Rick and Morty: Rattlestar Ricklactica
December 16, 2019 8:46 AM - Season 4, Episode 5 - Subscribe

Things in space include snakes and sharp stuff.

Sssss sssss s sssss sssssssss, sss sss ssssss ss sss Ssssssssss ss Sssss, ss Ssss sss ss ss ssss ssss-ssssss sssssss.
posted by Etrigan (18 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
I really liked this one. It just took its dumb premise and obvious references and ran with them, and that's really all I ask.
posted by Etrigan at 8:49 AM on December 16, 2019 [6 favorites]


I can't help but think of the extended montages with nothing but hissing in lieu of dialogue as a meta-joke about the cliched nature of so much entertainment, and maybe cinema in general. Either way, it's a brilliant sequence.
posted by skoosh at 10:31 AM on December 16, 2019 [18 favorites]


I also liked how all the corpses started oozing out of hitler's office (the reichstag?) because of course that's gonna be a hotspot, see: the everyone kills hitler their first time trope.

That said there seems to be a theme of unintended consequences running through the show... almost a bit too heavy on it IMO. like can't morty do something good for once and not have it turn everyone into monsters or something? or like can we have a fuckup turn into a good outcome for once? that'd bust everyone's expectations!
posted by some loser at 10:48 AM on December 16, 2019


I feel like this show operates on a zero-sum game notion: you can't have everything turn out well because the multiverse operates by just barely breaking even. Push the lever towards "improved outcome" in one instance, and that pushes everything worse.

See also: Edge of Tomorty -- there's one narrow path that leads to Morty dying in hospice, all alone, except it's the hospice where Jessica works, so she'll say "I love you" to him.

Or in other words, fucking with the natural order of things never ends up well.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:48 AM on December 16, 2019 [2 favorites]


"Either way, it's a brilliant sequence."

Yeah, I was a bit stunned by it.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 2:53 PM on December 16, 2019


Yes, that extended hissing bit was phenomenal.
posted by potrzebie at 3:10 PM on December 16, 2019


Hey, did anyone else have the problem where closed captioning doesn't translate Parseltongue? I felt like I was really missssssing something in that romance scene.
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:28 PM on December 16, 2019 [3 favorites]


No, it was just you. Maybe you need to insssstall a language pack or something.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 5:53 PM on December 16, 2019 [5 favorites]


I loved this episode, but particularly the moment where Rick says "And that's about as much curvature as you're going to get in a time travel plot."
posted by miss-lapin at 9:23 PM on December 16, 2019 [1 favorite]


Loved the bit where the snake scientist is manipulating the audio waveform to talk to the snake astronaut – classic.

That said, I hope they don't make every episode "let's push a movie trope to breaking point".
posted by adrianhon at 1:54 AM on December 17, 2019 [1 favorite]


so i'm trying to decide if i want to watch this season and i've decided that rick and morty is a good show if and only if eventually morty and summer murder the ever-living shit out of rick prime and then devote the rest of their lives to traveling the multiverse hunting down and murdering any rick that's anything like rick prime in any way.

so basically my question is does this season seem to be building to rick getting chopped into bits by the heroes of the show or should i skip it.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 7:41 AM on December 17, 2019


With that attitude I think you should skip it.
posted by Pendragon at 9:33 AM on December 17, 2019 [5 favorites]


On the other hand, I feel that Rick (prime?) is becoming more considerate. For instance, in this episode he's not an utter dick to Jerry, and he actually looks shocked with the rest of the family when they each realize at the same time that yes, Jerry can fuck up wearing shoes.

But with your ideal plot for Rick and Morty, this is not getting there.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:12 AM on December 17, 2019


I appreciate the writers this season taking regular jabs at fascism, especially considering the R&M fan base probably has plenty of the disaffected young white men who are highly susceptible. It feels like a conscious effort. Also enjoyed the callback to the earlier episode’s “when did [fascism] become the default?” when the snake time-traveler realizes saving Snake Lincoln led to Snake Nazi Germany winning Snake World War II.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 9:25 AM on December 18, 2019 [7 favorites]


I am always here for a good time-travel tale (even a bad good time-travel tale; Timecop is one of my top three favorite films). This was the best episode of the season so far, hands down.
posted by hanov3r at 2:37 PM on December 18, 2019 [2 favorites]


Just for the record, DC Super Hero Girls just dropped its "time travel screws things up" episode, #BackInAFlash, and DCSHG is the best superhero franchise going today don't at me.
posted by Etrigan at 6:16 AM on December 19, 2019 [1 favorite]


I was just so pleased when they took what could have been a one-time, throwaway, 3-second joke about the snakes and drove it to its most ridiculous conclusion. That's what I feel like R&M does best. This might be my favorite bit, tied with the pizza ordering bit.
posted by fiercecupcake at 11:53 AM on January 7, 2020 [3 favorites]


Samurai and Shogun
posted by Etrigan at 8:51 AM on March 31, 2020 [1 favorite]


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