‘Rick and Morty’: No Rick Is an Island
Don’t hang around cuz two’s a crowd. Review of Rick & Morty: “The Old Man and the Seat” (S4,E2)
What do you get for the man who thinks he has it all? Or thinks he can do it all? Or believes he’s above it all? That’s what this episode is about.
Let’s start with the episode title. “The Old Man and the Seat” is of course a nod to Hemingway’s Pulitzer-winning short novel about an old fisherman’s battle with a large fish. Well this episode is also a man versus nature story… man versus his own nature. {Read about Season Five}
***Spoilers Engage***
The A-story is about Rick’s relationship with his own toilet (or seat, get it?). In the opening scene, we find out he’s a “shy pooper.” So in a magnificent illustration of how Rick is the ultimate control freak, we are shown the serene woodland planet that he had created for the sole purpose of giving him a private, pleasant environment for his number twos (or as Summer calls it, his “secret pooping place”). Ok, a world of peaceful, watercolor skies and phosphorescent fauna as a bathroom seems just like something Rick would have. This is a character who claims to be the smartest man in the universe, and often proves it. He outwits, out-thinks, out-invents all adversaries that try to thwart him (including so many other versions of himself). Why wouldn’t he provide himself with the perfect setting for his own private toilet?
But when he discovers it has been used BY SOMEONE ELSE, he doesn’t rest until he finds out who. This shows us the petty side of Rick’s monstrous ego. For Rick, the issue isn’t that his private sanctum was dirtied or violated by another. It’s that the no one else is worthy of being there. Only Rick is worthy. Two’s a crowd in Rick’s solipsist mind.
After great lengths, he tracks down the poop perp who he intends to execute. But Rick finds out that he just a guy with his own problems (he’s a widower like Rick) and Rick can’t go through with it. Rick is a control freak par excellence, and his secret garden WC is something over which he feels he has complete control. And that’s threatened when this widower intrudes. This sad intruder who was just looking for something to lighten his sad existence actually imparts some wisdom to the “world’s smartest man” with this insight: “You know what shy popping is Rick? It’s a pointless bid for control… We can spend our lives fighting that. Or we can choose to be free.”
Even after he violated Rick’s secret commode twice, Rick still does not kill him. In fact, Rick imposes his dominance in a much more ingenious way, by placing the creature (that he thinks has gravely offended his ego and at the same time deeply sympathizes with) in Matrix-like virtual-reality heaven just to get him out of the way. “You can make a perfectly realized toilet-filled simulation of heaven but you can’t share a toilet?” Rick will devise feats of genius-level engineering just to avoid some friendships or the feelings that come along with it. We also see that Rick stored away several other people this way, in order to not have to be burdened with the icky responsibility of being friendly.
Uh oh, is Rick softening up? This destroyer of worlds and deity with a drinking problem didn’t think twice about collapsing the Galactic Federation or wrecking the Citadel of Ricks to show that he’s top dog. But after hearing one random guy’s sob story, this old dog might be learning new tricks. He even goes to the guy’s funeral (after he dies accidentally) and offers condolences the best he can to his family.
The B-story is a blistering satire on how integral the internet/apps/mobile devices have become in our intimate lives. This territory has been presciently and grimly covered many times on Black Mirror (the season three ep Nosedive is a particularly biting indictment of app culture). Of course R+M finds its own hilarious way to dive into this hot topic. In this ep, it’s an alien invasion via a dating app that insidiously warps everyone’s better judgement and incites society to collapse so that the aliens can plunder the Earth. Not even knowing about the alien aspect of it, Beth sees the truth right away: “Stupid phones are destroying us!”
These dating app invaders (the Monogatrons!), who claim to have “superior intimacy,” are obviously not very smart. The truth is society wants to be duped by an app (which btw has the purposely stupid name LOVEFINDERRZ), wants to be told what to do and who to love, and most importantly, to have the machine do the thinking for you. Summer falls for soulmate after soulmate, directed by the app. While concerned Beth (who’s not under the app’s spell) gets to be a commando mom to try to steer reckless Summer away from constant impulsive bad choices.
In the end, the only thing that can brake the spell of LOVEFINDERRZ (yeah, the app’s name is that dumb!) is when the app starts charging a user fee. Yes, all it took was a $.99 charge to stop the zombie-fied app users to stop using it. The point being made is that people want true love, but don’t want to invest the tiniest amount of work or money to get it. LOVEFINDERRZ indeed!
The two story lines deftly sting as poignant counterpoints to each other. The general populace desires true love and companionship but will allow a computer program with a dumb name to do all the work (and thinking) for them. On the other hand, the supposed ubermencsh isn’t afraid of work (or over-thinking). He’ll work his ass off to design a lifestyle that is devoid of intimacy or gushy love. Two sides of the same toilet seat, broh.
As we saw in the exhilarating season three ep “Pickle Rick,” Mr. Sanchez will go to mind-boggling lengths to avoid intimacy, to not show vulnerability, and to not have to talk about his feelings. Hemingway’s Old Man voyages out into the ocean to conquer a beast greater than he (pretty sure that was the gist, it’s been a few decades since I read it). Roiland and Harmon’s old man, with all the technical knowledge in the universe, can’t get in touch with his feelings, can’t admit he needs a friend.
As General Public told us, “It seems like without tenderness there’s something missing.”
Further Observations (Yes, I borrowed this format from the AV Club… they rule!).
- This second episode of season four, just like the season premiere, starts with an innocuous family meal scene. Is this a new pattern for the show? It is a nice neutral setting from which to spring off into inestimable schwifty realms!
- It has to be noted that immediately after this new ep, Adult Swim aired an ad for Pocket Mortys, the game app they developed that I believe is very popular and profitable! They are having their app and eating it too!
- The post-credits coda reveals that Jerry’s most-satisfying, ultimate fantasy is to be a water jug delivery man. Oh, Jerry!
- Just for fun (or maybe instructed by legal counsel), they made a website for LOVEFINDERRZ. Yeah, they’re probably covering themselves legally.
Eden Gauteron is the associate editor, creatives services at the Paley Center. Interests include media consumption, graphic sequential art, playing drums, and squiggy.
