Review: Rick And Morty, "Jer Bud" | Season 9, Episode 5
There's nothing in the rule book that says a dog can't own a mutant
Repetition is a challenge facing all long-running TV series. The most obvious solution is serialization, which brings with it its own host of problems; but with a show like Rick And Morty, which is fundamentally a sitcom in structure (characters can grow a little but the dynamics of relationships can never really change, no matter how many Evil Mortys and Bird-Persons show up), the writers have to accept that sooner or later, they’re going to repeat themselves. You can either do this without blinking, daring the audience to call you on it, or you can go meta and try and lampshade the whole thing.
“Jer Bud” is an interesting episode because it tries both approaches without really fully committing to either. The Jerry sub-plot, where everyone’s favorite failure nearly over-doses on worms that eat his worries, is a familiar one; there’s been at least one storyline where Morty lost all of his self-doubt, and I’d be willing to bet Jerry has had at least “what if Jerry was cool?” plot. But the story never acknowledges either, while still letting the characters involve have a kind of “Oh this shit again” approach to all of it that underlines the humor.
Morty’s story, on the other hand, is self-aware throughout. A sequel to the second episode of the first season, “Lawnmower Dog” (this was before they figured out titles), “Jer Bud” has Morty visiting Snowball on his new, dog-dominated homeworld. Morty soon discovers that the dogs have created their own version of pets, warped human hybrids called “mups,” and Snowball is convinced from the start that Morty is going to make a big deal of out of it, no matter what Morty says to the contrary.
