Rick and Morty – Rick: A Mort Well Lived Review

Following on from the lore-heavy “Solaricks,” the second episode of Rick and Morty’s sixth season was more of a standalone affair.

Alien terrorists have attacked Blips and Chitz. This happened at the worst possible time because Morty ends up trapped in Roy: A Life Well Lived and his mind split across all the NPCs. Rick goes into the video game to save his grandson whilst Summer must do a Die Hard and fight the terrorists.

The past two seasons of Rick and Morty had been more of a mixed affair. The show seemed to have lost its way because it turned away from the existential themes and emotional core that made the show great. It turned towards more edgy humour involving slut dragons and giant incest babies. “Rick: A Mort Well Lived” was more like the show the audience fell in love with.

“Rick: A Mort Well Lived” felt more like an episode from Season One or Two. This was felt in the first few seconds of the episode because it opened with a number of teenage characters speaking with Morty’s voice. The interactions between these characters as they spoke about their planned activities felt like they were improvised, much like some jokes in the early days of the show.

Many great episodes of Rick and Morty’s had a sense of escalation, which manages to be wild yet logical. In “Rick: A Mort Well Lived” the Mortys believe that Rick was a prophet and form a cult that turns into a religion. Rick constructs spaceships so he and the Mortys can escape the video game, but when Rick and Martha-Morty try to convince the last few holdouts to join the galactic expedition they end up causing a religious war.

Some of the best episodes have focused on existential and reality-bending themes. This includes “Lawnmower Dog,” “M. Night Shaym-Aliens!” and “Total Rickall.” “Rick: A Mort Well Lived” channelled these episodes because of the video game setting. Rick revealed the truth to the world which had ramifications. Religions were formed, families broke up and people debated whether to follow Rick or continue to live the lie. When some people found out they were part of the mind of a 14-year-old they said all they wanted to do was eat pizza and masturbate.

This storyline did feel like Rick and Morty’s Greatest Hits. This episode was an expansion of a joke from “Mortynight Run” where Morty’s sense of reality gets shaken when Rick made him play Roy: A Life Well Lived. Like “M. Night Shaym-Aliens!” “Rick: A Mort Well Lived” took place in virtual reality, and Morty’s consciousness getting shattered into multiple pieces felt like the ending of “A Rickle in Time.” The idea of people forming a religion due to extraordinary circumstances was used in episodes like “Get Schwifty” and “Never Ricking Morty.” There were even elements of “Auto Erotic Assimilation” because the citizens had a collective mind and the citizen went to war. They were all great episodes so “Rick: A Mort Well Lived” was referring to the good stuff and for fans of the early seasons it felt like a step in the right direction.

“Rick: A Mort Well Lived” ensured there was some emotional heft. This was done through Martha-Morty’s journey. She lived a whole life that involved getting into conflict with her parents, becoming Rick’s lieutenant, and having her own family. She clashed with Rick over the right course of action, and she challenged Rick to say he loves Morty. Fans know Rick loves his grandkids, but he can’t utter a four-letter word.

Summer’s storyline was a much similar affair since she was doing a Die Hard. Die Hard narratives have worked in numerous films and TV episodes. The villain of the episode was aware of this, he based his criminal career on Hans Gruber. The fly in his ointment was Summer who had never seen the film so she did not act as expected. She had a gung-ho approach. There were plenty of direct references to Die Hard which would delight fans of the film. My favourite was the post-credit scene. “Rick: A Mort Well Lived” can join the likes of “Anatomy Park,” “Look Who’s Purging Now” and “Rattlestar Ricklactica” as a great pop culture parody.

As a long-time fan, “Rick: A Mort Well Lived” was more of what I wanted the show to be. There was an ambitious A-story and a fun B-plot.