Rick and Morty has long been a fan-favorite adult animated series, and it’s no secret that there has been some drama going on in the background. While the show’s seventh season clearly feels like a transitional period in Rick and Morty’s creative direction, the first two episodes do deliver entertaining — if not all that ambitious — adventures.
At the end of season 6, it is revealed that Rick is hunting for Rick Prime, with the cut to credits ending with a monologue that the following season would be all about that hunt. Well, from the beginning of the new season, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Instead, what we get are two much more internalistic episodes, focusing on Rick’s quest for finding who he is inside.
Similarly, it feels like this season is attempting to take a much grounded, emotional approach to its characters. In the last few seasons, we’ve gotten some glimpses of a more emotional Rick, but season 7 seems to be fully focusing on Rick coming to terms with the love he has for his family (yes, even Jerry).
Rick and Morty season 7 isn’t as ambitious, but is still fun
As for the rest of the characters, at least in the first two episodes, their arcs feel rather neglected. We don’t see much of Summer, Beth, or even Morty. Jerry does effectively get to be a co-lead in the second episode with Rick, but if the remaining eight episodes follow the same path, this is firmly Rick’s story this season.
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That being said, this more emotionally rich storytelling does come at the expense of some of the more whimsical sci-fi elements of the show. Although there are some great out there jokes in the first two episodes, the adventures themselves feel much less spectacular. After last season’s premiere, “Solaricks,” was so incredibly ambitious, the restrained nature of these two episodes ends up feeling much more quaint.
It is worth noting that the humor this season — at least from the first two episodes — is much tamer and more agreeable than the last few outings. Seasons 5 and 6 contained some of the most hated episodes in series history, with many viewers complaining about the show falling back too often on crude humor (especially incest jokes). While the show is still very adult-oriented, it seems like the writers have decided to go with less of a gross-out approach to this batch of episodes.
As for fans’ burning question — who will replace the show’s creator as the voices of the two characters (and many more) since his fall from grace — well, critics still don’t know. The episodes provided to journalists in advance contained no credits, so as of print time, we don’t know who’s taking over the roles. However, what is clear from the two episodes is that the differences are minimal, and the transition is as smooth as one could have hoped.
The first two episodes of the new season of Rick and Morty may not go down as the best episodes in the history of the series, but they are solidly entertaining. Considering the behind-the-scenes drama that has plagued the series, as well as some of the vitriol the past seasons have received for ambitious swings-and-misses, maybe that’s exactly what it needed to be, though.
Rick and Morty debuts on Adult Swim on October 15 at 11pm ET/PT, with new episodes airing subsequent Sundays at the same time. Two out of ten episodes reviewed.
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Rating: 8/10
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