We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. Rick and Morty is the best-written television show currently running, and this time around we’ll add that it’s probably the best-written since, oh, the first couple of seasons of The Sopranos. (Hi, David! We love you, dood.)
This article steps up to the plate with a ton of reasons why:
by Steve Greene
“Rick and Morty” does things no other TV shows would dare to do. Even with the infinite possibilities of a portal gun, this is a show that regularly finds a way to reinvent its own rules and subvert expectations of what a comedy can achieve in half-hour increments.
So, in a constant quest to help “Rick and Morty” newbies find the ideal entry point into the series (and to prove to everyone the microverse car battery episode is vastly under-appreciated), we’ve separated out every installment of the show with a little bit of context to explain why each episode deserves its place in the show’s hierarchy.
And let’s be honest: 94 percent of the people who clicked on this story have already skipped down to see where “Pickle Rick” is, so let’s skip the pleasantries, say “Shum shum schlippity dop!” and get to the list.
(We’ll continue to update this list as new episodes make their way to air. For each episode, we’ve also tossed in our picks for each episode’s best quote, some of which singlehandedly moved up their respective episodes a slot or two.)
25. “M. Night Shaym-Aliens!” (Season 1, Episode 4)
This probably isn’t the least-entertaining “Rick and Morty” episode, but it’s the one that has been most undercut by other episodes doing its standout elements better. Playing with reality as an illusion, nefarious alien entities trying to wrestle technological secrets away from Rick, and Jerry watching an alternate reality crumble around him have all been utilized elsewhere to stronger effect. But this still has a solid David Cross performance and “My man!” never gets old, no matter how many times the episode returns to it. Some “Rick and Morty” episodes are simply a collection of disparate, amusing component parts, and that’s OK.
Best Quote: ”You’re missing the point, Morty. Why would he drive a smaller toaster with wheels? Does your car look like a smaller version of your house? No.” – Rick
24. “Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind” (Season 1, Episode 10)
Now that we’re well acquainted with some of the intricacies of this particular multiverse, it’s hard to believe that a gathering of Ricks was once a surprise for the show. But even with introducing the bevy of Citadel-bound alternate Ricks, it’s hard not to get over just how weird the rest of this episode is. Seeing a wall full of tortured Mortys is just as unsettling is any mutant Cronenberg, and the farewell Keyser Soze moment of a vengeful rogue Morty disappearing into the crowd is a fun twist on some of the other end-of-episode resets. But above all, let’s all take a second to appreciate the unadulterated commitment to the bit that the chair-pizza-phone combo deserves and gets. The rule of threes has rarely been so satisfying.
Best Quote: “So a few thousand versions of me had the ingenious idea of banding together like a herd of cattle or a school of fish, or… those people who answer questions on Yahoo! Answers.” – Rick….
Read it all at Indiewire