While Rick and Morty Season 6’s Thanksgiving special isn’t perfect, the episode is an important part of the series’ story. Rick and Morty has changed a lot since the anarchic sci-fi comedy series debuted on Adult Swim in 2013. What started as a raunchy parody of Back to the future it soon became a critically acclaimed cult phenomenon and eventually a huge mainstream success. Rick and Morty Season 8 is on track to be the show’s biggest premiere yet, and the series has already been renewed through Season 12 in October 2024.
It’s easy to see why viewers want to see more of the show, as Rick and MortyThe season 7 finale was the highest-rated episode in subsequent years IMDB. However, Rick and Morty I didn’t always enjoy this level of pure success. While every season of the series has been successful with critics, there have been a few releases that failed to hit the mark. Rick and Mortits unique tone. Some episodes were very silly, while others were very serious, resulting in uneven tonal shifts between outings. These problems were best encapsulated in Season 5, especially in Episode 6, “Rick And Morty’s Thanksploitation Spectacular.”
Rick and Morty’s Thanksgiving Special Calls Back to the Show’s Sillier Roots
The episode’s crazy scheme feels like vintage Rick and Morty
After the slightly more canon-centric debut, “Mort Dinner Rick Andre”, Rick and Morty season 5 wasn’t sure where to go in terms of tone. As Rick and MortySeason 8’s first season teaser, “Mort Dinner Rick Andre,” started out as a silly parody of familiar sci-fi tropes. However, the more Mr. Nimbus and Rick interacted, the clearer it became that the episode had some darker themes. Nimbus obliquely referenced Rick’s late wife Diane, and Morty finally ended his one-sided crush on Jessica, reminding viewers of Rick’s mysterious backstory while showing Morty’s growing maturity.
Then Rick and Morty followed this heartwarming ride with some of its most immature episodes ever. Season 5, Episode 4, “Rickdependence Spray,” saw Morty accidentally create giant killer sperm thanks to a mortifying accident with some lab equipment, while Episode 3, “A Rickconvenient Mort,” centered an entire plot point around a multiplanetary orgy. Within this context, “Rick And Morty’s Thanksploitation Spectacular” felt like a silly, immature early-season episodebut this was not entirely good. Rick and Morty seemed to be moving away from the comparative maturity of the Season 4 finale and Season 5 premiere with this release.
Rick and Morty Seasons 4 and 5 struggled to balance the show’s tone
The Season 4 finale and Season 5 premiere promised a more serious series
“Rick And Morty’s Thanksploitation Spectacular” centered on Rick’s battle of wits with the president as he attempted to disguise himself as a Thanksgiving turkey to secure a presidential pardon. This tradition brought out the worst in both characters, proving that the president could be just as vain and self-obsessed as Rick. While Rick and MortyThe best episodes of Rick and Morty tend to challenge Rick’s supposed genius by confronting him with emotional tests; “Rick And Morty’s Thanksploitation Spectacular” was content to throw increasingly absurd nonsense at the wall and see what sticks.
“Rick And Morty’s Thanksploitation Spectacular” quietly ushered in a new era of Rick and Morty.
As a result, viewers got a mutated version of FDR with spider legs, turkey dinosaurs fighting aliens, and a Turkish version of the president himself. “Rick And Morty’s Thanksploitation Spectacular” Had No Risks Other Than Pure Cartoon Silliness and although this approach served the first two seasons of Rick and Morty well, the show had already moved on by that point. This was reflected in the episodes that followed, which tackled darker themes and moved away from the silliness of the opening half of season 5. “Rick And Morty’s Thanksploitation Spectacular” quietly ushered in a new era of Rick and Morty.
Rick and Morty Thanksgiving Special Marked a Tonal Shift
The latter half of Season 5 leaned into darker stories
After the blatant, crass silliness of “Rickdepdence Spray,” “Rick And Morty’s Thanksploitation Spectacular” marked a turning point for Rick and Morty. Each subsequent episode of season 5 soon became more serious than the last, until the bombastic finale. The sting of Rick and Morty’s Thanksgiving special even hinted at this when the show satirized the mistreatment of military veterans with an absurd joke about a soldier who was turned into a turkey. The joke was silly, but it still touched on a real-life issue.
The Season 5 finale, “Rickmurai Jack,” revealed Rick’s tragic backstory and the terrible truth behind Evil Morty’s existence.
Similarly, Season 5 Episode 8, “Rickternal Friendshine of the Spotless Mort,” highlighted the human cost of Rick’s self-centered behavior through its impact on his friendship with Birdperson, while Episode 9, “Forgetting Sarick Mortshall” , briefly ended the story of Rick and Morty. partnership. The Season 5 finale, “Rickmurai Jack,” took things even further by revealing Rick’s tragic backstory and the terrible truth behind Evil Morty’s existence. Rick and Morty wouldn’t return to the antics of the beginning of Season 5 nearly two seasons later, when Rick finally killed Rick Prime for good in Season 7, Episode 5, “Unmortricken.”
Source: IMDB