum it ends up ruining the world and our heroes abandoning their original universe. Plus when Morty had a sex robot, he ended up fathering a violent human-gazorpazorp hybrid.

In this episode Morty is a selfish asshole. Morty’s action lead to Rick’s death and his desire to ensure he kills a large number of cops and soldiers. He’s not the scared, neurotic teen that we have all come to know and love. Morty’s time with his grandfather has lead him to be pretty competent in his own right – Morty was able to use an array of Rick’s fancy sci-fi weapons, including the Meeseek boxes.

Morty’s storyline where he could see the future and tries to control his destiny was a bit like the American Dad episode “Vision: Impossible.” In that episode Roger gains precognitive powers and The Smith family ends up not living their lives because they are too scared to even leave their house. Both “Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Repeat” and “Vision: Impossible” have a message that people need live for the moment and not worry as much – even if Rick tries to contradict it.

The subplots in Rick and Morty episodes usually revolve around the family members – like Beth and Jerry’s marital issues. “Edge of Tomorty” marks a change by having the subplot focus on Rick and his attempts to get back into his own universe. It was funny that he kept on ending up in fascist worlds. Seeing Morty dress and act like a Nazi was hilarious. Some reviewers have tried to read this storyline as a commentary about the current political climate or as a dig against the show’s toxic fandom. I have a similar explanation: it’s a joke! As Fascist Morty says “stop doing meta commentary, just have fun.”

The family only appears at the beginning and the end of the episode. The beginning establishes the new situation for the family – that Beth and Jerry are back together and Rick having to ask Morty’s permission to go on adventures. The final scene shows Rick and Morty’s self-aware nature by stating that there’s a return to the status quo and did a double subversion of Rick’s rant about the adventures the pair are going to have.

“Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Repeat” is a solid episode that can please fans of the show and as an entry point for newcomers. It was a straight-forward yet hilarious offering.