Rick & Morty Season 7’s Weakest Episode Proves How Much The Show’s Formula Has Changed

Although Rick and Morty season 7, episode 4 is the weakest episode of the season thus far, and it goes to show just how far the series has moved far away from its previously reliable storytelling formula. Rick and Morty has changed a lot since the series began in 2013. The animation is slicker, the humor is less crude and mean-spirited, and the show’s character work has grown much deeper. Despite this, Rick and Morty still relies on the show’s old formula from time to time. Early on, most episodes of Rick and Morty saw the well-meaning Morty get himself and his grandfather into some sort of scrape, only for Rick to save them.

This depiction of Morty as a guileless fool and Rick as a smug, cynical genius could get grating, but it did provide the series with some solid early outings. However, the show outgrew this formula. The ending of Rick and Morty season 7 addressed this. It saw Morty come to terms with his role in this dynamic as he realized that he feared Rick would never rely on him the way he relied on his grandfather. This revelation, along with the fact that the finale took place from Morty’s perspective, proved the show’s routine has changed. An earlier episode showed why this was necessary.

Rick & Morty Season 7 Episode 4 Was A Traditional Story

This Rick and Morty outing followed the show’s most reliable format

Season 7, episode 4, “That’s Amorte,” featured a more straightforward repetition of the show’s old dynamic and this outing’s story was weakened by its reliance on an outdated formula. In this episode, Rick did something morally dubious, Morty pulled on this string, and this resulted in Morty realizing that the universe wasn’t morally black and white via some gross-out humor. In the case of “That’s Amorte” specifically, Morty discovered that Rick’s famous spaghetti was made of aliens who took their lives and attempted to make a more ethical alternative to this dish. In the process, he learned morality was relative.

While this Morty-centric episode did help pave the way for Rick and Morty season 8’s potential Morty focus, the outing still felt undeniably redundant. This was not the first time that Morty had uncovered a terrible truth about his grandfather only for Rick to smugly defend the status quo when Morty learned that changing things was complicated and challenging. In fact, it wasn’t even the third time that the series revisited this storyline, with the character discovering similarly dark truths in season 2, episode 2, “Mortynight Run,” and season 3, episode 4, “Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender.”

Rick & Morty Season 7 Proved How Limited The Traditional Formula Is

“That’s Amorte” was less inventive and interesting than season 7’s other episodes

Both season 4, episode 4, “Claw and Hoarder: Special Ricktim’s Morty,” and the show’s shocking season 5 finale also featured spins on this theme, although the latter did at least see Morty challenge Rick’s defense of the existing system. As such, “That’s Amorte” forced the viewer to wonder just how many times Morty could learn the same lesson before he gained some cynicism of his own. As an allegory for ethical consumption, “That’s Amorte” fell flat since Morty had already faced this same moral conundrum countless times before, but he repeatedly forgot the lesson he supposedly learned from each experience.

Although Rick and Morty season 7 fixed a lot of recurring issues with the series, this episode proved the show still has a long way to go. Returning to the reliable story structure of the clueless Morty learning a lesson from the self-satisfied Rick proved that the show’s seventh outing wasn’t all that different from its first seasons. By killing off Rick Prime in the next episode, Rick and Morty season 7 showed that the series could truly shock audiences. However, “That’s Amorte” only proved that Rick and Morty was also capable of resting on its laurels even in its seventh season.

Rick & Morty Season 7, Episode 4 Wasted The Smith Family

Traditional Rick and Morty stories rarely involve the Smith family’s other members

Season 7, episode 2, “The Jerrick Trap,” proved that Jerry and Rick made a funny combination, and episode 7, “Wet Kuat Amortycan Summer,” highlighted Summer’s role in the Smith family’s dynamic. This showed that the rest of the Smiths can be fun characters when the show gives them a full storyline to themselves instead of relegating them to the B-plot. In contrast, “That’s Amorte” wasted the Smith family in background roles thanks to its reliance on an outdated formula. Like early seasons of Rick and Morty, “That’s Amorte” treated the Smith family as little more than minor characters in the duo’s adventure.

How Rick & Morty Season 7 Mocked The Show’s Own Formula

Rick and Morty poked fun at its own predictability in episode 6

While Rick and Morty season 7’s many movie parodies proved that the show wasn’t afraid of mocking other franchises, its most chaotic episode also saw the series take aim at its own complacency. In season 7, episode 6, “Rickfending Your Mort,” Morty tried to get Rick on board with an adventure. In doing so, he proposed that “I have a moral objection, stuff gets messy, and you ultimately bail us out,” condensing the show’s early-season formula into a single sentence in the process. This self-aware gag proved that Rick and Morty’s creators are aware of the show’s reliance on formula.

This made the uninspired structure of “That’s Amorte” more surprising. Since a subsequent episode admitted that watching Morty learn the same lesson over and over wasn’t all that interesting or innovative, it is surprising that a preceding outing was content to revisit this storyline. This sort of madcap self-referential humor was what made “Rickfending Your Mort” Rick and Morty season 7’s funniest episode, and “That’s Amorte” couldn’t help but feel dated in contrast. The closing scenes of “That’s Amorte” attempted to aim for profundity, but even this felt like a retread of the show’s earlier “Roy: A Life Well Lived” sequence.

Rick & Morty Season 7’s Worst Outing Proves The Show Has Grown

Rick and Morty’s style has shifted and season 7 proves this is a good thing

Rick and Morty has evolved beyond the show’s early, repetitive setup and gotten stronger as a result. This shift was evidenced by Rick and Morty getting a solo episode each in season 7, the success of Summer’s episode, the surprisingly serious and lore-heavy season 7, episode 5, “Unmortricken,” and the playful premiere. As such, the series can drop the old formula epitomized by “That’s Amorte” heading into season 8. If “That’s Amorte” proves anything, it is that Rick and Morty no longer needs to rely on the overly familiar storytelling structure that the show repeatedly revisited in its early years; it’s now grown beyond it.