Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Rick and Morty: Season 7 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 14, 2024

Like a lot of people confronted with the exigencies of a global pandemic, I spent quite a bit of circa 2020 - 2021 in relative isolation, watching a lot of television. During the darkest days of the pandemic when many of us were confined to our homes, Rick and Morty regularly provided me with a relatively easy means of "escape", with the raucous comedy offering not just mere "distraction", but actual engagement and enjoyment, as I overtly mentioned in more than one review of the now long running series written during that time period. There's been a lot of newsprint and/or bandwidth devoted to how we're finally past the worst of this global health situation, and in a way I have to joke in a somewhat related sense as further evidence of that "improved" condition that Rick and Morty, no longer consigned to "rescuing" folks like yours truly, seems to have lost just a bit of its luster in its seventh season. Now of course this perceived (and admittedly somewhat minor) "downgrade" is not due to anything related to Covid, not to state the obvious, and may not in fact even be tethered to the perhaps questionable decision to let co-creator and voice artist Justin Roiland go after abuse allegations were leveled at him (allegations which were later found to be without sufficient evidence to prosecute, it might be added). There is still wonderful content to be had in this season, but there's also a certain sense of the writers going for the gusto in the fifth episode and then, in whatever the animated writers' room version of a dog finally catching a car is, not quite knowing (yet, anyway) exactly what to do next.

Reviews of the previous seasons of Rick and Morty can be accessed by clicking on the following links:

Rick and Morty: Season 1 Blu-ray review

Rick and Morty: Season 2 Blu-ray review

Rick and Morty: Season 3 Blu-ray review

Rick and Morty: Season 4 Blu-ray review

Rick and Morty: Season 5 Blu-ray review

Rick and Morty: Season 6 Blu-ray review

While those with expert listening skills will probably be able to notice some passing differences in the voices that Roiland used to provide, the good news about the casting change is that it's probably not going to be a huge deal for many, all things considered. But there is a somewhat rote aspect to some of this season's adventures, though this seventh season provides one of the most epochal showdowns in the entire history of the series and manifest evolving revelations involving Rick Sanchez's kind of tragic-comedic history, with the fifth (mid-season "cliffhanger") episode Unmortricken finally dealing with the long running subplot of Rick trying to track down and eliminate Rick Prime. Suffice it to say there is a "conclusion" to this "arc", one that is rather spectacularly gruesome, and it leaves the show with an interesting "wake" of aftereffects which may provide some fodder for ensuing seasons, even if the second half of this season seems to lurch a bit after this unsettling climax.

Perhaps in order to assuage fan fears that Roiland's exit was somehow going to upend things (which maybe it has, one way or the other), this season actually begins with some bizarre callbacks, including Rick getting together with an "old gang" of sorts, which includes the ever popular Mr. Poopybutthole, who as the season opens is ensconced in the Smith household as a forlorn drunk after his relationship with wife Amy has soured. Suffice it to say that when Rick's attempts at an intervention include such questionable collaborators as Squanchy, Birdperson and Gearhead, things don't exactly go as planned (especially when none other than Hugh Jackman gets involved). That might be said for the episode's writing itself, which, while offering a fantastic array of "previously. . .on Rick and Morty" characters, still might not reach the giddy heights of previous season openers.

Things continue to be somewhat variant through the rest of the season, though there are numerous moments that are standouts, even in some episodes that may traffic in well worn material. In that regard, the old Freaky Friday conceit of "brain swapping" is given an update where both Rick and Jerry simultaneously end up in a kind of 50/50 sharing of each others' personalities with their own, something that leads to unexpected harmony between the two. In perhaps just one sign of the show tending to "revisit" material, this same general conceit is once again part and parcel of a later episode that sees Summer and Morty get "fused". None of this is to suggest that Rick and Morty actually approaches "jumping the shark" territory, but there may not be the consistent levels of outright hilarity in each and every episode that some previous seasons have offered.

Aside from the rather major development offered in Unmortricken, there are some other tidbits vis a vis Rick in particular doled out, including the kind of ultimately hilarious fact that he has a therapist. It's in these kind of melancholic but still at least occasionally guffaw inducing moments that Rick and Morty continues to engage, but there may be a few more lapses in between the laughter this particular season.

Rick and Morty: Season 7 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Rick and Morty: Season 7 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Warner Brothers Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The series continues to be a whirlwind of inventive animation and in this season in particular some incredibly colorful palette choices, all of which look great in this high definition presentation. There are even some more overt quasi-3D effects, as in some of the interstellar material in Unmortricken. There is so much going on in various frames that repeated viewings are almost a must, but commendably even in scenes featuring "entourages" (as a supplement terms some of the big groups), detail levels tend to generally be well developed, and arguably perhaps a bit more than in Season 6. Line detail is strong throughout the season.

Rick and Morty: Season 7 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Once again as with previous seasons, Rick and Morty: Season 7 offers a nicely immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. Surround activity is extremely noticeable in any of the many flying scenes, or even some of the gonzo material featuring several characters in the frame at one time (whether those be humans, aliens, or some combination thereof). Some of the panning effects in crazy spaceship or other outer space sequences can be really fun and directional. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. As I've mentioned in some reviews of previous seasons, I actually highly recommend checking out the German language option (albeit in Dolby Digital 5.1), as the series becomes even more surreal listening to it that way. Optional subtitles in several languages are available.

Rick and Morty: Season 7 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Inside the Episode offers brief featurettes with interviews:

  How Poopy Got His Poop Back (HD; 1:30)

  
  

  The Jerrick Trap (HD; 2:47)

  
  

  Air Force Wong (HD; 1:59)

  
  

  That's Amorte (HD; 2:03)

  
  

  Unmortricken (HD; 3:04)

  
  

  Rickfending Your Mort (HD; 1:42)

  
  

  Wet Kuat Amortican Summer (HD; 2:18)

  
  

  Rise of the Numbericons: The Movie (HD; 2:09)

  
  

  Mort: Ragnarick (HD; 1:58)

  
  

  Fear No Mort (HD; 2:13)

• Inside Season 7 (HD; 8:21) provides a fun overview and includes more interviews with the creative staff.


• The Characters of Season 7 (HD; 2:52) offers some background on things like character design.


• Directing Unmortricken (HD; 3:10) offers Jacob Hair discussing the episode. As short as all of these featurettes are, this one actually recycles some material from one of the other supplements.

Additionally, packaging features a slipbox and the insert features an inner print with listings of episodes and special features along with character illustrations. Once again, though, no digital copy is enclosed.

Rick and Morty: Season 7 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

While this seventh season may see a slight downturn in consistent laugh out loud worthy moments, it still has its fair share of inventiveness, though there's a certain brutality that kind of permeates things in several episodes, notably in Unmortricken (though not relegated only to that "big" episode). Technical merits continue to be solid with WBHE's Blu-ray releases of the series, and the supplements are once again quite enjoyable. Recommended.