Utopia Talk / Movie Talk / (TV) Rick & Morty

Cherub Cow Member	Tue Jun 22 04:41:05 This show should probably have its own thread by now :p
Cherub Cow Member	Tue Jun 22 04:41:10 I probably will *not* do long reviews each episode like this, I just got carried away ;p S05E01: "Mort Dinner Rick Andre" Currently free on Adult Swim: http://www...d-morty/mort-dinner-rick-andre Snyopsis: Morty's ret-conned Aquaman-like "nemesis", Mr. Nimbus of the Earth's oceans, comes over for dinner, and Morty tries to court Jessica. Title: Partly a reference to 1981's "My Dinner With Andre" (a meta-theater about oppositions between humanism (its connections to the world) and spirituality (its connections with the oversoul or the eternal)), the title is also the usual "[put 'Rick and Morty' in the title in fragments]" play on words which phonetically becomes "Morty and Eric André" or "More Than Eric André" — likely coincidentally, accidentally, or unintentionally. Pretty funny episode :D In particular I laughed when Morty dropped the wine, since that solidified that they were clearly repeating ad nauseam that painful trope of "[guy never gets the girl because the stars never align]" (also the "Better as Friends" trope). Morty struggles to find a human connection while Jessica supposedly ascends spiritually, so their humanity and spirituality do not align at the right time in their respective lives. To sell that story, they make lots of references to "The Fountain" (2006), outright borrowing the scenes where Hugh Jackman visits the tree of life at the end of time (the "Big Crunch" model of the universe) and the enlightened Jackman being thrown back by the resetting of time (That moment in "The Fountain": http://youtu.be/WNSsVJZmdhE?t=641 ). That "Fountain" concept runs with the Freudian/Jungian idea that a maturing person struggles to reclaim the archetype memory of wholeness experienced in the pre-conscious love of a mother's care, with a person only feeling at one with the universe or "whole" in the moment of orgasm, then immediately facing an ego death wherein the universe resets with the explosion of orgasm and the symbolic birthing of children who face the same ego struggles all over again (also relevant: «la petite mort»). So it parallels nicely with Morty: he knows that he wants Jessica, but in his bumbling ineptitude, he continually fails to have sex with her. To continue the Freudian metaphor, this also falls on the background of Morty continually re-visiting a planet that progresses and matures far faster than he can. In the story, it's due to time dilation, but metaphorically it shifts to Morty's relationship with his pseudo-father, Rick, who continually keeps Morty from growing up. Morty wants to accomplish the simple task of getting wine for Jessica to court her, but Rick and his man-child world of endless immaturity repeatedly interrupt Morty. Intentional or not, the show may have put even more meta in action here, because if the show must be "Rick [*and*] Morty" and the nature of American cartoons is to avoid persistent continuity, then Morty will never age or mature while bound to Rick's immaturity. This becomes the painful part of this trope of love comically denied: it lacks progression. The audience grows and learns with/from the character's mistakes, but the character remains the same frustrating mess who will make the same mistakes again. For the writer, it makes creativity easier to have stock characters who reset every episode, but Morty's permanent psychosis may be the cost. It could be that the writers *want* to develop Morty, but it's a comedy show, so they may think, "Why bother? Let's just have fun!" And Jessica summed this up when she supposedly developed to an extreme degree only to say a comical one-liner when walking down the sidewalk ("I'm a time god!"). It's both comical and a reality: even exposed to hundreds of years, the human mind can only recall so much at once or be so effective in a moment.
nhill Member	Tue Jun 22 11:57:39 I enjoyed the episode, but I feel like the series lost its magic in Season 4. Can't quite pinpoint. Best guess it was so mind-blowingly awesome at first that the novelty wore off for me. Tends to happen with all these adult cartoon comedies. Still love it, though.
Cherub Cow Member	Wed Jan 25 03:34:39 There's currently concern that Adult Swim's decision to remove Justin Roiland from Rick&Morty was pure opportunism by left-wing bed-wetters that have infiltrated Adult Swim. For background, NBC got the scoop and published this almost two weeks ago: "'Rick and Morty' co-creator Justin Roiland faces felony domestic violence charges "Roiland was charged with domestic battery and false imprisonment in May 2020 after an incident with a woman he was dating, according to a criminal complaint." [January 12th, 2023] http://www...tic-violence-charges-rcna65403 The short version of the NBC article: • Roiland is accused of physically assaulting and intimidating his girlfriend in 2020. • Charges were filed in 2020 and include "one felony count of domestic battery with corporal injury and one felony count of false imprisonment by menace, violence, fraud and/or deceit." • Following charges, multiple hearings were held, and Roiland entered a 'not guilty' plea in 2020. • Court documents were apparently sealed. • Unclear how NBC got around a protective order, since the Orange County courts and DA pages do not list this information, but there was apparently a leak on January 12th due to a pre-trial hearing. • Roiland's lawyer stated, "To be clear, not only is Justin innocent but we also have every expectation that this matter is on course to be dismissed once the district attorney’s office has completed its methodical review of the evidence." • No trial date is set and no word on pleading out, settlements, or anything, though another hearing is scheduled for April 2023. The Adult Swim website did not post anything, but the official Rick and Morty Twitter made this statement: "Adult Swim has ended its association with Justin Roiland "Rick and Morty will continue "The talented and dedicated crew are hard at work on Season 7" [January 24th, 2023] http://twitter.com/RickandMorty/status/1618009508420386817 So, the assumption is that Adult Swim found out about the charges from NBC and took 12 days to decide how to act. Unless Adult Swim has an inside scoop from Roiland about how serious or actionable these charges may be, this means that Adult Swim is proactively cutting ties with someone who has not been found at fault or guilty. Dropping Roiland is either 1) premature (they don't know anything extra but are being malicious/political) and/or 2) contractual (regardless of whether they know something, they're using it as an opportunity to end the contract) It seems unlikely that Roiland would admit crimes to Adult Swim's legal department, especially given his lawyer's public statement. It's also notable that Rick and Morty's 2018 contract renewal was a *very* big deal, since Adult Swim ordered 70 new episodes, with only 30 of those episodes having thus far been delivered. It's very possible that Adult Swim is killing contracts to reduce costs, and this just gave them an excuse. If so, it's a pretty big gamble for them to cancel a contract if they're not sure if he's guilty, since a "not guilty" verdict or a dismissal could make Adult Swim look like assholes and cause a boycott. That said, removing Roiland from the show would be pretty close to a death sentence, since Roiland voiced both Rick and Morty. He also voiced lots of random characters, such as Mr. PoopyButtHole. Dan Harmon is the primary writer, of course, so the script and animation may remain relatively unchanged. Harmon is also the type of person to write through the issue, making fun of the new voice actors in the script and maybe even making fun of Adult Swim's own decision to fire Roiland. With season 7 slated for mid-2023, Harmon definitely has time to adjust the writing...
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