While last week’s episode, “The Vat of Acid Episode,” set a high standard for the season’s final two episodes meet, we return to a more classic styled Rick and Morty adventure with Childrick of Mort – where we deal with daddy issues, the importance of camping, and fighting a literal God.
Although they haven’t been a big part of season four up until now, we finally get more time with Jerry (Chris Parnell, Saturday Night Live) and Beth (Sarah Chalke, Scrubs) as Jerry drags the entire family on a camping trip that no one’s excited for. Summer (Spencer Grammer, Greek) is missing out on doing drugs at a popular boy’s house, while Morty (Justin Roiland, Solar Opposites) is in one of his video game obsessed moods. All of this is pissing off Jerry, who’s attempting to “teach his children valuable life lessons.”
The one he’s the most pissed at though is Rick (also voiced by Roiland) and he’s hoping that there’s no “sci-fi bullshit” of Rick’s to ruin his spring break plans. However, no sooner has Jerry uttered his intent for this trip than a figure from Rick’s past contacts him and informs him of some surprising news – his kids are being born. The news was a strange revelation that immediately piqued my interest, especially when we find that Rick has impregnated an entire planet, and is made even better when Rick nonchalantly takes Jerry out of the driver’s seat and takes control.
Upon arriving, we see where Rick’s planetary love-making session went down. It is quite a sight to behold. His clay, spikey-haired offspring sprout out of the ground like a geyser, and, while Rick is willing to abandon his new born children, Beth isn’t so willing to let him make that choice again. It’s another moment of Rick and Beth bonding, but this time it is intriguing because of the scale and depth they go in raising these strange offspring to build their own society. They literally go about it in the most scientifically efficient way possible by splitting them off by career potential and leaving the “unproductives,” which I got a kick out of as Rick says it’s a group full of DJs, foodies, and influencers, to fend for themselves outside of the society. While I do find it a little odd for Beth to still be vying for Rick’s approval in this way since Rick’s bad parenting is already something that’s been touched on before, it’s cool to see them work on something so massive together and for Rick to actually acknowledge how much it means to him.
Jerry, on the other hand, is busy condescendingly talking down to Summer and Morty before Summer just lets him have it in an absolutely brutal rant. Frankly, everything in this episode with Jerry just shows how incapable, insecure, and kind of useless he is. It’s almost poetic how Jerry stumbles his way into the unproductive section of Rick and Beth’s sorting machine, and it’s almost not even a surprise to see him feel vindicated by “leading” the unproductive offspring to make a civilization that fits his singular vision. With no sense of scope or forethought, his society is stuck playing with mud and sticks. Jerry even takes advantage of their innocence to villainize Rick and Beth’s society.
If you thought leading a primitive society would help him feel a little less insecure, you’d be mistaken. His insecurities are still on display throughout this arc, such as when he stops one of the clay offspring from making progress by making a house instead of a tent. In a nutshell, moments like these are why it’s humorously satisfying to see Jerry on the bottom and why one day I’m hoping there’s an episode where everything clicks for him and a different side starts to show.
The best of ‘Childrick of Mort’, however, comes in the reveal of a Maury-esque twist, when Rick’s planet lover informs him he is not actually the father of her children as it kicks off such a fun battle with Rick fighting God. No seriously, back in season one Rick took on the Devil and won and now we get to see him take on a literal God in hand to hand combat. With Rick unwilling to allow all the time he spent with Beth building a new society go to waste, he decides he is not going to let this cloudy POS to just roll on in to take his place without a fight. We initially get a small battle between Beth’s troops and Jerry’s tribe that’s pretty funny as this God gives Jerry some powers that are pretty incredible to watch. From him parting the water in front of him like Moses to him misfiring his staff, it’s amazing to watch Jerry still not exactly be able to stop Beth and her highly-developed army even with the powers of a God. Let’s be real though, it’s all about the main event between Rick and a God and it’s quite a doozy.
So, while it’s not literally God that Rick is fighting in space, he is fighting a Zeus entity of sorts in hand to hand combat and oddly enough, Rick is actually losing for most of the fight. It is pretty rare to see Rick be the underdog in a fight. On his heels for most of the time, this Zeus look alike gives him a run for his money and ultimately prevails as the winner. Rick’s plea to have the city he and Beth created still stand simply because they made it together is incredibly sweet and comes off very genuine.
However, even though Rick is about to get his head popped off by Zeus’ thumb, something absolutely incredible happens when Morty and Summer crash into Zeus’ head and ultimately save Rick. After telling off Jerry, Summer and Morty had stumbled upon an alien ship that offers all the hallucinatory drugs and video game surrogates they could ask for, and they accidentally end up saving Rick when the ship lands in Zeus’ head. It’s a moment so surprising and gloriously unexpected that my brother and I actually stood up and cheered at the sight of Morty.
Everything in ‘Childrick of Mort’ is pretty much wrapped up in an “all’s well that ends well” kind of ending with the planet essentially kicking Rick out of its figurative house, Jerry and Beth mostly reconciling, and the Smith family heading back home after another crazy adventure. The way Rick sells everyone out in order to get the spotlight off of him is pretty funny though, and the post-credit scene is easily one of my favorites of the series.
‘Childrick of Mort’ eases viewers back into those classic Rick and Morty vibes with some steps forward in Rick and Beth’s relationship, a fight for the ages, and a stellar showing of why Jerry sucks. It carries the strong momentum of this season perfectly into a finale that has a lot to live up to.
