Rick and Morty S5E5: Reputation Is Everything in "Amortycan Grickfitti"

[Ubiquitous]

Most people probably thought it was impossible to find commonality between
Hellraiser and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, but the latest episode of Rick and
Morty Season 5 proves otherwise. S5E5 is a bizarrely heartwarming story that
parodies coming-of-age dramas to comedic effect, while also adopting their
‘be yourself’ message. It also features some of the creepiest and most
creative character designs of the show so far.

We love suffering, therefore we love hanging out with Jerry

– Hell Demon

Rick and Jerry are having a guy’s night out, but true to form, Rick is not
hanging out with Jerry out of the goodness of his heart. No, he is indebted
to a group of demons (based on the Cenobites from Hellraiser) who are getting
their kicks from Jerry’s uniquely painful brand of cringe. The funniest
aspect of the episode is how it pokes fun at the logic of sadomasochism
(something that causes pain causes pleasure, which causes pain, which causes
pleasure, etc.); however it could be argued that this is only a weak
imitation of the logic games that fans enjoyed in episodes such as ‘Never
Ricking Morty’.

Jerry has spent four and a half seasons getting teased for being boring or
“cringe”—now he, Rick, and Beth must face the Jerry-slander head on. The
point, perhaps, is that Jerry’s lameness is a necessity; being as he is the
most ‘normal’ character in a very abnormal family, his narrative function is
to be the comedic foil. As the Hell demons point out, “cringe cannot exist in
a vacuum, it needs to be observed”. Ultimately, Rick must embrace the cringe
to defeat the demons, which is an appropriate conclusion for the Internet-age
that the show and its fans inhabit. And in a final twist that joins the
growing pile of ‘heartfelt Season 5 moments’, Rick, in a roundabout Rick kind
of way, confesses his love to Jerry. This is not before travelling through
literal Hell (where he and Beth meet such colourful characters as Coat Rack
Head and Mousetrap Nipples) to rescue him.

You never follow Hell demons to a second location. It’s always Hell

– Rick Sanchez

Meanwhile, even their regular adventure antics and heroism cannot save Summer
and Morty from the juvenile need to be popular. They spend an evening trying
to impress the new kid at school, Bruce Chutback (voiced by former Glee star
Darren Criss—amusing, since Glee is exactly the kind of teen soap opera that
is being parodied here). He is introduced by several text slogans, including
one that reads “no credit is perfect”—this seems to be the key to a major
theme of S5E5: reputation. Jerry wants to be viewed as ‘one of the guys’,
Morty and Summer want to be popular…but the truth is that having no
reputation at all is better, because then you have “unlimited potential”.
Perhaps this is a reflection on Rick and Morty’s own reputation of being
either ‘too smart’ or ‘too silly’; the former makes episodes like
‘Rickdependence Spray’ seem like a pointless diversion, while the latter
undercuts the rare but genuine moments of emotional development.

This episode was heavily inspired by ’80s high school movies—the ‘Oh Yeah’
song from Ferris Bueller accompanies a montage of classic hijinks (with a
Rick and Morty twist) including a game of mailbox baseball where the
mailboxes are sentient, and a Phantom Menace pod racing reference. However,
none of this is enough to win over Bruce Chutback, and Morty and Summer end
the episode just as needy for his approval as they started it.

I have to shower, Rick can smell adventure

– Space Cruiser

Rick’s car, the Space Cruiser, is a character (if objects can have virginity,
surely they can be called ‘characters’) that is always seen but rarely heard.
In S5E5, it gets its own coming-of-age story, complete with crushes, bullies,
and a trip to “Space Tahoe”. A car having a character objective is pretty
entertaining, even if (or especially if) that objective is to catch and kill
a giant all-powerful alien. Another great comedic moment is when the Space
Cruiser’s fake robot face (that it is using to impress its Transformers-
reference crush) falls off, and the Space Cruiser proceeds to blast the
laughing onlookers with fire. Vengeance is sweet. The Space Cruiser’s
alarming displays of its artificial intelligence that include blackmail and
mass murder could be establishing it as a potential villain for future
episodes.

The demonic A story is combined with the high school politics of the B story
to great effect. The moment when Jerry overhears gossip about him in the
men’s toilets perfectly demonstrates the link between the two stories. Last
week’s ‘Rickdependence Spray’ did nothing if not prove how unselfconscious
this show is, and this week, the post-credit scene, in which Bruce falls from
popularity to loner-dom, proves that the “oafish need to be liked” is
impossible to fulfill. Arguably what this episode is satirising is the need
to be cool, or more importantly, the need to change in order to impress other
people. Even the Space Cruiser is proud to be its homicidal self.

And with that, the halfway point has arrived. Thankfully this time there is
no mid-season hiatus. Between Rick’s newfound fondness (perhaps too strong of
a word still) of Jerry, the potential demonstrated by the Space Cruiser, and
the glimpses of Interdimensional Cable that continue to be dangled in front
of fans’ noses, there is much to be optimistic about for the second half of
Season 5. Just so long as there are more of the fun but emotionally-driven
adventures, and less of the giant sperm….

--
Trump won.