Review: Rick and Morty, "Salute Your Morts" | Season 9, Episode 9

I don’t think I ever went to summer camp. I say “think” because it’s possible I’m forgetting something, or ignoring an obvious camp-like experience; but I do know that I never had the traditional “leaving home for a week and staying in cabins and eating beans or whatever” experience. Closest I got was when my mom taught swimming lessons for a camp of rich out-of-state kids in central Maine. I mostly remember being surprised at how frequently the kids swore, and of everyone being annoyed with me at some point; I was not a child who did well in high pressure social situations. 

You could also say that I was an obedient enough kid that my parents never felt the need to send me away to learn valuable lessons in self-discipline. Thankfully, pop culture has provided me with so many examples of the “camp” experience that I don’t need my own memories to relate to Morty and Summer’s situation in “Salute Your Morts.” (Moment of respect for the moderately deep title cut here; I don’t know how obscure Salute Your Shorts is these days, but’s not a show I would’ve expected the writers to reference.) The best summer camp TV episode is, of course, The Simpsons’ “Kamp Krusty,” but “Morts” does a terrific job taking a similar premise and finding its own distinct take on it. Season 9 has been largely bangers, and here’s another one–I think I laughed harder watching this than I have in a long time.