I almost feel like Avatar doesn’t count because it was more of a mini-series, or at least allowed to tell one cohesive story. Rick and Morty has to maintain the characters over a longer haul.

I haven’t seen all of Adventure Time nor Steven Universe, but know enough about both that they’re pretty rich, and Adventure Time…

Yeah, I think there’s probably more overlap than not between the two positions, but just enough difference in sensibility to poke fun at the extreme opposite pole for thinking something is good storytelling just because it had a callback or it paid off storyline from earlier.

I would prefer the explanation wherein yes, Doofus Rick is the smartest guy in his universe, it’s just a very very very dumb universe.

I think they hit the right spot for canon where there are ongoing things but not enough to make the episode incomprehensible to a new viewer 

The Mr. Poopybutthole scene was devastating. I’ve definitely been through a similar marriage situaiton, and that person introduced me to Rick and Morty

“We’re not watching the show for the lore”

So the truly infinite universe is now Evil Morty’s playground. Damn, what a brilliant twist. I bet that we would definitely see him again in the future with some sort of grudge against Rick of C-137.

Still, this was good stuff, and the simple fact that Morty cleaned up his own mess helped elevate it from yet another “Morty learns a valuable lesson about not to fuck with Rick.”

I liked the fact that Morty was using the portal gun to go and fix the messes Rick leaves behind, and not, like, to find better ways to jerk off or whatever cheap “teenage boy, amirite?” joke they usually make at his expenses.

Really thought that guy was going to turn out to be Kyle.

Credit where credit is due -- the writers took one of the biggest deus ex machina devices ever and crafted some mind-blowing lore with it in terms of the central finite curve. I’m thinking that this is going to be one of the “main” storylines going forward for the back half of this series.

- Normally I’d be a bit upset about a lack of the rest of the family in an episode, but here it was certainly warranted. I will always wish for more Beth and Summer beyond the two lines they got, and the idea of Jerry devolving into a puddle is weirdly on point, but this was definitely a story that demanded they be…

Upon retreading this, I’m disappointed there’s no reference to Stan Lee Rick.

Fun fact: Rick didn’t use his portal gun even once in the first four episodes of this season, which is interesting considering the reveal that practically all of the multiverse’s supply of portal gun juice is gone. Was this possibly supposed to be earlier in the season and everything else was shuffled around?

..plus original ‘replacement’ Beth ended up left behind in the Cronenberg universe. Jesus ..this is complicated

I don’t think the lack of a portal gun will stick but it doesn’t mean that the show will quickly return to the usual spiel. Evil Morty broke the multiversial bubble that Rick built for himself, which means new threats and problems are abound.

I think the canon-heavy episodes are actually the most enjoyable. This episode did a good job tying things together, and the story went in an unexpected way. Overall I thought this was a stronger season than people give it credit for, and it definitely ended very strongly.

The two episodes felt like 4 extra-stuffed mini-episodes: Nick & Morty ... 2 Crows part One/2 Crows part Two ... and Evil Morty. Kind of amazing the whole Citadel sequence was only about 10 minutes. 

It was said in the previous episode that even in universes where Beth doesn’t die, Ricks often abandoned her, never to return. 35 year old Rick was contemptuous of Ricks who move in with abandoned Beths, but 85 year old Rick apparently decided to give it a try after a lifetime of pain, misery, and loneliness.

I’ll be interested to see how the show deals with Rick no longer having a functional portal gun. There’s a good chance they’ll just write around it, but it would be neat to watch him having to scramble for a bit.