Opening on a classic Rick and Morty adventure on a planet full of crystals that reveal alternate versions of the titular duo—including one where they’re Blades—things are obviously life and death business as usual.
But it’s in Morty’s bravery in this moment — as he flies them back to their dimension, on a course back to Earth — that the episode provides its first portal-based issue, as the portal closes just as Rick and Morty go through it.
Considering all of the enemies and foes of Rick that we’ve been introduced to over the course of the series, the fact that someone as weirdly unassuming as Mr. Nimbus is officially dubbed Rick’s “nemesis” in this episode clearly has to hold weight.
Mr. Nimbus is unassuming because he’s a “strange, horny ocean man” who says his name a lot, but it quickly becomes clear that he wields plenty of power and is highly respected as king, as well as one heck of a charmer when it comes to the “sex positive” crowd.
While Rick ends up having dinner with Mr. Nimbus to stall him with the promise of a bogus peace summit — while he has Summer dive into the ocean to steal the shell that gives Mr. Nimbus his powers — Morty once again sets out to have his own adventure, this time in the form of his movie date with Jessica.
Even though he concedes to doing this, Morty declares that he wants to do something in his life other than favors for Rick.
If he had just told Jessica he couldn’t get her wine, things wouldn’t have ended up spiraling, because it’s no big deal if a teenage boy can’t get his crush wine when his entire family is in the house, entertaining some weird ocean king.
Knowing how “Rick and Morty” works, the whole earnestly touching moment between Morty and Hoovy — an anthropomorphic cow on whose land the wine was stored — is one where you just wait for the other shoe to drop.
Even if Morty shut down the latter in this episode, the former would still be an issue, so it would always lead to this.
Instead, “Mort Dinner Rick Andre” takes the audience on a journey, through this dimension’s various technological eras, charting the rise of a civilization based solely on getting revenge on Morty.
It’s always interesting to see which plot threads end up lasting past their initial episode because as “Mort Dinner Rick Andre” reveals, Mr. Nimbus knew Diane, Beth’s mother and Rick’s ex.
Rick shuts down him “establish canonical backstory” in this case, but one can imagine that it’s a sign that this season will delve deeper into said backstory.
To quote Jessica, by the end of the episode, she’s a “time god” who realizes she’s long been “the object in another’s story.” Morty’s unrequited crush on Jessica has always been part of “Rick and Morty” but never a must-see part.