Valkyrick

This episode feels like it wasn't written by a professional screenwriter, but by some Rick and Morty fan dying of leukemia through a Make-A-Wish foundation. The dialogue is stiff and clunky, and the stakes feel nonexistent (who even cares about the Galactic Federation at this point?). Hopefully, this is just a fluke, and we'll get more creative episodes moving forward.

Also, it feels like the potential for centering the plot around Space Beth's adventures has run dry, especially since Rick himself says from the very beginning that they're just meaningless side quests and she's gonna grow out of it eventually.

Not sure if it's just me, but Rick's voice sounds completely different in this episode, and it kinda threw me off. Otherwise, it would've been an amazing episode-everything else was on point, but the voice acting for Rick really didn't feel like him at all. It's hard to get into it when the voice is so off, and it makes it feel like you're watching someone else pretend to be Rick. It's frustrating because the writing and animation were top-notch, but the voice mismatch ruined the immersion for me completely. It's crazy how something as small as the voice can have such a big impact. I really hope they fix it in future episodes because Rick is such an iconic character.

I guess last week was a tough act to follow, but this episode was still good. It was a double-edged sword with how ridiculously fast paced it was. This allowed for a ton of jokes to just come and go. I missed only seeing Rick and Space Beth in this. Still, the jokes it does have are quite good. This episode features Space Beth getting help from Rick after being hired to assassinate an insect queen.

Space Beth finds the queen already dead and works with Rick to find out who killed her. Hey, we get a new intro! I guess the last episode was just a fake out. I'm going to say none of these will appear in the season. This kind of seemed like standard sci-fi violence. It's still pretty interesting. ***

Ever since they switched up Rick's and Morty's voice actors there's been a few really bad episodes that have aired. Don't get me wrong, season 8's premiere was amazing, as well as season 7's finale. And I want to like every episode. But episodes like these it feels like I'm watching a show for kids instead of adults. I would never put this episode on and say "I love this. This is what good tv is all about, I approve of this." It lacks its usual adult dimensions of humor. Rick is ... more agreeable in these mid-grade episodes, and he spouts off "canned" stuff he would never, ever say in previous episodes. He's been "lobotomized" by people who don't understand he's a "sad old fart", not this "happy go lucky" guy who's eager to spout lazy garbage phrases for likability's sake.

I'm not going to lie, it also feels weird having episodes entirely centered around a few characters instead of featuring the usual full cast. That part I'm less mad about, but it signals to me that something is off beyond the voices, this seems more like a writer dilemma. I gave this episode a 6/10 for a show that is a 9/10 which is legendary that a show could reach that high of a rating. But I guess all good things must come to an end.

As a long-time fan of Rick and Morty, I never thought I'd say this but the magic is gone.

It's painfully obvious now that Justin Roiland was the creative heartbeat of this show. While Dan Harmon brings structure and depth, Roiland brought the chaos, the wild unpredictability, and that signature absurdist humour that made Rick and Morty not just clever, but electric. Without him, the show feels like it's going through the motions, trying hard to imitate a rhythm it no longer understands.

Yes, the voice replication is decent. The new actors clearly studied the vocal cadences of Rick and Morty down to a science. But sound is not soul. The characters might speak the same but they no longer feel the same. The dynamic between Rick and Morty feels flatter, more performative, like a cover band doing their best impersonation of the real thing.

The biggest tragedy is in the storytelling. Where Roiland once helped steer the show into brilliantly unhinged directions the kind that danced on the edge of genius and insanity what we're left with now is safe, overly polished, and at times, self-conscious. The surreal, improvisational chaos that defined early Rick and Morty is now replaced by tightly plotted, but soulless narratives that try too hard to be clever without ever being truly fun.

A side note, if you want to see what complete creative collapse looks like without Roiland, look no further than Solar Opposites. It's almost shocking how badly that show fell apart. Rick and Morty is at least trying to keep the illusion alive but it's just that: an illusion.

It's not awful television. If you never watched the earlier seasons, you might still find it entertaining. But for those of us who remember the show's peak, Pickle Rick, the Citadel of Ricks, interdimensional cable, this version just doesn't come close.

I never thought Rick and Morty could become just another adult cartoon. But here we are.