Rick and Morty – Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri Review

The Fourth Season of Rick and Morty ends with an action-packed finale that continues the wider story of the series.

In space, The Galactic Federation has reformed, and Beth has become the leader of The Defiance. After getting medical treatment Beth discovers Rick had implanted a proximity bomb in her neck. She returns to Earth to kill her father, but the Federation follows her.

Rick and Morty is mostly an episodic show with most of the stories being standalone adventures. But the show does maintain a continuity like Rick and Morty abandoning their original universe, Rick toppling the Council of Rick, and the role of Evil Morty. “Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri” continues storylines from “The Rickshank Rickdemption” and “The ABC’s of Beth.” “The ABC’s of Beth” had an ambiguous ending when Beth could choose to stay with her family on Earth or leave them and a clone could take her place. In “The Rickhurian Mortydate” Beth did wonder if she was a clone.

In “The Rickshank Rickdemption” Rick was able to topple the original Galactic Federation by collapsing their economy and got them to abandon Earth. In that episode, Rick was also able to overthrow the Council of Rick, but his actions ended up making things worst because it led to the rise of Evil Morty. The situation with the Galactic Federation was similar because they have reformed, and they were of the view that as long as they leave Rick alone he will leave them alone.

The ending of “The Rickshank Rickdemption” showed Bird Person getting resurrected as a mind-controlled cyborg. “Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri” offered a resolution to this storyline. Considering Rick and Morty is a show that likes to subvert expectations and screw with the fans, the fight between Rick and Bird Person was given dramatic weight. They were former friends forced to fight to the death. It was an entertaining fight as well due to Bird Person having cybernetic enhancements and Rick having lots of sci-fi gadgets and defences. The best anime fight ever!

Bird Person reminded me of Archangel from the X-Men franchise. Both were characters who were brainwashed, renamed, and given enhancements. Archangel was given metal wings and was able to throw blades from them, whilst Bird Person was able to fire lasers.

“Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri” was an episode that had a blistering pace. It was near constant action. It opens with The Defiance’s raid on a Federation base, had Space Beth fight Rick, and the cat-and-mouse chase between The Smiths and the Federation. It was like a Saturday Morning Cartoon that was allowed to be more violent. It was awesome because of it. Due to the series’ sci-fi premise, the showrunners were able to anything they want with the action. Rick, Space Beth and Bird Person all had enhancements, Rick had various tech like violent pocket monsters, and he had some creative uses of his portal gun.

All members of The Smiths had a chance to shine in this episode. Morty and Summer had a subplot where they had a sibling rivalry over an invisibility belt. The belt allowed them to be perverts and the brother and sister were cock-blocking each other. However, when the Federation came to Earth, they put aside their differences and work together. As they said in the episode that was their character arc. Even Jerry proved to be useful in this episode.

“Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri” also saw the return of Tammy. The fan reaction to Tammy is hatred considering her betrayal of Bird Person. She got the fate she deserved in this episode.

One of the strengths of Rick and Morty was their ability to have gut-punch endings. After all the sci-fi action in this episode “Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri” had a downbeat ending because of the reveal of who the clone was and what happened to Bird Person. This ending wasn’t as impactful as Morty burying an alternative version of himself or Rick’s suicide attempt but Rick still had a big realisation and it leaves some story strands for the future.

When it comes to the jokes in the episode I personally enjoyed the reference to one of Rick and Morty commercial deals and a joke about The Great British Bake-Off.

“Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri” offered more fan service than we’re used to but it was done well. “Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri” made for an entertaining season finale and allowed Season Four to end of a high note.