The episode jumps right into it: there’s an evil Rick hopping around dimensions murdering other Ricks and kidnapping their Morties. Also, a number of Ricks have banded together to form the Council of Ricks, and they think Rick (as in the one we’ve been watching for ten episodes) is the killer. So our Rick and Morty set off to find the real killer. The chase scene in “Close Rick-counters,” in which Rick and Morty go portal-ing around the universe with the Council of Ricks in hot pursuit, is in a class of its own. In addition to the visual nonsense treats like a world of giant butts and another of greasy grandmas, there’s also a gag about inanimate objects ordering delivery food that builds and builds until Rick and Morty end up in a world populated by talking chairs that sit on people, eat phones, and use pizzas as phones. I recognize that trying to synopsize this gag sapped nearly all sense from it, but the writing and animation of this works brilliantly and, again, Rick and Morty commits to its absurdity, so the joke isn’t immediately dismissed. Rick and Morty actually end up spending some time in the chair-people-who-eat-phones-and-sit-on-people-and-use-pizza-as-phones world. The chase scene stands as a great example of the awesome imagery and sharp writing in “Close Rick-counters,” which stays really funny throughout. The visual gags continue with the Morties from other dimensions, one of whom is shaped like a giant hammer. There’s also a hilarious moment where a cult of religious Morties give our Morty a pamphlet about their beliefs, which starts off with a cautionary tale about the evils of the Internet. Rick is also just in top form here and at his most street, shouting such classics as “oh shit, dawg!”and “I found the real killer, biiiitch!” The moment with the guard-lobster thing (seemingly) laughing at Rick’s one-liners is also great, especially because it takes a jab at Mumford & Sons (who suck, if you haven’t been informed). It’s also dramatically important and good that we see how our Rick actually cares about his Morty and even sheds tears remembering their times together. But, of course, bastard that he is, he won’t openly address these feelings in Morty’s presence. It’s cold, but consistent with the character. The other bit of drama going on is that Jerry finds a friend in Doofus Rick, the dumber Rick none of the other Ricks like. It feels like a less important plot development and not a lot of time is devoted to it, but it manages to be effectively sweet and sad with the amount of screen time it’s given. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that’s your thing!
