Hiya!

I love living in the Philippines but, at the same time, it can suck because it is a 3rd world country that doesn’t get that much respect. I do see why as traffic is terrible, flooding can be a problem when it rain heavily and the Internet can be downright laggy. That last item does lead to the country being one of the last on the list regarding when online services debut here. Maybe I’m just venting out because the United States already have their hands on Disney+, a service I’m dying to get but I can’t because it’s going to be available in To Be Announced. Then again, I guess the United States didn’t get it on its proposed date as well as the servers came crashing down for many.

There is a benefit to this kind of thing, as it has forced a lot of people in my country, including myself, to find, how shall I say, “alternative” methods of getting our favorite shows. There are a myriad of manners on how to get the Disney+ shows without a subscription and even if you’re not in the territories that did get the service on launch date. I won’t mention any of them here because, well, I’m not sure if I’ll get in trouble if I reveal how I actually view the latest television shows, movies or anime here even without a proper streaming service subscription. Just Google it and you’ll find out.

What I can say is the most jank method on how to watch the latest shows but it’s also the most unreliable: YouTube. If you’re lucky, there may be someone who uploaded the full episode onto YouTube and it slips under the steely eyes of YouTube’s copyright algorithm just long enough for you to watch it before it’s taken down by the Google overloads. That’s what I did when earlier this week when I watched the 1st episode of the 4th season of Rick and Morty: Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Repeat.

I wouldn’t call myself a colossal fan of Rick and Morty. I do enjoy the show because it’s hilarious. I love how it uses science fiction tropes to tell a weird adventures of Rick Sanchez, the smartest man in all the universes, and Morty Smith, his preteen nephew who tries to do good but winds up making mistakes. I love the nihilistic viewpoint of the cartoon and how nothing matters but, somehow, everything matters at the same time. I still didn’t know what to expect because, although there is a trailer for the season, that just could be Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, the creators of the show, just pulling our leg and none of those scenes will ever appear in the season.

The episode is a pastiche of the film Edge of Tomorrow but with its own spin on the entire “live forever” theme. Rick and Morty harvest death crystals and Morty discovers that there is a future where his crush Jessica is lying by his deathbed and telling him that he loves him. In his mad panic to stay on that timeline, he accidentally kills Rick. The story then splits into two, with Morty trying to stay on the path that will lead him to Jessica hanging on when he dies and Rick, who keeps on getting his consciousness plugged into the clones of the different Ricks in the multiverse. If you’re having a hard time following it, then you haven’t been watching Rick and Morty. This is pretty much standard stuff in the show.

Both stories are really good and they have some really ingenious bits of humor in them. I did enjoy the Morty side of the adventure because it does borrow a lot of tropes from anime. They even call Morty the “Akira” boy, referencing the violent 1988 anime film. There’s also a lot of humor that you may miss because you might not be paying attention to things like the news ticker at the bottom. This makes this episode worthy of a rewatch just for that.

That’s not to say that there isn’t a few funny bits with Rick’s side of the adventure. They manage to put in a quick running gag where he keeps on getting placed into a universe that doesn’t agree with his way of thinking, which is funny. You never really find out how many universes do follow that way, which is already kind of funny when you think about that. Gearhead even makes a quick cameo that, honestly, doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but it is funny to see him.

Actually, if I have an issue with the episode it’s the use of Mister Meeseeks. He was funny when he had his own episode and, I will admit, I did enjoy the logical way he was employed in the episode. I just wish it wasn’t so in-your-face. I love Mister Meeseeks but this does make me worried that the writers will overuse him because he’s become a fan favorite. Sometimes less is more. That goes for Mister Meeseeks as well.

I guess my biggest complaint is that there wasn’t anything really special about the episode. I guess I was ridiculous to think that Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon could think up something as ingenious as the entire Szechuan Sauce rant and how it was going to be Rick’s big story arc for the 9 seasons the show is going to be on. All-in-all, Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Repeat came off as another Rick and Morty episode with just that little blurb of Beth forcing Rick to be kinder to Morty. It’s definitely not as epic as the Szechuan Sauce rant.

Take note: that’s not a bad thing. It’s still a very good Rick and Morty episode that had me laughing out loud multiple times because of how funny it was. It was more of the expectation that, after 2 years of waiting, we got a good Rick and Morty episode instead of something phenomenal that would’ve blown our collective brains.

I will be still eagerly awaiting the next Rick and Morty episode when it’s released on Sunday. I just hope that there’s going to be another gentleman or lady willing to be banned on YouTube to upload it when it does.

Byee!

What did you think of the new season opener of Rick and Morty? Let me know in the comments section below!