"Rick and Morty" Season 3 episode 1 ended with Jerry and Beth getting a divorce, leading to Rick taking over the family. While this was an interesting development for the series, it did leave me worried that we weren't going to see much of Jerry this season.
When season 3 finally premiered a few weeks ago, my concerns appeared true as Jerry's role in the current season has been kept to a minimum.
Jerry may not be my favorite character but he has always been an important part of the series.
He is a roadblock to Rick's work and the complete opposite of Rick in almost every way, leading to some hilarious interactions between the two characters. Their interactions were some of the funniest moments from the first 2 seasons.
So one can imagine why I was excited when the preview for this episode of "Rick and Morty" revealed that it would be a "Rick and Jerry episode."
Rick and Jerry's adventure brings them closer together
In this episode of "Rick and Morty," Rick drags a naked Jerry out of bed to take him on an adventure in order to reassure Morty that Jerry won't kill himself.
Rick takes Jerry to a resort where everyone is immortal when inside a magical sphere.
Meanwhile back on Earth, Summer's boyfriend Ethan dumped her so he could be with Trisha Lang and her "massive titties." So Summer tries to use one of Rick's devices to make herself hot. Unfortunately, she ends up transforming herself into the female titan from "Attack on Titan."
Both of these plots are hilarious and insane in their own ways but at this point in the series, this kind of insanity is expected from a typical episode of "Rick and Morty". What made this episode really shine was the interactions between Rick and Jerry along with Morty trying to fix Summer's problems.
Rick pretty much lays his hatred towards Jerry straight by telling him that the only way he survives is through pity.
Rick even goes so far as to call Jerry a "predator" that lures in his victims with pity. This roast leads to Jerry thinking more about himself and may lead to future development of his character.
On the other hand, Morty is taking more responsibility
The subplot on Earth also does a lot for Morty's character. Rick stated at the end of Season 3 episode 1 that this would be the "darkest year of their adventures." Morty has proven throughout this season that he is not the same Morty from back in Season 1.
Morty has been molded by Rick and he has become much darker. He understands Rick's mind more and every crazy adventure Rick takes Morty on leaves Morty more and more fed up with Rick. In fact, Morty even tried to kill Rick in the first episode of the season and would've done so had the gun not been a fake.
Morty has been taking more responsibility for his family ever since Jerry left, which has led to an even further change in his character. Morty is no longer the timid boy who was afraid to shoot Democrats. He is the man trying to keep his family from being torn apart from Rick.
Overall, this was another wacky, yet productive, episode of "Rick and Morty." It gives progression to Morty and Jerry's character while also giving us laugh out loud quotable humor that the series is known for. This may be the second-best episode of this season so far and I am itching to see more.