BlackShinobi956’s 10 Definitive Rick & Morty Episodes
Friend of the site, BlackShinobi956 shares his most defining Rick & Morty Episodes
Let's start with defining definitive. In the context of this list, definitive does not mean the best episodes, nor does it mean my favorite episodes. It's just a list of episodes that I think define the show and the impact it has had. If 20 years from now, someone who has never seen Rick and Morty asked me why the show was so popular, these are the episodes I’d give them in no particular order. Before we begin, shoutout to Armond and Doc at Clock Radio Speakers for laying out the blueprint to a definitive list.
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The Rickshank Rickdemption
This is where my fascination with the show started. Prior to The Rickshank Rickdemption, I had only seen the Pilot and Meeseeks and Destroy, but they didn’t do it for me. I thought Rick & Morty was just another average Adult Swim Show with characters that had weird pupils for some reason. One day I went to a friend's house to watch the season 3 premiere. After seeing this episode, I had to go back and figure out what had happened in the story thus far. It’s on the list because it’s a great episode that gives the viewers great payoff from storylines that had been set up over the previous 2 seasons.
This episode is also on the list because of the cultural impact it had. After this episode aired, fans were going into McDonald’s and demanding Szechuan sauce with their chicken nuggets. It resulted in terrible and rude behavior that eventually convinced McDonald’s to bring back Szechuan sauce for a limited time. Sweet, sweet victory.
Auto Erotic Assimilation
The final minute of Auto Erotic Assimilation was very impactful. Up to this point, I remember thinking Rick was a flawless individual who had his emotions in check. The sequence of events in this episode humanized Rick in my eyes. It was nice to see Unity’s recent return in Season 7.
Total Rickall
Total Rickcall is one of the most fun episodes in the series in my opinion. The way the storyline plays out is great, plus there’s a lot of laughs along the way. The way Mr. Poopy Butthole’s storyline plays out makes it evenmore enjoyable to watch a second time.
Meeseeks and Destroy
I do not like Meeseeks and Destroy. I was over it after 5 minutes of Meeseeks, but it’s on this list because I remember the cultural impact of the episode. A lot of guys in the computer science building at my college bought Meeseeks merch, and there’s even the Mee6 bot inhabiting thousands of dead discord servers to this day.
That’s AMORTE
No topic is off limits for Rick and Morty. Instead of avoiding taboo content, the show finds a way to address it with an interesting spin. That’s AMORTE demonstrates this quality extremely well. I know a lot of people love Rickdependence Spray; while that episode could fill this slot, everything about it (Chubbs included) makes me gag a little, so I left it off the list and went with this instead.
Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind
Rick and Morty is great at taking plots that seem insignificant, and developing them into major storylines in later seasons. Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind is the first, and maybe the weakest, part of the Evil Morty storyline; but I think Evil Morty is the best example of this quality.
The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy
Jerry is my least favorite character in the show, but Jerry episodes are kind of a staple in the show. I think The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy is the most interesting one, but Analyze Piss is a close second.
Pickle Rick
There’s a handful of Rick & Morty episodes that standout because they feel completely different from the standard formula of the show. The show’s ability to find ways to work different styles of stories into seasons, and still have them be thrilling to watch needs to be represented on this list. The Night Family is another great example of this, but Pickle Rick won me over with the therapy dialog at the end.
The Vat of Acid Episode
The emotional rollercoaster this episode took me on through Morty’s montage was insane. Plus, Jerry ruining one of the happiest moments in Morty’s life makes it even more impactful. Combine that with a ton of funny bits and you get an absolutely hilarious episode.
Fear No Mort
The show started with Morty being very dependent on Rick, and in the later seasons it’s good to see Morty lose that dependency, but not turn into a universe hopping jerk like his grandfather. Morty is in a good place, somewhere between Evil Morty and Rick. All things considered, this was just a phenomenal episode and an amazing way to end season 7.
