Rick and Morty Season 8 Episodes 1 & 3-5 Review

Join Swimpedia as we review screeners from Rick and Morty Season 8 with minimal spoilers, and find out if the show can still keep the magic going almost 12 years later.

[MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD]

Rick and Morty is back—and hopefully with a more consistent schedule! After taking a full year off due to the 2023 strikes that shook the entertainment industry, Adult Swim’s flagship show has returned to deliver all the insanity we know and love.

When we last left Rick and Morty, Rick had defeated Rick Prime, while Morty had vanquished his fears in the Fear Hole, both ready to move on to new adventures. The show takes absolutely zero time reestablishing the status quo, instead the first episode throws you right into the chaos and leaves you to figure it out. Swimpedia was given access to episodes 1, 3, 4, and 5, and from what we’ve seen so far, it looks like the show is continuing in the space that it established for itself after the massive 70 episode renewal.

As Rick and Morty moved into a new era, the show began to establish itself as a mostly episodic sitcom that gives one to two episodes per season to focus on their lore. This has worked exceedingly well for the show, giving us fantastic stand alone episodes like Night Family and That’s Amorte right alongside some of the finest lore episodes in the whole show with Rickternal Friendshine of the Spotless Mort and Solaricks. We’re guessing that the reason episode 2 was withheld is because it’s another lore episode, as last season’s Unmorticken was also withheld from screeners. That being said, what we saw continues the trend of fantastic stand-alone episode concepts, some of them with unique and surprising connections to past adventures and the greater Rick and Morty world.

Rick and Morty themselves take center stage again, with two out of the four screened episodes not featuring the rest of the family at all. This can be a big ask to spend entire episodes without the voice cast of the first six seasons, but the new voices do such a good job that you don’t even notice. Fans who have been hoping for more adventures with just Rick and Morty are definitely in for a good time in this first half of the season. However, only time will tell if this was a pivot for the overall season, or simply just the start.

Nevertheless, Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden are back as Rick and Morty, this time giving their own performances to the titular duo instead of dubbing over previously recorded Justin Roiland lines. While the two did a fantastic job last season, they really come into their own this year, giving us their take on Rick and Morty. They don’t sound exactly like Roiland, but you won’t notice because the characterization is spot on. If anything, the new voices have added more to Rick and Morty as characters, especially now that two actors are allowed to banter together instead of one person doing both voices.

Something we’ve also noticed is that without Roiland doing every incidental voice, the show has begun to build up quite a cast of secondary players. Most episodes feature Kari Wahlgren, Nolan North, Ryan Ridley, Tom Kenny, Rob Schrab, and Maria Bamford playing all the incidental characters that Rick and Morty come across. These episodes also feature plenty of fantastic guest stars, including a great role for Ebon Moss-Bachrach.

With the show in its eighth season, most people are coming back for the comedy and the characters, and season 8 delivers on both fronts. These episodes are laugh-out-loud funny, delivering the perfect pinch of meta humor (including one insane line that’s sure to go viral online) but not overdoing it. These characters are still recognizably the same people we’ve spent the last seven seasons with, but each character and their individual relationships have evolved in their own ways over time. Whether it's Morty being able to hold his ground against Rick, or it’s Beth and Jerry resolving conflict in a healthier way, this season reflects on how the Smiths have changed over the years.

Overall, Rick and Morty season 8 continues the stable quality that the show has established for itself. Each episode provides an interesting sci-fi hook, with plenty of gags and all the characters we know and love. It’s amazing just how fresh it all still feels, even twelve years in!

The first episode of Rick and Morty Season 8 premieres on Adult Swim on Sunday, May 25th at 11:00 PM!