Rick and Morty: Claw and Hoarder: Special Ricktim's Morty

December 10, 2019 11:07 AM - Season 4, Episode 4

Special Ricktims Morty Morty gets a dragon (Liam Cunningham) in this one broh. It's a wild ride broh. And there's a talking cat (Matthew Broderick) who just wants to relax and have fun with Jerry, no questions asked.

On Rick & Morty, dragons are more trouble then they're worth (TV/AV Club, B+)

Jerry’s Feline Horror Keeps Things from “Dragon” (Bleeding Cool recap/ review)

posted by filthy light thief (12 comments total)

Kind of a middling episode overall but I still laughed out loud quite a few times. I have to imagine that this was timed to tie-in with the arrival of the Dungeons & Dragons vs. Rick and Morty game box that Wizards of the Coast released last month. In my youth I read enough terrible paperbacks about humans and dragons soul (and sometimes fluid) bonding that this episode felt like it was taking aim directly at me. The line about nerds who don't want to admit that they're Christians was also spot-on in that regard.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 11:49 AM on December 10, 2019 [4 favorites]

Yeah, this felt a bit less pointed and ax-grindy than last ep's grudgefest vs. heist movies. I raised my eyebrows a bit at Morty and Summer taking part in the phoenixgasm clusterfreak, but then I remembered that Morty has fathered an alien child and Summer was with Hemorrhage in Madmaxworld for who knows how long, so, eh. "Don't tell your parents" is about right.

Likewise, the bit where the truth about Talking Cat is too horrific to actually show or describe is pretty old--H.P. Lovecraft milked it for his entire career--but the payoff is that Jerry, who should know full well by now the kind of shit that Rick doesn't bat an eye at, should have been warned off by Rick's reaction, but, well, he's Jerry. And now whatever Talking Cat is has teamed up with a dragon. Hmm.

Anyway, could have used more Beth (I'm kind of stanning Beth a bit after "The ABCs of Beth"), but otherwise pretty good.
posted by Halloween Jack at 12:55 PM on December 10, 2019 [3 favorites]

For your shopping pleasure: Dungeons & Dragons vs Rick and Morty, a tabletop roleplaying game adventure by Wizards RPG Team.


I agree that this was, for this show, not their strongest, but I appreciated the anti-slut-shaming (and mostly anti-kink-shaming -- sorry, Michael, mammoths are apparently a bridge too far, even for promiscuous dragons).

Also, Summer got a bigger role here, even being the one to lead the ostracized dragons out of their [bleep] cave, which lead to the 10-slut soul orgy, where they became the all-slut slut phoenix dragon.


And now whatever Talking Cat is has teamed up with a dragon. Hmm.

That felt like misfits um, bonding, over being misfits:

Balthromaw: Is there a reason you can speak?
Cat: Yeah, and I'm ashamed of it.
Balthromaw: Then speak of it no more. Do you wish to eat, maybe bond a little?
Cat: Yeah, I could bond. How long does it take you to fly to Florida?
posted by filthy light thief at 1:08 PM on December 10, 2019 [2 favorites]

Sure, that's how it starts. Just thinking that Balthromaw may regret that "speak of it no more."
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:13 PM on December 10, 2019

I wish the talking cat was the main plot. The dragon plot fell flat for me, but it was popular with the reddit stoner demographic, so what do I know.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 5:44 PM on December 10, 2019 [2 favorites]

Incorporating fantasy elements of dragons and wizards seemed really out of place for the science fiction world of Rick & Morty. I feel like Rick would scoff at magic the same way he would religion and God.
posted by cazoo at 7:09 PM on December 10, 2019

Wasn't that what he was doing for the entire episode, cazoo?
posted by Cpt. The Mango at 7:10 PM on December 10, 2019 [6 favorites]

On the one hand,

"All right, who wants to be infused with like, uh, unreasonable power?"
"Ooh, can I be like a sexy arrow shooty lady?"
"Yeah, whatever, there's no rules, I don't care." ZAP.

On the other hand, that's pretty rich given that the "science" of this show is basically just magic, no Clarke needed.
posted by chortly at 9:10 PM on December 10, 2019 [2 favorites]

Why is Matthew Broderick suddenly in everything?
posted by Etrigan at 6:21 AM on December 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

On the other hand, that's pretty rich given that the "science" of this show is basically just magic, no Clarke needed.

Right? Rick's main complaint against magic portals is that they all have lettering around their perimeter, which he seems to think is an affectation. His being able to produce a super-tech solution to literally almost any problem imaginable is put down to his overpreparing for every contingency on a modern-day Batman level. One of my favorite bits from "The ABCs of Beth" is when Rick gets his arm bit off; he almost immediately pulls out a telescoping prosthetic arm that he attaches to the stump. He probably has emergency replacements for all of his appendages, just as he had an emergency resurrection program that would roll over to an alternate dimension Rick's lab if his was out of operation.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:25 AM on December 11, 2019 [2 favorites]

I just thought it was hilarious that this show addressed head-on the weird sexuality in so much dragon fiction. Particularly young adult dragon fiction from the 80s, where dragon replace horses as a sort of unspoken adolescent sexual metaphor / fixation. Delicate stuff for a TV show, even something as boyzone as Rick & Morty.
posted by Nelson at 7:34 AM on December 15, 2019 [2 favorites]

"Deborah, stop!"
posted by lalochezia at 1:24 PM on January 3, 2020