Rick and Morty Season 7 Episode 8 Review

Join Swimpedia as we review a screener of the eighth episode of Rick and Morty Season 7 with minimal spoilers.

[MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD]

Rick and Morty is back with one of its most unique installments yet, and for this show, that’s saying a lot. Season 2’s Get Schwifty followed Rick and Morty as they saved Earth from being annihilated as part of an intergalactic music contest show, and the final reveal of that episode was that musician Ice-T was quite literally a being made out of ice formed in a T shape. The post-credits scene ups the ridiculousness by introducing an entire world of letters that is at war with a world of numbers, and promising a “movie.” This episode, 8 years later, finally delivers on that movie. When the fate of Alphabetrium is dependent on Water T solving an algebra equation, he heads to Earth to recruit his old math teacher, who happens to be Mr. Goldenfold.

In one of the strangest episode pairings ever, we get Morty, Goldenfold, and Water T teaming up for an adventure all about math. This one is sort of a parody of various action movie genres; in one scene after a few quick tropes play out, Morty even remarks that they are “making great time.” Some excellent math/letter puns, Dan Harmon’s Ice-T impression, and the speedrunning of action/sci-fi movie tropes are essentially what this episode is built on. We get some interesting insight into Water T’s past with not only Goldenfold, but also President Curtis, which is nice to see, as Keith David is a welcome addition to any Rick and Morty episode. This episode is also the first in the series’ history to not feature Rick Sanchez AT ALL. That’s right, your favorite alcoholic scientist is actually sitting this one out. Typically Rick would portal in to grab his grandson, but even through the post-credits scene, Rick seems comfortable to sit this one out and stay off-screen. It makes sense for the episode to focus on the dense, silly lore they’re building throughout the episode for Water T, he’s the real protagonist here, Morty mostly serves as our audience surrogate.

It’s a testament to Rick and Morty’s strengths that they can take a one-off joke character from season 2 and build an entire solid half hour around him while completely ignoring every member of the Smith family, but if you aren’t entertained by Water T’s antics and instead find yourself missing Rick, Jerry, Summer, and the Beths, then this episode might not rank high on your list.