Rick and Morty – Season 4 Episode 1 Recap & Review

Death Is Inevitable

After a 2 year hiatus, the incredibly creative animated team behind Rick & Morty return for their fourth season. With an impressive set of episodes under its belt already and a great blend of imaginative plot lines and cleverly written sci-fi, Rick & Morty’s fourth seasons gets off to a flying start with one of its best episodes since it came on air all those years ago.

After a brief introduction, we’re re-introduced to Rick, Morty and the family as Rick begrudgingly formally announces he and Morty are going on another adventure. In true Rick & Morty fashion however, nothing is as it seems as our duo wind up in possession of a lucrative death crystal; an item that allows you to see your own death and potentially navigate through hazardous choices in order to live longer…but at what cost?

This question ultimately forms the foundation of the episode as both Rick & Morty explore this idea from two very different angles. As Rick constantly dies at the hands of his recklessness and reincarnates as different weird and wonderful creatures, Morty essentially becomes a slave to the crystal, eventually losing himself and becoming a shell of the person he once was, all in the name of avoiding death.

This inevitably culminates in a suitably clever Rick & Morty final act that sees both plotlines converge together in an explosive and bloody conclusion to the tale.

With the usual combination of witty humour littered with profanities, Rick & Morty throws everything it has at this fourth seadon premiere, including a cheeky fourth-wall break at the end too. There are some surprise appearances from past characters that appar here too and all of this makes the episode well worth the two year wait.

What’s particularly interesting here though are the underlying themes exploring death and reincarnation. While you could argue this is simply material used to set up elaborate jokes, especially the jabs at dystopian fascist futures, the episode actually does a pretty good job developing this idea around death in a thought provoking manner.

Overall then, the wait for season 4 was absolutely worth it. Rick and Morty bow out the first episode with a solid slice of sci-fi animation much in the same vain as the opening trio of seasons. Boasting some great nods to previous episodes and a return of the championing humour and storytelling that makes this show so endearing, Rick & Morty sets a high bar for the rest of the season to follow, one I hope it continues to raise through the remaining episodes.