5 Best Episodes Of Rick And Morty
In 2017, Adult Swim provided the world with the greatest April Fools' prank of all time: the [...]
5. A Rickle In Time
Season 2, Episode 1
The second season of Rick and Morty started with a bold episode that was a nightmare to produce.
"A Rickle in Time" begins with the world frozen in time while Rick, Morty, and Summer work on cleaning up the mess in the house before Beth and Jerry get back. Things go wrong when they restart time and accidently create a parallel dimension.
The timelines continue to split as Rick tries to repair the damage and has to deal with Fourth-Dimensional Testicle Monsters voiced by guest stars Jodan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key.
A big part of Rick and Morty's charm is how it combines humor with big, science fiction style ideas. "A Rickle in Time" brought it to the next level by adding a unique visual element.
4. Meeseeks And Destroy
Season 1, Episode 5
"Meeseek and Destroy" is an unusual episode in that it allows Morty to take charge of his and Rick's misadventures for once. Of course, things go horribly wrong pretty quickly, so maybe that's why Rick is usually in charge.
The B-plot may outshine the A-plot in this episode. While Rick and Morty are off on their adventure, Rick leaves Beth, Jerry, and Summer with his Meeseeks Box, which can summon a "Mr. Meeseeks," a humanoid creature intended to help solve a simple task and then disappear.
Things go poorly when Jerry asks a Mr. Meeseeks to take two strokes off of his golf game and the Mr. Meeseeks desperately begins summoning more of his kind to help. The existential anguish of the Mr. Meeseeks remains one of Rick and Morty's most memorable gags.
3. The Ricks Must Be Crazy
Season 2, Episode 6
It isn't often that Rick Sanchez meets his mental match, but that's exactly what happens in "The Ricks Must Be Crazy."
The story begins when Rick's unique car breaks down. He miniaturizes himself and Morty to fix it, and Morty discovers that Rick created an entire, miniature universe within to power the car, and the universe is populated with intelligent life.
To make matters worse, the miniature universe has a mad scientist type of its own, voiced by Stephen Colbert, who has created a miniature universe of his own to power the one he lives in. And while Rick and Morty are trying to figure all of this out, the car itself is murdering civilians that it perceives as a "threat" to Summer.
2. Total Rickall
Season 2, Episode 4
They say that in order to successfully parody something you need to be able to do what your subject does as well, if not better than they can.
"Total Rickall" accomplishes a lot of things, and one of them is taking the way certain other animated comedies rely on cutaway gags to its extreme conclusion.
Every time a member of the family cutaway to a memory, a new parasitic entity uses that memory as an opening to latch on. As the cutaway continue, the cast of ridiculous cartoon characters grows.
In the midst of the madness, each member of the family has a full emotional arc and the ending it like a gut punch from nowhere.
1. Rixty Minutes
Season 1, Episode 8
Rick and Morty is at its best when it's taking what could be a very silly or rote premise and then executing it in a way that is fresh, hilarious, and somewhat heart-wrenching.
"Rixty Minutes" seems on paper like a recipe for a pretty lighthearted anthology style episode, and it definitely has some of that, but it also has so much more.
Rick hooks up the television to interdimensional cable, offering the family a look at television from infinite universes. While Rick and Morty are enjoying the voyeuristic endeavor for its own merits, Beth, Jerry and Summer become introspective about their own wasted lives.
It's that perfect blend of humor and heartbreak that elevates Rick and Morty above its peers.
