RICK AND MORTY Season 7 Episode 9 Review: Valhalla For The Season
After Crapping in most of the season, Rick and Morty Season 7, Episode 9, "Mort: Ragnarick", delivers visual delight and gore with a unique representation of religion, myth, and hoax.
Episode Overview
Directed by: Kyounghee Lim
Written by: Jeremy Gilfor & Scott Marder
Air Date: 12/10/2023
Guest Starring - Maria Bamford, Troy Baker, Echo Kellum, Kari Wahlgren, Maurice Lamarche, Nick Reczynski, Rob Schrab, and Gary Anthony Williams.
Read RICK AND MORTY Season 7 Episode 8 Review...
Plot Summary (Spoilers Ahead)
In this particular episode of Rick and Morty, Rick discovers that the Afterlife exists after killing Jerry eight times in an experiment. He also finds out that it possesses an infinite amount of energy. To study Valhalla, Rick and Morty go to Norway, where Rick has Bigfoot kill him as a great warrior must kill him. After entering Valhalla, Rick pretends to be Odin and starts to harvest the energy. Meanwhile, Morty arrives, having been killed by Bigfoot. The Vikings believe they're witches, and they attack Rick's fortress until he convinces them he is a god with his technology.
On the other hand, Bigfoot chases after a feral clone of Rick, only to be captured by the Pope, who uses him to kill all the church's enemies. When Rick and Morty return, Bigfoot cuts a deal with them to stop the Pope. The Pope, having gained the energy from the Afterlife constantly kills them, and they revive themselves with clones, making Bigfoot a human in the process.
After failing to stop the Pope with the help of the Universal Monsters, Rick tricks the Vikings into pulling the plug on the energy after they escape, stripping the Pope of his power. After trapping the Pope in a Poke ball, Rick and Morty send Bigfoot back into the woods by throwing beer cans at him, despite the fact that he's human now.
Post Credit Scene: Rick was caught participating in an illegal Pokemon battle, where he used the Pope to fight another trainer. Just as the battle was ending, the FBI arrived and shut down the place. Rick managed to escape through a portal. Later, when the Pope was freed, he asked about who was currently running the Vatican. The FBI showed him a video that revealed a new Pope, who was actually a clone of Rick. This news horrified the Pope.
Valhalla For The Season (RICK AND MORTY Season 7 Episode 9 Review)
"Mort: Ragnarick" is the penultimate episode of the season. So far, the season is below average, and only a few episodes stand out. This episode is one of the finest of the season so far. This episode is a reference to Thor Ragnarok and also takes a jab at Christianity (targeting "Pope"). Also, the hoax of Big Foot is addressed as he appears in this episode, which is quite a hilarious character.
Rick and Morty Season 7 Episode 9 introduces two awesome characters in Big Foot and the Pope. There are multiple cameos in the episode; a few of them are from characters like Dracula, a mummy, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and Water Guy. This episode shows a unique relationship between religion and mythology. Christianity(Pope) is getting power from Valhalla energy from Norse Mythology, and Big Foot, which is a Hoax in real life, is involved in the Pope's dirty deed and eventually helps Rick and Morty kill the Pope.
In this particular episode, the theme of religion is satirized, and the idea of humility is explored through Rick's character, who is consistently outsmarted and compelled to acknowledge his errors. Rick makes a comeback after being absent last week. The episode focuses on his internal struggle to come to terms with the fact that even the most intelligent person can be wrong at times.
Pop Culture Reference
The title of the episode is a nod to the film "Thor: Ragnarok." In the episode, Rick possesses a Poké Ball from the Pokémon franchise that he uses to capture Bigfoot and The Pope as if they were Pokémon. In the post-credits scene, Rick is seen using The Pope in a battle, much like a Pokémon. The Pokémon Arena where Rick battles in the post-credit scene resembles the Golden Daggers Club arena from "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" and could also be a reference to the Pokémon battle arena from "Detective Pikachu." When Rick upgrades a new voice into Bigfoot's Predator wrist gauntlet, Bigfoot starts to narrate the movie trailer for "In Time." Lastly, the scene where Rick and Morty get emotional over returning Bigfoot to the woods is a reference to "Harry and the Hendersons."
Leave a Reply