Every time I watch an episode of “Rick and Morty,” I mouth the words, “What the hell,” at least twice, always with a smile on my face. Sometimes, there is a salty stream of tears from laughter that dries onto my cheeks. I was ecstatic to hear the classic theme song again and that Adult Swim had picked up the show for a fourth season, which premiered Nov. 10.
If you aren’t familiar with the lore of “Rick and Morty” — or at least with the main characters — on paper, it will sound like the most outlandish show ever. It follows the Smith family, with parents Beth and Jerry, and their children Morty and Summer. Beth’s father, nihilistic, sociopath scientist Rick Sanchez, also lives with them. In almost every episode, Morty is dragged on interdimensional adventures across the galaxy with his insane alcoholic grandfather, who consistently puts Morty in harm’s way to retrieve or accomplish something on another planet. Rick’s flying UFO car and portal gun take the two literally anywhere — even to alternate realities and dimensions. It should also be mentioned that Rick is the smartest man in the universe. Yeah, Rick is a lot of things.
Take a moment to gather your thoughts before proceeding to the next paragraph. Thanks for reading, by the way.
The season 4 premiere episode, “Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Rickpeat,” begins with the family having breakfast at the Smith residence. All is fairly normal until Rick suddenly needs death crystals from Forbojolon Prime, and he grabs Morty’s arm mid-pancake bite to bring him along for the ride. Rick recklessly steers through an asteroid belt, and they arrive at their destination and begin mining death crystals. The crystals allow users to see how they will die, and they hold a monetary value that Rick wants to capitalize on.
The two are then ambushed by “crystal poachers,” who Rick is easily able to handle in a shootout. That’s the premise of the episode, and I won’t spoil the rest of it for you. I do enough of that in this column already.
Season 4 came out with a bang in classic “Rick and Morty” style. Each episode is 22 minutes long, and I always feel like I laugh just as much during those 22 minutes as I would in an entire comedy movie. The show’s creators, Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland, seemingly aspire to outdo each previous episode in twisted, shocking humor, which I love. Roiland is the voice actor for both Rick and Morty, which makes the show even more hysterical in my opinion.
Put simply, “Rick and Morty” is dark humor, but the show has a complex storyline. A new episode will air every Sunday on Adult Swim at 8:30 p.m. MST. There will be five episodes released before a break in the middle of the season.
