Every time Rick and Morty blasts its way onto our screens, we’re guaranteed a wide variety of absurd, nihilistic, and sometimes surprisingly poignant adventures. While there is an overarching storyline around Rick’s (Ian Cardoni) revenge that has been tying the last few seasons together, it only ever appears in a handful of episodes, with the others remaining in the territory of self-contained mayhem. However, Adult Swim’s hit animated series returns with a ninth season that has more of a distinct theme than ever before. All ten episodes have been provided for review, and every single one somehow finds its way back to a self-reflexive exploration of Rick’s character and mental health, making Season 9 more strangely cohesive than any season prior.

‘Rick and Morty’ Switches Up Its Formula in Season 9

Cohesive is certainly not the word that comes to mind when thinking about Rick and Morty, yet Season 9 finds a strange sense of interconnectivity throughout its disparate episodes. It’s difficult to really say if that is a good thing or not, as one of the primary reasons fans enjoy the show is its ludicrous escapism and the resulting distinct lack of cohesion. Since Season 7, the show has become somewhat serialized with Rick’s vengeance and his haunted past with his wife, but the Season 8 finale acted as a tentative resolution for that when Rick attempted to erase Memory Diane from his mind. Instead of maintaining that narrative, Season 9 is more of a thematic successor that highlights the psychological fallout of the storyline and how Rick copes.

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That’s not to say the season lacks variety, as each episode approaches Rick’s mental health in unique ways. Some episodes obtusely deal with his blatant alcoholism and self-loathing, traits we have become familiar with, but haven’t dissected to this level yet, while other episodes allow his unhealthy coping mechanisms to linger on the edges. From vacations gone terribly wrong to a chaotic demonstration of kung fu, every episode still has a self-contained style and tone we are used to seeing in Rick and Morty. They just now trace back to the inner turmoil of Rick Sanchez with varying degrees of directness, an interconnecting thread that provides a very new way to experience the show, albeit not necessarily an unpleasant one.
‘Rick and Morty’ Season 9’s Thematic Structure Misses the Mark

Rick and MOrty fighting each other in Rick and Morty Season 9.Image via Adult Swim

On one hand, it was about time Rick and Morty started truly unraveling the layers of one of its central characters, as Rick had avoided any prolonged introspection for a while now. Although there are certainly episodes that dove into the jagged ridges of his mind, it hasn’t been sustained for an entire season before. However, these explorations can occasionally feel redundant as they highlight the self-loathing and contradictions we already know about, sometimes in an absurdly obtuse sense, which you’ll witness in Episode 6. Additionally, it’s not as if Rick goes through any significant growth throughout this season, just the familiar back-and-forth between episodes. We’re just more exposed to his psyche than usual, an exciting prospect but not truly novel. On the other hand, tying every episode back to Rick sometimes undermines the storylines of the supporting cast. Morty (Harry Belden) received a handful of episodes that spotlighted his antics and insecurities, particularly the first and last of the season, but he spends most of Season 9 running around and trying to clean up after Rick. It almost feels like we’ve gone back to the early seasons, where Morty felt more like a sidekick to his genius grandpa, but this time, he is a sidekick to psychological radioactivity. Similarly, Summer’s (Spencer Grammer) character is strictly addressed through her relationship with her grandpa, both grandchildren becoming vehicles for Rick’s turmoil. The rest of the family doesn’t fare much better, with Jerry (Chris Parnell) being the reliable punchline to a few wild jokes, and Beth (Sarah Chalke) lingering around the edges of the storyline. It’s particularly disappointing after Beth played such a huge role in the previous season and in Rick’s transformative scenes in the Season 8 finale. If any character was to become more involved in Rick’s fallout, we would’ve expected it to be Beth and potentially Space Beth, yet they only appear in scenes for comedy rather than for thematic reasons.

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‘Rick and Morty’ Season 9 Is Still a Fun Joyride Across the Universe

All that being said, Rick and Morty Season 9 is still solid, hilarious, and immersive. The shift into an attempt at thematic cohesion across the episodes doesn’t work and neglects many of the characters, but the quality of the episodes themselves is still up to the standard you would expect from the Adult Swim show. Every episode whisks you away into another berserk, mostly nihilistic, intergalactic adventure with undercurrents of emotions and sharp intellect that leaves you hungry for more. The storytelling is always precise, moving viewers through creative narrative beats and well-timed comedy, with the additional benefit of plot twists that make a significant impact on the series.

There are also a handful of slower-paced episodes that break up the tumbling momentum perfectly, including one that whisks us away to the snowy forests and another that shrinks everything down to the dawn of evolution. They are fascinating in their own way, even if they don’t carry the unhinged quality we always expect from Rick and Morty, forcing the show to slow down at exactly the right points. In this way, the arrangement of the episodes benefits the season, offering an adventure through Rick’s psyche with healthy doses of belly-aching laughter. Even though Season 9’s experiment doesn’t quite mesh well with the show, the standalone episodes themselves are interesting and humorous enough to feel like a typical joyride through space and time, Rick and Morty-style. It is admirable that the show tried to give Rick his own season to fall apart and bear the psychological toll of his decisions, but it is one that has come at a cost to the other deserving characters. Of course, Rick and Morty still flings itself across the galaxy and offers a short 25-minute break from reality with a new array of devastatingly hilarious mishaps, each slotting themselves into the continued legacy of this grandpa-grandson duo.

Release Date

December 2, 2013

Network

Adult Swim

Showrunner

Dan Harmon

Directors

Bryan Newton, Dominic Polcino, Anthony Chun, John Rice, Stephen Sandoval, Jeff Myers

Writers

Tom Kauffman, Wade Randolph, Eric Acosta, David Phillips, Erica Rosbe, Sarah Carbiener, Matt Roller, Michael Waldron, Caitie Delaney

Justin Roiland

Rick Sanchez / Morty Smith

Pros & Cons

Gaining insight into Rick’s psyche in a more direct way is a fascinating prospect.
Season 9 still masterfully executes well-timed comedy, escapist absurdity and unexpected emotion.
The pacing of each episode felt slower and more deliberate this season, adding to the show’s immersive nature.

Adding a theme to this season reduced the time spent with other characters and sometimes felt a tad redundant.