There are a few downsides to the episode. ‘Rickternal Friendshine’ is a stellar Rick and Morty episode, whose minor faults do not outweigh the brilliant work it does I’m not going to ruin any details, but we wrap up with a brilliant chase sequence that is character and action driven – the kind of thing that Rick and Morty has always excelled at. And, in the middle of all the character stuff, we plough through spectacle that actually feels linked to the main narrative drive of the episode. A throwaway comment suggests something really interesting about Rick’s relationship with his family, one that has to come into play later on because of just how significant it is. The episode strikes a great balance – it does a lot of digging into backstory, yet it remains ambiguous enough to avoid really committing (the memories are necessarily warped by what Birdperson remembers, a clever plot device). A creature who matters to the man who knows that nothing matters, and Rick’s main ally here is actually a memory of himself with differing views on life to his real counterpart. I thought that almost entirely excluding the family was a good strategy for focusing on the key relationship – Rick and Birdperson. It’s rare for the show to actually dig into Rick and what makes him tick, and the episodes in which this happens are generally really solid (I’m thinking ‘The Old Man and the Seat’ in particular). ‘Rickternal Friendshine’ is definitely one for the fans – as well as Birdperson, digging into his and Rick’s past throws the door open for a lot of cameos, as well as moments you’ll know and moments we’ve only ever heard about. ‘Rickternal Friendshine’ is definitely one for the fans As he looks for Birdperson, he encounters a number of memories about their adventures together and is forced to confront some elements of his past in order to bring his friend back. He rebuilds his friend’s body, but he needs to reactivate Birdperson’s mind, and the only way to do that is dive into his memories and find it. Left on his own in the garage one day, Rick decides to try and revive his old friend Birdperson (Dan Harmon), who had been killed and transformed into a cyborg by the Galactic Federation. It’s arguably just a little too busy, but it’s a fun time nonetheless and one of the fifth series’ best episodes so far. Then, after I’ve said that, we get an episode like ‘Rickternal Friendshine of the Spotless Mort’, which dives heavy into the character of Rick and manages to pack in a lot of action too. That’s not to say that there hasn’t been any, but what has taken place is generally quite limited, largely so the episodes can throw a lot at us. Rick finds his younger self hiding in memories of his childhood, afraid of the person he will become.In my reviews of Rick and Morty series five, a common thread has been the general lack of character work. Birdperson is revived in the real world and leaves to find his daughter. They are hunted down by other versions of Tammy and Phoenixperson, but manage to escape when Tammy sacrifices herself, realizing that she loved him more than the Federation. They eventually track down Birdperson's central body, where is cherishing his relationship with Tammy blissfully unaware of her treachery. Rick also discovers that Birdperson and Tammy have a daughter, who was inhibited by the Federation from Birdperson's original memories. Memories reveal that Birdperson distanced himself from Rick after Rick expressed feelings for him and told him life was meaningless because there are infinite realities he could take them to through the portal gun. After coasting through memories between himself and Birdperson, wherein it is revealed that Rick's original Beth is dead, he teams up with a younger version of how Birdperson sees him to go deeper into the subconscious. Episode Description:Rick enters Birdperson's mind in order to find out why he is failing to act normally.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |