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So, about last night's 'Rick and Morty' finale

Last night, Adult Swim aired the season three finale of "Rick and Morty," the critically-acclaimed and widely popular adult animated series.

By the standards show creators Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland have set, this episode was pretty good. It featured a funny, action-packed A-story in which Rick and the President of the United States are at odds, and a touching B-story where we see Jerry and Beth get back together after spending the season separated.  

However, the issue for many, including myself, was that this was the season finale. Last season, "Rick and Morty" ended on an absolutely huge cliffhanger with an ending that made me tear up.  Everything about last season’s finale was perfect. It was funny and emotional, in addition to being an episode that significantly progressed the plot of the series as a whole. 

This season’s finale felt more like an episode that you’d find in the middle of the season.  It was about a crazy situation that our heroes Rick and Morty found themselves in, with little impact on the plot, besides the reuniting of Jerry and Beth.  

That’s really where the main issue of this episode lies — not in the episode itself — but in the fact that it was the season finale. It may sound wrong to judge it based on that, but it’s hard not to look past it, considering how only a few episodes earlier we were told that Evil Morty, an antagonist introduced all the way back in season one, had become President of the Council of Ricks.

I’d rather not dwell on the episode’s placement for too long, so I will now critique the actual content of the episode itself.  

The premise of the episode is that Rick and Morty are summoned by the president of the United States to deal with an alien in the tunnels below the White House. Morty asks the president for a selfie and is denied, which leads Rick on a quest to get that selfie from the president. There’s plenty of great sci-fi action with lots of crazy inventions used by Rick and the president, including an invention that somehow has given Rick the literal touch of death itself.  

As for the B-story, we do see Jerry get a win in this episode. While many may think of themselves to be like  Rick, who is born to hate and bring Jerry down, let’s face it, there’s at least a bit of Jerry in everyone. So seeing him win here and get his wife back definitely felt good.

Overall, this episode isn’t the best of season three, but it’s definitely worthy among the good episodes of prior seasons. Season three has upped the quality of writing by so much that this episode was a letdown, especially in the context of season finales.