Review: Rick and Morty, "Rick Fu Hustle" | Season 9, Episode 3

It had to happen eventually. I didn’t expect every episode of season 9 to be good to great–it’s possible for a show to accomplish the art equivalent of a no-hitter, and if we were earlier in the run, I might have had higher expectations, but at this point, it felt safe to assume that eventually we’d hit a low point. My big question was, how bad could it get? This is a show that’s given us a giant incest space baby, as well as almost the entirety of season 8. The floor is pretty low at this point.

Thankfully while “Rick Fu Hustle” isn’t a classic, it’s not a disaster. The episode is a come down after the surprise successes of season’s first two entries, but while the jokes are hackier and the character bits are more predictable, it’s never outright embarrassing. There’s just enough novelty to hold the interest even when the plot moves in obvious ways, and while things get pretty stupid (in that classic “isn’t it kind of funny how stupid this smart show can be?” way), they never become so dumb that I felt insulted for watching.

We get two plots this week, and both are formulaic. In the A-plot that gives the episode its title, Rick and Morty get into a fight with a kung fu master who back-ends them on their way to Boob World. Lin Su, the master, hits Rick with the five step heart exploding attack popularized (maybe created?) by Kill Bill, and Rick spends a considerable amount of time and energy working to science away the problem. Morty tries to act like the sane one in the situation, which of course only leads to him getting hit in the chest with the same attack. Things escalates from there.