Ranking the ‘Rick and Morty’ Season Eight Episode Titles By How Bonkers the Plotlines Must Be
The Rick and Morty Season Eight episode titles are out, and the Central Finite Curve isn’t ready to see what “Morty Daddy” has in store.
This May 25th, Rick and Morty will return to Adult Swim after an uncharacteristically quiet 17-month hiatus that included no behind-the-scenes drama or high-profile firings. The most recent Rick and Morty episode, the Season Seven finale “Fear No Mort,” didn’t leave the titular duo in the middle of a cliffhanger or trapped in a prison cell, a collapsing citadel or an indefinite time freeze, and with the show’s most speculated-upon plot thread finally wrapped up, Rick and Morty Season Eight will have as close to a clean slate to explore new plotlines as any season has had since the show’s start.
As such, Rick and Morty fans should be pumped to see what Dan Harmon has in store for the show’s next step, especially after Adult Swim released a 110-second teaser previewing all 10 episodes of Season Eight, their titles and a rough sketch of a scene from each one. Given that the closest thing the show has to a loose end at this point is — spoilers ahead — Evil Morty floating around somewhere outside the CFC, it’s anyone’s guess as to what the next season of Rick and Morty has in store, but I’d bet that no one should miss whatever insanity happens during “The Curicksous Case of Bethjamin Button.”
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Here is my personal prediction for where each episode will rank in terms of complete craziness, starting with…
Nomortland
I can’t tell if this title is a reference to the Oscar-winning 2020 economic drama Nomadland or the purgatorial plane Nowhereland from the Peter Pan canon, but, either way, this title coupled with a scene of Rick and Jerry on a Jimmy Buffett-esque island vacation makes me think that this episode will be chiller than a trip to Margaritaville.
The Rick, The Mort & The Ugly
Given the show’s love for action movie genres, it’s surprising that we haven’t seen a full Western-style episode of Rick and Morty until now, unless you count “Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind” when seeing a Rick and a Morty in cowboy hats somehow wowed Morty Prime more than the rest of the Citadel. Maybe that’s because cowboys and cornfields are relatively tame when compared to the show’s usual sci-fi insanity.
Cryo Mort a River
This seems to be the episode that Harmon teased at New York Comic Con back in October, so we can expect to see Rick and Morty take on the sci-fi sub-genre of “cryogenically frozen colonists eerily and endlessly floating through space” in this episode. Still, seeing Rick and Morty fight over a bag of bombs feels pretty familiar for this series, so it lands in the eight spot.
Valkyrick
The Galactic Federation is back, and so is (possibly Space) Beth with a swanky new invisibility gadget, probably courtesy of her inventor sort-of father. Perhaps this episode is an homage to the 2008 Tom Cruise-led historical thriller film Valkyrie about a failed plot by German officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler, or, maybe, “Valkyrick” earned its title because it’s about a blonde lady kicking ass.
Morty Daddy
Will this episode finally mark the return of Morty Jr. after a six-season absence? Probably not, seeing as our Rick and Morty have hopped universes a few times since Morty accidentally inseminated a reproduction android in “Raising Gazorpazorp.” Maybe Naruto Smith will appear in order to remind Rick and Morty fans that someone in the writers’ room has a weird obsession with incest.
The Summer of All Fears
A Summer-focused episode that takes us deeper into the psyche of Rick’s other sidekick is definitely a promising development, seeing as that little turd Morty just got to face his deepest fears in a season finale, and we know how competitive the siblings get when it comes to Rick time.
The Last Temptation of Jerry
This is clearly the Easter-themed episode that Adult Swim teased in the Season Eight trailer, and although it will likely air a couple months after the rapidly upcoming holiday, I can’t wait to see what Rick and Morty does with some Space Christians. It seemed like Rick and Morty was dipping its toes into the unholy water when it had Rick fight the Laser Pope last season, so this episode promises to be extra sacrilegious.
Ricker Than Fiction
Say it with me – INTERDIMENSIONAL CABLE THREEEE!!! Harmon and his writers wisely decided not to make Interdimensional Cable a seasonal installment back in Season Three, but we didn’t think it would take this long for them to revisit the fan-favorite non sequitur special. Seeing Morty and Rick in front of the TV with something insane happening on-screen makes me ready to get knocked into 12th gear.
The Curicksous Case Of Bethjamin Button
Anyone who remembers the bizarre premise of the 2008 American romantic fantasy drama The Curious Case of Benjamin Button knows that this Beth-focused episode is bound to get weird. Though I doubt Rick and Morty would do a direct reverse-aging thing with the two Beths, I’m ready for whatever madness Space Beth and Regular Beth have in store.
Hot Rick
Hear me out — while, on the surface, this episode has the most boring title and the blandest teaser, that’s exactly why “Hot Rick” is bound to be the most talked-about, canon-shaking installment of Season Eight. Adult Swim didn’t specify that they presented the titles in chronological order, but if “Hot Rick” is the season finale, then it would make sense for the network to hide as many details about the inevitably impactful installment as long as possible. Judging by the last frame, Harmon and his writers may even be cooking up the return of Memory Rick — that’s at least my hot take on “Hot Rick.”