Rick and Morty Season 9 Has Some of the Best Episodes of the Series to Date (Review)

Rick and Morty Season 9 might be nearing the 100 episode mark, but this new season of the Adult Swim animated series proves that the show is really at the start of a whole new era. Rick and Morty is on track to become the longest running original animated series ever aired with Adult Swim, and that’s going to continue even further as it was recently renewed through to Season 12. But this series is in a strange place as the show’s meta-commentary has been poking fun at the 100 episode idea for quite a long time.

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This seemed to be continuing even further as the promotional trailers for Rick and Morty Season 9 had Rick openly calling out the fact that there are still an “indefinite number more” to go. But the refreshing quality of Rick and Morty Season 9 is apparent right away as not only does this new season offer some very unique episodes that cover ground for its characters not seen before, but even has plenty of callbacks to the past for things fans might have forgotten about. It’s got some of the best episodes of the series to date, and is a great sign for the future.

Rating: 5 out of 5

PROS	CONS
Fresh ideas for episodes ever after nine seasons	Not every episode is an immediate winner
Fun callbacks to even the earliest seasons	Some guest stars are lost in the mix
A fresh and renewed creative energy throughout

Rick and Morty Season 9 is the Fresh Start of a New Era

Rick and Morty has been in the mix of some major changes over the last few years. Following Adult Swim cutting ties with the co-creator and former voice behind its main duo, Rick and Morty Seasons 7 and 8 did feel like the series was trying to find its footing once more after such a dramatic shift behind the scenes. The new stars behind the titular characters, Ian Cardoni (Rick Sanchez) and Harry Belden (Morty), have now had the necessary time needed with their takes on the iconic characters to truly share their own unique voices for the duo. It was especially seen with Rick and Morty Season 8.

As it was clear that Cardoni and Belden were becoming more comfortable with Rick and Morty, it also seemed like the creative team behind the scenes were trying to find their new bearings for how to move forward for the next half of the series. Season 8 was a return to the more classic format of loosely connected episodic adventures with a couple of the episodes taking deep dives into some of the characters like Beth and her connection with Rick. By comparison, Rick and Morty Season 9 is carrying itself a lot more confidently when it comes to the stories it wants to tell.

Each episode has a fresh energy behind it, and cover plenty of fun ideas that somehow have not been covered in the series before. Without getting too into the weeds of spoilery details, episodes seen cover fun genres like Kung Fu movies, robotic companions and more. There’s a huge action sequence in a lot of the episodes, and they don’t really copy one another either. Such a regularly occurring event would seem like they would get tired over the course of the season, but they are all uniquely storyboarded and well put together. No fight scene or action climax feels the same, and creatively use the range of abilities of everyone involved.

That energy is not only in how the episodes are put together, but it’s in the humor here as well. There’s still a general dash of cynicism when it comes to Rick’s outlook on the world because it’s what fans have come to look for. But this time it’s balanced out with how much the rest of the characters have changed over these seasons. Rick’s terrible outlook on his life isn’t treated like the end all, be all of the tone for the show. It’s allowing for there to be fun moments, and Rick himself is allowed to have wacky moments where he gets to be more genuinely invested in what’s happening.

Rick and Morty Season 9 Doesn’t Forget to Be Funny

Not every episode this season is as well put together as the others, but those are few and far in between when looking at all ten episodes as a whole. Rick and Morty Season 9 is one of the strongest seasons of the series in years, and it’s because it balances everything fans have come to love from the series so well. It has standout episodes fleshing out years’ worth of lore, it’s got episodes digging deep into Rick’s personality (“Ricks Days, Seven Nights” is particularly great in this regard), and there’s still time for Summer, Beth, and Jerry to have wacky stuff on the side.

Even the more self-contained episodes this season have character moments that are true highlights. Everyone has changed over the course of all these years, and it makes for a Rick and Morty core cast that still feels new even this far into its run. It’s no longer wallowing in its self deprecation or malaise over how long it’s been going on. Instead it’s using the self-awareness of its cartoon characters to steer further into the wackiness of the world around them. There’s a “matter of fact” vibe to it all that makes jokes hit that much harder. And those jokes have been refined, too.

There aren’t any huge episodes about sexual exploits or incest as seen with some of the worst cases in the past either. It gets more out of mining the genuine nature of a situation than trying to undercut it with its formerly traditional cynicism. Rick and Morty Season 9 has an overall tonal shift that will ultimately refresh the animated series as it heads into its second phase. It’s having a lot more fun with itself now, and in turn is a lot more fun to watch.

Rick and Morty Season 9 is a season of fun episodes, and hopefully is the first major example of the kind of seasons we’ll get from now on. Rick and Morty Season 9 has some of the best episodes we’ve seen in years, and is a highpoint for the Adult Swim original. If you have fallen off of this one for reason or another, it’s time to come back to Rick and Morty.

Rick and Morty Season 9 premieres with Adult Swim on Sunday, May 24th at 11:00pm ET/PT. What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!