Rick and Morty – Solaricks Review

Rick and Morty have returned for its sixth season. The first episode, “Solaricks” needed to resolve “Rickmurai Jack’s” cliffhanger.

The Citadel has been destroyed and Rick and Morty are stranded in space. They are saved by Space Beth who takes them back to Earth. When Rick tries to reset his portal fluid he accidentally sends himself, Morty, and Jerry back to their universes of origins. Summer and the Beths must go on a mission to the ruins of The Citadel and locate their lost family members.

Rick and Morty’s fifth season was a mixed bag. It was a season that was littered with some formulaic episode (i.e. “Amortycan Grickfitti”) and had two of the worst episodes the series has ever produced (“Rickdependence Spray” and “Gotron Jerrysis Rickvangelion”). It was also a season that had some major reveals like Rick’s original wife and child were murdered, and the Ricks had split off their universes from the rest of the multiverse. “Solaricks” had to deal with this fallout of the events of “Rickmurai Jack.”

“Rickmurai Jack” seems to have a situation to the season two finale “The Wedding Squachers”. Both episodes ended with a major character trapped in inescapable positions. “The Wedding Squachers” ended with Rick getting arrested by the Galactic Federation and sent to a maximum security prison. Both finales set up potentially exciting openers for their follow-up seasons.

“Solaricks” did have elements of “The Rickshank Rickdemption” in it. Both were lore-heavy episodes that draw on the show’s past and they had visits to Cronenberg World. They aimed to be series game changers since “The Rickshank Rickdemption” ended with the destruction of the Citadel and the downfall of the Galactic Federation, whilst “Solaricks” showed the portal guns no longer working, and Rick restarting his hunt for his family’s murderer.

Yet there was a big difference between these openers.  In “The Rickshank Rickdemption,” Rick was enacting a grand plan to bring down his enemies. He was in control. Rick was much more reactive in “Solaricks.” He was weakened and beaten by the events of “Rickmurai Jack.” “Solaricks” had a little bit of the Season Two opener, “A Rickle In Time.” “A Rickle In Time” and “Solaricks” both showed the pitfalls of Rick’s scientific endeavours. In “A Rickle In Time” Rick, Morty, and Summer were split across multiple timelines, and “Solaricks” had Rick, Morty, and Jerry teleported to other universes.

“Solaricks” aimed to be a more character-driven episode. Rick returns to his family home and was confronted by an AI he created to remind him of his wife. It brought back memories and despite Rick telling himself he needs to let go, he clearly hasn’t. Apocalypse Jerry also lost everything because his wife and daughter died after his last encounter with the Ricks. He adopted a nihilistic outlook because he had nothing to care about and became a survivalist. It pained Morty to see his real father turn into this and the teen got the blame for it. There was also a fun character moment between the Beths when Beth Smith tried to tell Space Beth off because Space Beth doesn’t have a family to look after.

“Solaricks” was light on comedy. There were some funny jokes sprinkled in the episode, like Digestibot and Jerry telling off his original family who were dogpiling on him. A darker joke involved Earth Beth struggling to kill a monster, although it’s a bit weird considering Earth Beth had no problem killing the residents of Froopyland and time travelling cyborg snakes.

The issue is that the story suddenly takes a different direction in the middle. After Rick finds Morty he certainly goes on a mission to find Rick Prime. It seemed like the writers didn’t have enough faith in the story of Rick finding Morty and Morty surviving on Cronenberg Earth. Thematically these story ideas were connected because they were about characters having to confront the past and Rick Prime revealed some important information, but it felt like the writers were trying to fit a two-part episode into 22 minutes. The organic progression wasn’t there. This rushed approach was particularly notable with the appearance of Mr. Frundles who causes the destruction of Earth.

On a final note, Rick and Morty has often gone out of its way to disprove fan theories. However, this episode did confirm one fan theory, the one where Rick and Morty picked up the wrong Jerry from Jerryboree in “Mortynight Run.” Fitting considering one episode in Season Six is going to be a Die Hard parody set at Blips and Chitz.

“Solaricks” was a solid start to Season Six, although it wasn’t the perfect episode that some fans and critics have stated it was. It was a fun experience that attempted some character development and sets up some storylines for the future.