[9.5/10] Despite the initial greatness of the dog revolution episode, only the second episode of the series, I might argue that this is where *Rick and Morty* became *Rick and Morty*. It’s all here – an escalating yet insane science fiction problem, Rick being self-centered and holding himself blameless, a great deal of weird but hilarious comedy, a dimension-hopping-related solution, a fun Jerry-focused subplot, and a gut punch, mind-wrinkling ending. Two things stand out in particular rewatching this episode. First, the way in which Rick is constantly screwing things up and yet accepts none of the blame for it. He places this all on Morty, and pins every bad development on him, despite his grandson’s protestations. He is endlessly confident, even braggadocios, about how he’s brilliant and can fix it and brushes off any concern or censure for when his attempts go awry. And when things get really bad, his solution is to just ditch the universe and find another one. It’s not a coincidence that this all takes place in an episode where Beth disregards her dad because “he left [her] mother.” Having seen two full episodes of Rick’s antics, I’m not sure there’s a better encapsulation of who he is than this episode, or at least the problems and self-enabling that can make him a pretty miserable person to have to deal with. When things start to get bad, he puts that on anyone but him, and even gets mean about it (calling Morty a creep, which, isn’t entirely unfair), and when things get really bad, he just finds an escape hatch and tries to wipe it all away. Everything is weightless to Rick, everything is just an inconvenience that he need not worry about, and if you make him worry long enough, he’ll just bail. The second is Morty. Obviously the ending landed pretty hard the first time, but it’s even more impactful knowing what happens next, about Morty’s troubles coping with what he’s seen, of coming to terms with the wealth of alternate universes and other versions of himself out there, of his growing resentments for his grandfather and the way Rick treats him. Morty isn’t always great, but you feel for him trying to get through to Rick and make him accept some blame for how poorly things are going, only to be rebuffed and told that his grandfather is perfect and any bump in the road is Morty’s falt. And still, that ending. “The Bridge” is a great choice for a melancholy, existence-questioning bit of wordless reflection. What I love about this episode is that it doesn’t really resolve anything. Normally, that’d be a drawback, but here it feels real. Rick doesn’t change or learn a lesson, he just offers a reset and doesn’t think twice about it. Morty doesn’t take it in stride, but walks around in shock that the people he knew and loved are gone in some other slice of reality and he is back living among their identical, indistinguishable doubles. *Rick and Morty* is often better with design than animation or character expression, but the wide-eyed look on Morty’s face so perfectly conveys the shock and discomfort of what just happened to him. It’s one of the show’s all time best sequence and a sign that this was going to be something deeper than just a series of funny, madcap, sci-fi adventures. Those adventures are still great, and the escalating cronenberg problems were fun. (Jerry turning into a *Mad Max* style badass led to some great stuff as well). But this is the episode that revealed how philosophical, moral, and twisted the show was willing to get.

Darkest episode yet. O_O I can't even....

Another really great episode. While it's certainly not the funniest, Rick Potion Number 9 really comes through in scope and character moments. Everything with Beth and Jerry in this episode is awesome, I love seeing how quickly they adapt to the apocalyptic scenario. I don't love a lot of the school stuff, but as soon as Rick and Morty get in the ship the episode becomes an absolute banger. Seeing Rick try and fail to cure the Cronenburgs is legitimately hilarious and extremely dark, I love seeing how Rick can actually lose in these earlier seasons. This episode also introduces the show's first bit of continuity in the form of Rick and Morty permanently hopping universes, which made for both a great ending and an interesting concept that the show has actually revisited a few times.