How Poopy Got His Poop Back

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.

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.

Sadly, althought it seemed to be the biggest issue facing this season, my 5 star review has nothing to do with the new voice actors, and actually I think they did a great job (given the circumstances) at voicing the two characters. No, actually this episode was just boring, it wasnt funny, didnt bring any new ideas to the table and really just came off a bit dull. I wil continue to watch this season to see how it progresses but I am not impressed at what should have been a headstrong cold open, that just turned out to be a withered shell of the shows former glory. I fear that this whole 'Justin Roland hasn't been in the office since season 3' is exaggerated and I think that he had a much greater influence on the writing than adult swim has made out, since so far it is dry and boring, and so much less than the earlier seasons. I for one believe that Roland's skewed mind and perspective probably made him a briliant artist and the rick and morty we once knew will probably never be as funny and clever again.

It goes far beyond the new voices. Rick felt like an entirely new character, Morty was barely even in the episode, and the plot was irrelevant to the main story line. After all the setup from last seasons finale and the fact that Rick and Morty premiers usually advance the plot the most, I was super bummed out when I began to realize this was just a lame story about Mr PoopyButthole getting his wife back (which he didn't even, she hated him afterwards). I'd be lying if I said I don't fear for the future of this show; everyone was so caught up by the fact that Rick and Morty were gonna sound different that they completely disregarded Roilands influence on the show itself. Feels like it's making a shift towards a more pg-13 demographic and my god does it suck.

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.