TL;DR – While not a revolutionary episode, it wisely knew that bringing the gang back was the right thing to do as we step back into this universe.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix subscription that viewed this episode.

Rick and Morty Review –

We have a new season of Rick and Morty, a show I have both loved and become frustrated with in almost equal measures. They take wild swings of greatness that leave you awestruck and then follow it up with the most asinine story imaginable. However, we are entering its post-Justin Roiland era, so it is time to see if that changes the game or not.

So to set the scene, it is the first cold open of Season Seven, and suddenly, there is Mr. Poopybutthole (Jon Allen). Reversing his usual appearance at the end of the season, it is a deep despair as things have not gone well with his life. It has gotten so bad that Beth (Sarah Chalke) has put her foot down, and Rick (Ian Cardoni) must do something about Poopybutthole. Well, it is time to round up the team for an intervention. I just hope no one forgot a birthday. And is that Hugh Jackman (Hugh Jackman)? We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

Okay, let’s rip that Band-Aid off first and talk about the elephant in the room, which is before I mix too many more metaphors: the replacement of Justin Roiland. For quite a while, Mr Roiland had built a bit of a brand around his voice and animation style with multiple animation series and even some video games, and that shift now that he has been removed from all those projects will be interesting to see. I am not sure we will understand how that works from a production side of things until the end of the season, but given some reports that he was not all that involved with the writing, maybe we won’t see much change there.

For the purposes of this episode, the primary way we see his absence is by replacing three of the voices, including the titular Rick and Morty (Harry Belden). We don’t get much chance to explore Morty in this episode, as he gets only a line or two of dialogue. However, we do spend a lot of time with Rick. When Solar Opposites faced this problem, they shifted 180° and cast Dan Stevens, who intentionally sounded nothing like Justin Roiland’s interpretation. Here, they have cast actors to give a performance evoking past performances but not entirely mimicking them. Rick sounds quite familiar, but with a bit more tonal rasp to the performance, that made the episode’s resolution land a bit better. So far, it does not feel like a jarring transition that I feared it would be.

When we come to this week’s narrative, you can feel some clear intentionality in choosing to use this as the opener. What is canon in this universe has always been a touchy subject in the show, with Rick and Morty oscillating between the most minor continuity concerns like the crack in the driveway to episodes that discard all pretences of a connected universe. Within that space, we have Mr. Poopybutthole, created as a one-note joke at the cliffhanger of a Season 2 episode, only to become a sort of narrator linking it all together. Indeed, we open with a rundown of just what the family has done to him over the years.

However, while Mr. Poopybutthole is the catalyst for this episode, getting the band back together, it is all about reassuring fans that even though the show is moving into a new era, it is still connected with the past. There is almost a fever pitch as the show whips around some of its past characters as it reveals these big plot points, like Birdperson (Dan Harmon) rescued his daughter and Squanchy (Tom Kenny) was still alive. But once we get through that, the episode is a very boilerplate narrative for this show. The Ghost Robot was a touch zany, and it was funny watching Hugh Jackman do a parody of himself. But you could feel that they chose to do a safe episode, well as safe as an episode with the reveal that The Predator is sleeping with Mrs. Poopybutthole (Lauren Tom) can be. Safe, but understandable so.

In the end, do we recommend How Poopy Got His Poop Back? I’m not sure. This is one of those episodes where you could feel the motivations moving the narrative along, and I am not sure how that will land with people. It is not a bad episode, but I don’t think it would stand out among this series if not for the fact that it was the first with new voice actors.

https://youtu.be/BKYJ5AIOU9I?si=0jdvUocMkBFmU5-1

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Rick and Morty yet?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Rick and Morty
Directed by – Lucas Gray
Written by – Nick Rutherford
Created by – Justin Roiland & Dan Harmon
Production/Distribution Companies – Justin Roiland’s Solo Vanity Card Productions, Harmonious Claptrap, Williams Street, Adult Swim & Netflix
Starring – Chris Parnell, Spencer Grammer, Sarah Chalke, Ian Cardoni & Harry Belden with Beck Bennett, Hugh Jackman, Jon Allen, Scott Chernoff, Dan Harmon, Tom Kenny, Nicholas Rutherford, Lauren Tom & Kari Wahlgren