Rick and Morty – Final DeSmithation Review

Rick and Morty had been on a hot streak with “Rick: A Mort Well Lived,” “Bethic Twinstinct,” and “Night Family.” However, with “Final DeSmithation,” Rick and Morty has fallen into more juvenile territory.

After having a meal at Panda Express, Jerry gets a fortune cookie saying he will have sex with his mum. Jerry treats the fortune seriously and his wife and children make fun of him for it. However, Rick believes there’s something strange going on because of the fortune cookie, which leads to Rick and Jerry infiltrating the fortune cookie factory.

Season Five produced one of the worst episodes in Rick and Morty’s history, “Rickdependence Spray.” That episode was infamously a long gross-out gag that ended with an incest joke. It felt more like Family Guy and Big Mouth because it was an idea based on shock value and nothing else. “Final DeSmithation” felt similar because it was a long incest joke with Jerry desperate to avoid doing something most people wouldn’t think of doing.

To the episode’s credit, the incest deed wasn’t shown like it was in Season Five, but it did come mighty close. This was the fourth episode to feature incest as a plot point. The other three were “The ABCs of Beth,” “Rickdependence Spray,” and “Gotron Jerrysis Rickvangelion.” It leads to the question, does someone on Rick and Morty’s writing staff have a weird obsession?

The whole premise came across as adolescence, it was shock humour for the sake of it. It’s not like Rick and Morty are incapable of doing good crude humour. There was a load of jokes and situations that resulted from Morty’s libido, and many have been funny, like when Morty got a sex robot. However, incest jokes involving the main characters felt like a step too far.

The plot of “Final DeSmithation” felt like the Family Guy episode “The Splendid Source” in story and structure. In that Family Guy episode, Peter and his friends look for the source of all the world’s dirty jokes which leads them to a secret society on a hidden island. Rick and Jerry went on a quest to find the sources of the fortune cookies that’s run by a powerful businesswoman. The big reveal in the episode felt like when the Futurama gang discovered the real source of Slurm.

There were also elements of “Claw and Hoarder: Special Ricktim’s Morty” in this episode. Both episodes brought in fantasy elements into a sci-fi heavy series. In “Final DeSmithation” it was that fortune cookies have real magical powers and if someone had an unfinished fortune they would be immortal.

The Family Guy comparison also extends to the post-credit scene. It was a joke that devolved into toilet humour and gory violence. The post-credit scene felt random despite it being a setup at the beginning of the episode.

Season Six has brought back elements of the first three seasons of Rick and Morty. This was done through its plots and characterisation and “Final DeSmithation” continued some of that. Jerry has reverted to being the family punching bag. Beth verbally beat down Jerry when he said something stupid and Morty and Summer kept playing pranks on their dad. Rick was also more like his earlier rendition since he had his own agenda. He wanted to find the source of the fortune cookies so he can harness their power.

The strength of “Final DeSmithation” was showing the evolution in Rick and Jerry’s relationship. When Rick and Morty started the pair couldn’t stand each other. By Season Three Rick was even able to break Beth and Jerry up. However, by this point in the series Rick and Jerry’s relationship is more amicable and Rick shows that he does care for Jerry. It was similar to how Rick and Morty’s relationship started where Rick was willing to sacrifice himself to save Morty.

From an action standpoint “Final DeSmithation” was fun. There was fluid animation as Rick had to fight his way through the guards at the factory. Many of the guards developed superpowers so they offered a challenge for Rick.

After the heights of “Night Family,” “Final DeSmithation” felt like a big step back for Rick and Morty. There were some strong action sequences and decent jokes, but the premise of the story was hard to accept.