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Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty returns from its near-month-long hiatus. The series’ fifth season concludes in a two-part finale. Season 5 Episode 9 is titled “Forgetting Sarick Mortshall”. Staff writer Siobhan Thompson serves as the episode’s writer, while storyboard artist Kyounghee Lim serves as its director.
Season 5 Episode 10 is titled “Rickmurai Jack”. Supervising producer Jeff Loveness and executive producer Scott Marder serve as the episode’s writers, while storyboard artist Jacob Hair serves as its director.
There will be spoilers in this review, as the title of the article suggests. Therefore, I will discuss and analyze the details of the episode. Please beware if you have not yet seen it.
Plot Summary
“Forgetting Sarick Mortshall”
Season 5 Episode 9 pays homage to Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Rick Sanchez (Justin Roiland) and his grandson, Morty, (also Roiland) end their partnership after the latter accidentally gets the portal fluid’s quantum transport solution on his hand. As the family’s garbage goober (also Roiland) clears up trash in the garage, Rick spins a wheel to appoint a new sidekick to replace Morty. Rick goes on new adventures with two crows until they are lured into avian planet with 40 million bird species. He learns that they hold more meaning and purpose than just being birds.
Meanwhile, Morty breaks a psychiatric patient, Nick, who also has portal fluid on an appendage, out of the hospital. Dubbing themselves “Portal Boys”, they go off on their own adventures. This involves liberating Rick’s garage of tools and inventions and assassinating other alien lifeforms. However, Nick turns to a sadistic side. Morty gets the upper hand and drops his severed hand into the portal on Nick’s leg. After Nick disappears, Rick gives Morty his portal gun and says they have to part ways on account that he hasn’t officially made Morty his sidekick.
In the end-tag, the garbage goober is revealed to have been married, named Harold, and is a professional doctor. After his wife judges his life choices serving the Smith family, he leaves his home to be trash disposal.
Chris Parnell makes an appearance as the voice of Morty’s father (and Rick’s son-in-law), Jerry Smith. Nick Rutherford also seems to voice Morty’s (temporary) partner, Nick.
Lee Harting, Phil LaMarr, Alaina Moore, Nolan North, and Kari Wahlgren also make voice appearances.
“Rickmurai Jack”
In Season 5’s final episode, Rick and his two crows embark on an anime adventure, where they eventually happen upon a 40-year-old Morty. Rick is betrayed by his crows and returns to the Smith residence. There, the family is dealing briefly with Morty having used an aging serum. Rick takes his grandson to the Citadel, where they nearly elude a political event.
President Morty (also Roiland) summons them for dinner, where he reveals the Ricks’ secret conspiracy. Mortys have been manufactured in different ways to make sure all Ricks get to have a Morty sidekick. This information is revealed after Rick’s mind was scanned in Season 1. President Morty hacks into all the portal guns as part of his plans to destroy the Citadel. Rick shows Morty his past, starting with his universe’s family dying in a garage explosion, teased in the Season 3 premiere. He also takes his grandson through his team-up with Birdperson (Dan Harmon), explored two episodes prior. This version of Rick has vowed to assassinate other Ricks as his montage plays out.
President Morty tampers with the central finite curve and flees through a black hole, while Rick and Morty escape with the Citadel’s survivors. President Morty then steps through a yellow portal.
In the end-tag, Mister Poopybutthole (also Roiland) speaks to the viewer. He reveals he is now divorced, canceling out his announcement of having started a family in the Season 3 finale. He has also been fired from the university after his exploits with karate as a professor.
Spencer Grammer, Sarah Chalke, and Parnell make appearances as Summer, Beth, and Jerry Smith, respectively. Cecilia Gault, Harting, Rob Schrab, and Wahlgren also make voice appearances.
Discussion
This two-part season finale has incredible pacing in its penultimate episode but seems to slow down a bit halfway through the last. Thompson’s teleplay writing in “Forgetting Sarick Mortshall” is amazing. I love her references to (half a) Paul Giamatti as well as the classic Jackie Chan-Chris Tucker team-up. She definitely triggered my dark sense of humor with the “guards beat us on Sundays” line from the psychiatric patient character. What I loved most about this episode was its latter act, with the birds teaching Rick about “training”.
Additionally, I liked Morty’s fight by the passing train and the severing of his hand. This could have been his character development but is almost immediately resolved. A whole season or so with a one-handed Morty seems nice, but Cartoon Network fans already had this with Finn from Adventure Time.
Loveness and Marder’s writing in “Rickmurai Jack” is just as good. I like the small allusions to The Crow along with the silly pokes at “3 Toothbrushes”. My favorite part was their homage to a Rick Sanchez version of Marvel legend, Stan Lee. I am most curious about what the final scene means for the next season, and what a yellow portal does in comparison with the usual green portal.
The Crew of the Rick and Morty Season 5 Finale
James McDermott returns as the art director of both episodes.
In Episode 9, Samantha Gray joins the group of storyboard artists, while Kendra Melton is credited as a part of character design. Bob Cavin III joins prop design, while Vance Caines, Namsuk Cho, Nash Dunnigan, and Jeff Mertz join in for background design. Lastly, we have Daisy Shiyang Xie joining in background paint.
In Episode 10, Marisa Livingston, Maya Shavzin, and Dave Sherburne lend some hands in character design. Kyle Capps, Lance Falk, and Damon Moran join prop design, while Robbie Erwin joins the huge team of background designers. CJ Cannon and Tanya Melendez join color design, while Mike Bear and Ellie Hall help out with background paint.
Performances and Character Developments
Roiland reigns supreme in the multiple characters that he voices. I had a feeling his partnership with the two crows would not last long. Although, I like President Morty’s set-up as somewhat the new long-term series antagonist, much like how Tammy was in the first few seasons of the show. This does beg me to actually wonder if there is anyone (or anything) that can serve Rick better than Morty. Summer Smith has proved this time and time again, so I would like to see her partner with her grandfather more often. Then again, the series is not titled Rick and Morty for no reason. At the same time, Rick and Two Crows is a great deviation from the normal R&M opening title credits that we have been used to seeing.
Can we really perceive Rick to be an evil individual, or is he is doing the right thing? We finally have a Morty who proves to be smarter than him and cannot be stopped. Not only that, but this season proves that the old scientist is getting softer in his ways. He’s still intelligent to some degree, but there have been too few characters who can — “can” as in “capable of performing” — prove themselves to be adversaries to him. Thus far, only President Morty has succeeded, so we will have to see what happens next.
Final Thoughts
Season 5 of Adult Swim’s science-fiction adventure-comedy series has fluctuated with what it’s had to offer. There has been some truly out-of-this-world storytelling, most notably the semen and egg episode. I am surprised it made its way onto cable television. This finale shows it has the juice, but how long will it be until its substance expires?
Rick and Morty Season 5 is now on Adult Swim!
Have you seen this season? What are your thoughts on this finale? What has been your favorite episode? Let us know! For more animation, adventure, comedy, fantasy, and science-fiction-related news and reviews, follow The Cinema Spot on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
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