5x03 A Rickconvenient Mort

[7.5/10] This episode does one of the things I love in Rick and Morty. It deconstructs a silly pop culture idea, takes it to the most absurd places possible, but then circles it back around to something real and even a touch piercing.

So as a kid who grew up loving Captain Planet and the Planeteers, watching the show do an extended spoof of that property was a real treat. What I like about it, though, is that it took things a step beyond. It’s easy to say, “What would happen when the Planeteers grow up?” or “Does Captain Planet have a life or interests or personal connections beyond conservation?”

And it’s fun to see those things. The ridiculousness of Morty dating an ecology-based superhero is a lot of fun. So is seeing the Planeteers grow up into jaded corporate sell-outs willing to trade “Planetina” to a foreign oligarch. Watching Morty go all John Wick to destroy them and free her is out there, in the best R&M way, and also weirdly sweet.

From there, though, the episode goes to even wilder places, like Planetina understandably being fed up with the lack of ecological progress since the nineties when her show debuted. The fact that she’ll go to more and more extremes when not hemmed in by the Planet-teens is a strangely compelling deconstruction of how Captain Planet might feel after fighting the good fight for so long.

At the same time, it’s a good emotional story. It’s winking a little bit, with off-handed comments about the age difference and gags about how Planetina still works conservation into conversation. But there’s something real in how Morty is enamored with Planetina (and vice versa), whereas Beth, who knows how young love can mess you up, is inherently skeptical of the whole thing.

The fact that it doesn't end with Planetina dying or being destroyed by Rick or some convenient out is marvelous. Instead, it hits something true when you care about someone but can’t go down the path they’re walking. Morty caring about someone but having to lose them, while he gets comfort from his mom is more touching than I might have expected from an otherwise loony storyline.

The B-story is good too. Rick/Summer adventures are always fun, and the idea of them going on a “love stinks” hedonism fest for a trio of doomed planets is a good setup. The jokes are just so-so, since it mostly relies on shock value (and censored mouths, for some reason?) But I like Rick getting infatuated with an alien despite his “rules” for the trip, and Summer proving how “Rick” she is by unilaterally disrupting the situation in a bout of cynicism. It’s a weird way for them to bond, but a good one.

Overall, a quality episode that deploys a Community alum to great effect and delivers a characteristically strange but affecting story.