How Poopy Got His Poop Back

There was nothing particularly creative or interesting about this episode, which is usually not the case for season openers in this series. Also there were almost no jokes that I found to be funny at all, which might not be the case for everyone, it could just be personal preference. Overall I just found it to be a quite boring episode unfortunately, one of the main draws of Rick and Morty for me is it's consistent creative concepts, and there was really just nothing here like that.

I will also say that I did find Rick's new voice to be pretty distracting. It's not just that it's different, I just don't think the performance is there yet. But if given time I'm sure the new actor will be fine, he just needs to find his stride. I will say the new Morty is pretty much indistinguishable for me, at least from the few lines he had in this episode. Mr. Poopybutthole was also a standout in the episode, I forgot he also needed to be changed and I didn't even notice a difference. I'm very glad that Roiland's departure seems to have had a minimal effect on the show's quality, with Rick being the only noticeable change, but maybe I'll feel differently as the season goes on.

I really don't mind Justin Roiland being replaced, it seems as though the new voice actors are at least an 8.5/10 in their efforts, so that's great.

The problem is the writing and the flow though. There seems to be something very off with episode 1 of this new season. It's like the show's IQ has lost about 20 points.

It lacks the rapid fire genius of delivery. Everything seems to be slowed down or just not quite hitting the spot.

Rick and Morty is unique as an animated show. And for whatever reason it feels very vanilla today.

Maybe somebody smarter than myself can dive into it and explain why.

It feels like something is missing and it has nothing to do with the voices. The voices are fine. Things change. It feels odd sometimes and it initially feels weird to hear the slight differences but it doesn't impact on the show. What does seem to be missing though, is the improvisational nature of the delivery, which the show has been built on from season 1. It has been fading over the last few seasons but it's completely gone now and it's clearly something we would only ever get from Justin Roiland. This isn't a terrible episode but it's a weak opener. They really needed to prove a point with this episode and they didn't do that. It feels like a mid-season filler episode, billed as some kind of comeback. Hopefully they can play to their strengths, going forward, rather than trying so hard to prove they don't need Justin Roiland to be a success.

This episode is basically written like a middling Simpsons celebrity special-guest episode. It really feels like this episode's been re-written to purposely make fun of Roiland after his departure from the show. There are a lot of callbacks to previous episodes that aren't really jokes so much as references. For a show that's headed by someone known for his cleverness, this episode misses the mark. I probably laughed...once?

The replacement voice actors were clearly still learning the nuances, and calibrating them well is on the director & Harmon. Cardoni does the best with the challenging character of Rick. The main failure of this premiere is the lack of joy that the actors are bringing to the roles, even some of the regulars.

The animation is still stellar, so I'm giving the episode 5 stars for that, but some of the POVs are still questionable, such as one shot involving Mr. PB that undercuts the suspense of a life-threatening situation necessary for the subsequent joke.

I'm pretty bummed that this show's quality is seeming to suffer yet again. This feels a lot like the Season 4 dragon episode, and I'm wondering if this is just an intentional passive drop in quality to help the show get canceled.

I'm in my 40s, raised with the Simpsons (and DBZ) and this episode gave me the same feeling when I gave up on Homer&co 15/20y ago.

Like for the Simpsons, this show has lost its mojo over time, but I would have argued was still good.

But this episode is the stereotype of a show turned sour.

No real story, just a pretext for some random stuff to happen in a succession of shorts gags. Bring some random hollywood star to make up for the boring story and do another set of short gags. Then bring some random TV/Cinema reference and do another set of random short gags...

In the end, now it looks a lot like the cheap recipe of American Dad or Family guy but worse.

Don't Cry Because It's Over; Smile Because It Happened.