AlthoughRick and Mortyseason 8 doesn’t need to reinvent the show’s entire premise, the outing does have the opportunity to quietly reshape its future.Rick and Mortyhas changed a lot since the Adult Swim series debuted back in 2013. When the series started,Rick and Mortywas an anarchic, goofy spoof of family sitcoms and sci-fi movies that blended a unique combination of juvenile shock humor and surprisingly smart, subversive genre parodies. As the series progressed,Rick and Mortybegan to take its characters more seriously, until Rick eventually became something of a tragic antihero in season 3.
Rick & Morty’s 2024 Disappointment Confirmed 1 Harsh Truth About Its Characters
Rick and Morty: The Anime’s failure proves that the show’s format struggles to adapt to other media, a point reinforced by another, earlier slip up.
ByRick and Mortyseason 7’s ending, the show had told some legitimately tragic stories and pulled off some genuinely exciting, high-stakes twists. The Rick Prime storyline, which began in earnest in season 5’s finale and lasted until midway through season 7, wasRick and Morty’s most ambitious, complex story arc so far.Rick Prime’sRick and Mortydeathleft the series without a primary antagonist for the first time since September 2021. WhileRick and Mortyseason 8’s plansare not yet known, what is clear is that the series is at a crossroads.
Rick and Morty Season 8 Can Drop The Show’s Overarching Plot
Rick and Morty’s Rick Prime Story Ran Throughout Seasons 5, 6, and 7
Thanks to the death of Rick Prime,Rick and Mortyseason 8 could be the show’s first outing without a multi-season arc since the season 2 finale in October 2015. Season 2, episode 10, “The Wedding Squanchers,” saw the Federation finally hunt down Rick and successfully prosecute him. This was inevitably undone in season 3’s premiere, butRick and Mortynever dropped the serialized storytelling style that sprang from this plot development. Throughout seasons 1 and 2,Rick and Mortyfastidiously ensured each episode’s events didn’t impact the next, as seen in season 1, episode 6, “Rick Potion No. 9.”
Stories like Beth and Jerry’s divorce and subsequent reunion sprawled across numerous episodes and even seasons.
Rick and Morty literally jumped realities and replaced themselves to avoid the consequences of one episode’s plot, but seasons 3 and 4 changed this approach. Now, stories like Beth and Jerry’s divorce and subsequent reunion sprawled across numerous episodes and even seasons. By season 5, even plots as silly as the Giant Incest Baby were reappearing in various episodes. WhileRick and Morty’s failed spinoffscouldn’t successfully expand the world of the series, the show’s own reality was starting to bleed from one episode into another. This peaked with the Rick Prime plot, and can now end again in season 8.
Rick and Morty Season 7’s Rick Prime Plot Ended Perfectly
Rick Prime’s Death Changed Rick and Morty’s Future
In season 5, episode 10, “Rickmurai Jack,” Rick finally revealed his tragic backstory. As speculated online, his angst was fueled by an abiding hatred for the man who killed his wife. A surprising twist revealed that it was Rick Prime, another version of Rick, who killed Diane before the series began.Rick spent seasons 6 and 7 trying to hunt down Rick Prime, occasionally dragging Morty into his plans. Although the season 6 finale heavily implied that this hunt would last a long time and may even drive Rick to madness, season 7 subverted these expectations with an early, wild twist.
In season 7, episode 5, “Unmortricken,” Rick and Morty were reunited with Evil Morty in what turned out to be a trap laid by Rick Prime. Thanks to Evil Morty’s help, Rick finally killed Rick Prime for good.The future ofRick and Mortyas a series was called into question by this twist, as the protagonist’s motivating animus was suddenly left dead on the floor. Indeed, Rick responded as many viewers familiar with the character assumed he would, and was next seen lying passed out on the garage floor with a liquor bottle. Then something interesting happened.
Rick and Morty Season 8 Can Bring Back The Show’s Early-Season Approach
Rick and Morty’s First Two Seasons Were More Episodic
In season 7, episode 6, “Rickfending Your Mort,” Morty tried to indirectly convince Rick to return to their intergalactic misadventures. The episode was an ersatz clip show that highlighted countless stories viewers had never seen before, each supposedly an adventure the pair went on between seasons. WhileRick and Morty’s loose “Rules”preclude time travel stories, this plot allowed the show to pull off a light-hearted, silly episode directly after its most devastating and lore-heavy storyline ever. The rest of season 7 followed suit, withRick and Morty’s next four episodes focusing more on character comedy than self-serious storytelling.
Rick and Morty recaptured the show’s original flippant, playful tone with season 7’s later episodes.
Episodes 7, 8, and 9 all felt as if they could have been lifted directly from the show’s earlier, sillier seasons, asRick and Mortyseason 7’s latter half embraced the show’s goofiest tendencies. The Pope and Bigfoot were both trapped in Pokeballs, Morty and his math teacher helped Ice-T save the universe from sentient numbers, and Summer and Morty bonded when Morty became bonded to her torso in a grotesque parody ofTotal Recall.Rick and Mortyrecaptured the show’s original flippant, playful tone with season 7’s later episodes, and season 8 now has the chance to explore this irreverent storytelling style further.
Rick and Morty Season 8 Should Be Lighter
Rick and Morty’s Season 7 Finale Proved The Show Doesn’t Need High Stakes
Rick and Mortyseason 8 doesn’t need an overarching dramatic plot like the show’s Evil Morty and Rick Prime arcs, and it may even be better off without one. In the absence of more lore-centric episodes,Rick and Mortycould offer viewers something the series has never done before.Rick and Mortystill has no Halloween episodes, and the show has only produced one anthology episode in the last three seasons. Earlier seasons allowed for more experimental storytelling thanks to the show’s lack of a serialized story. Season 8 can bring back this style and change the show’s tone.
Rick and Mortyseason 8 is set to arrive in 2025.
Rick and Morty’s season 7 finale, “Fear No Mort,” offered a perfect roadmap for the show going forward. Although the episode delved into deep, dark times like mortality, purpose, and co-dependence, its clever twist ending revealed that the stakes weren’t all that high and the journey ultimately helped Morty grow. After years of following Rick’s self-destructive spiraling,Rick and Mortyseason 8 can now learn from “Fear No Mort” and offer viewers a lighter, sillier, but no less profound and clever set of standalone stories. By dropping serialized arcs,Rick and Mortycan reinvigorate the show’s dormant sense of fun.
