Morty confronts his toxic masculinity.
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
It's been a rough season for everyone on Rick and Morty, and you can't blame the titular duo for needing a vacation. Predictably, these two can't even go to a simple day spa without things going horribly wrong. That ill-fated vacation paved the way for a very classical and character-driven episode, even if the central conceit didn't seem 100% ironed out.
"Rest and Ricklaxation" isn't the first time we've seen an episode revolve around Rick and Morty confront their doppelgangers, but leave it to Justin Roiland, Dan Harmon and the writers room to consistently find new spins on familiar formulas. Only Rick Sanchez's dark side would be strong enough and ambitious enough to take physical form and attempt to replace his good self.
Had this conflict boiled down to simple war between Good Rick and Evil Rick, I don't know how well this episode would have worked. Fortunately, it was nothing as simplistic or reductive as that. The idea is that Rick and Morty removed all the parts of themselves they thought of as weaknesses. For Rick, that included both his boundless ego and his attachment to others, resulting in a pleasant, well-adjusted man with no barriers between him and scientific greatness. For Morty, it was jettisoning that crippling anxiety and self-doubt.
It does seem like the rules and logic behind the "toxin" premise were more consistent with Morty than Rick. Or maybe it's just that the lines between Healthy Morty and Toxic Morty were much more clear-cut and defined. Marty's new personality really played into the notion that the two weren't simply jettisoning their dark sides so much as becoming what they believed to be their ideal selves. Marty being Morty, his idea of the ideal man is a soulless alpha male who exudes confidence and charms everyone around him.
You can argue that Healthy Morty's characterization took an abrupt turn midway through the episode when he switched from being a lovable self-help guru to a reject from Wall Street or American Psycho. But I think the idea here is that Morty left a vacuum in his personality when he excised all those negative emotions, and something had to rush in to fill that empty space. His transformation into a ruthless, manic womanizer actually served as a fitting commentary on Morty's tumultuous teenage mind and the man he's slowly becoming. Underneath it all, the real tragedy of Season 3 is the way we see Morty and Summer becoming jaded and warped by their misadventures. Morty is finally beginning to assert himself, but at the same time he's taking on some of his grandfather's less desirable traits. Healthy Morty is really just a reflection of the person Morty thinks he needs to become - a person who's basically as far from himself and his father as humanly possible.
But again, Rick's personality struggle wasn't handled quite as cleanly or consistently as Morty's. Why would Toxic Rick retain all the intelligence and ingenuity of the real thing if Rick didn't see those as toxic traits? If Healthy Rick jettisoned his love for Morty along with everything else, why did he keep hanging around his grandson afterward? The end result is that Toxic Rick came across less as a dark inverse of Healthy Rick than simply an amped-up version of normal Rick.
Regardless, Toxic Rick made for an amusing villain, especially as the effects of his toxic ray swept across the globe. And the twist that Toxic Rick, not Healthy Rick, was the one who cared for Morty was a neat little revelation. At this point, it's no longer enough to simply acknowledge the fact that Rick secretly cares for his grandson. The series has to find ways of plumbing ever deeper depths of Rick's psychology. And Season 3 has made it readily apparent than Roiland and Harmon are are than capable of doing that.
Two other elements stood out in the early moments of this episode. I was very impressed by the sheer scope and animation quality of Rick and Morty's ill-faed "20-minute" mission. For such a fleeting, superfluous sequence, the animators really went all-out there. Then there's Roiland's hilarious song "Terrycloth." As far as I'm aware, there are no plans for an "Interdimensional Cable III" episode this season. Which is probably a good thing (especially after reading the underwhelming comic book version), but I do always get a kick out of those improvisational moments where Roiland just gets plastered and starts riffing in a recording booth. It's great to see him finding other ways of working those weird, wonderful moments into the show.
The Verdict
"Rest and Ricklaxation" achieved a very difficult balance. This episode felt more in line with the classic Season 1 and 2 era, but was also different and unique enough to fall right in line with the more eclectic Season 3 lineup. This episode had no shortage of high-concept comedy, but it worked best as an examination of Morty's troubled and increasingly dangerous psychology.
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