Rick and Morty, to be blunt, is one of the stupidest shows I have ever seen. At the same time, it is also one of the best shows I have ever seen. It takes a group of geniuses to come with premises as stupid as the one in this show. From a character turning themselves into a pickle to writing a hit song in order to save the earth from giant floating heads and having a character become blackout drunk and create a twisted parody of Saw. I don't know what kind of filter is on Adult Swim, but the fact that they let these kinds of crazy storylines happen is why this show is one of their best.
This episode re-imagines both the superhero formula and the show's formula.
In an episode influenced by the Avengers, X-Men, and Guardians of the Galaxy one would normally expect a typical action-packed adventure filled with good triumphing over evil. However, the show decides to subvert the expectations of the audience and forgot that entirely. Instead, the episode is more or less the same Rick and Morty nonsense we know and love but with a slight twist.
In a typical episode of Rick and Morty, the one who usually solves the problems is Rick due to his incredible intellect. However, Rick's drunk demeanor is what caused the problem, and Morty is so used to Rick's nonsense that he can solve all of drunk Rick's problems while Rick can barely do anything.
It leads to a lot of hilarious moments where Morty solves the Vidicators problems by just thinking like drunk Rick.
Just when the audience thinks that they have a clue of what is going on the show will simply come up with something completely random and throw the audience in for a loop. It might sound tiring, but the hilarious writing and excellent voice acting help to keep the audience from thinking too deeply into it.
The Vindicators themselves are also quite interesting too, with each one having crazy powers that only a kid on drugs would dream up. I mean if someone told me that there was a person who had the power of a million ants or could summon ghost trains, I would probably scoff at the very idea of that person ever being a real superhero.
It just takes an episode of Rick and Morty to prove me wrong.
Such a shame that the talents of Christian Slater were wasted here.
If there is any criticism I can throw toward this episode is that they have wasted Maximus Renegade Star-Soldiers character. His character wasn't interesting or witty, and he sadly doesn't do enough in this episode to make him stand out. He could've been a foil of the typical superhero main protagonist or something else completely wacky, but instead, the writers just choose to keep him a one-note character.
Despite that, this was yet another hilarious episode of the amazing 3rd season of Rick and Morty. I hope that we get to see a Vindicators four sometime in the next season, or 2, or 3, or however long it takes them.
