After almost two years of waiting, the moment “Rick and Morty” fans have been obsessing over finally came. A surprise live release of season three aired on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim programing block and adultswim.com during the “Dragon Ball Super” time slot on Saturday night.
Of course, in true Dan Harmon (the show’s co-creator) style, the episode was released on April Fool’s Day without so much as a promo to let anyone know it was happening. A tweet from the Rick and Morty Twitter handle at 5 p.m. Pacific Standard Time stated the new episode was airing “now,” sending fans into a rage of disbelief.
After being jerked around by a release date that’s been pushed back for a minimum of four months, fans assumed that the tweet set them up for a very cruel April Fool’s joke. But it was no joke, and it aired on repeat all night long.
Though the wait was long, it was worth it. As one of the show’s obsessive fans, I watched it four and a half times.
For those who don’t know, “Rick and Morty” is an Adult Swim animated series created by “Community” creator Dan Harmon and voice actor Justin Roiland, the man behind both title characters. The show follows nihilist alcoholic Rick, the smartest man in the multidimensional universe, and his less-than-impressive grandson Morty.
After a hiatus of unknown length from his family, Rick’s daughter Beth (voiced by Sarah Chalke) welcomes him into their home and is more than accommodating as Rick takes her son, Morty, along with him for hijinks in the limitless outer space using Rick’s interdimensional portal gun. This often drives a wedge in Beth’s already failing marriage with her husband Jerry (voiced by Chris Parnell).
In the final episode of season two, which aired Oct. 4, 2015, it is revealed that Rick is wanted by the Intergalactic Federation for countless acts of treason. It ends by him turning himself in so his family won’t have to live with him as fugitives. It was his first selfless act, or so it seemed. It was revealed in Saturday’s episode that his motive was actually to take down the Federation all together. As he’s told Morty in the past, “Grampa and the government don’t get along.”
The episode begins with Rick in a simulator that allows him to live out his memories. The government agents had him hooked up to the machine in attempts to learn the design of his interdimensional portal gun. Of course, as the smartest man in the universe, Rick realizes this immediately and calls out their charade. “Castle” star Nathan Fillion makes a guest voice appearance as the government employee “insect person,” who has joined Rick in his memories in a true Ghost-of-Christmas-Past-style escapade.
Saturday night’s episode stayed true to form,making sure that every line was either critical to the plot, hilarious or both. There’s no added fluff,an element appreciated by fans but also part of the reason it takes so long to finish these seasons. Still, the premier was more drama-heavy, and with slightly fewer laughs than fans might be used to.
Other than reminding viewers that the show can keep its storyline straight in a universe of several timelines, the episode provided viewers with two major elements that have been anticipated since the series’ release in 2013.
First off, Rick takes the insect person to the day he invented the portal gun in his memory. There, we finally see Diane, Beth’s mom and Rick’s ex-wife. Rick’s origin story has remained mostly a mystery to viewers, and his initial separation from his wife and abandonment of Beth has sparked a lot of questions and fan theories. In the memory, Rick watches as a space grenade appears through a portal killing Beth and Diane, inspiring him to finish his own portal gun to get them back.
With the formula written out by Rick’s memory-version of himself, the federal agent has gotten what he came for. The only thing is it’s not the algorithm for interdimensional travel, but one that allows him to control the brain-analyzing device they are currently hooked up to. Rick had fabricated the whole memory, meaning the Diane reveal was a mere tease and viewers are still just as much in the dark as they ever were.
The second metaphorical mic drop is the announcement of Beth and Jerry’s seemingly inevitable divorce. The show has included the element of the two’s broken marriage since episode one.
Upon Rick’s return to his family, Jerry gives Beth the ultimatum of either him or her father. Naturally returning to the original trope of her childhood abandonment issues, Beth chooses Rick.
The episode ends with an homage to the first episode where Rick is manically screaming at Morty about all the adventures they need to go on for “nine more seasons” — a break in the fourth wall, one of this show’s favorite literary tools — but he says, “Welcome to the darkest year of our adventures, Morty. First thing that’s different: no more dad.”
Though it’s sometimes painfully dark already, fans will likely welcome a darker season with open arms, as long as they still bring continuous humor along the way as they’ve accomplished in the past. But, as a fan of Parnell, and the comedic relief the character provides, I hope this line doesn’t literally mean he is no longer on the show.
For now, Harmon is doing what he’s become an expert at: keeping the audience guessing. We won’t know for sure until the rest of the season airs, which according to Saturday’s advertising is coming sometime this summer.
Dates from original article published April 2 stating the episode was released Sunday have been corrected to Saturday.