Rick and Morty fires its Halloween entry at fans just a tad bit earlier, making for a fantastic episode that is eerie and funny at the same time as the show remains held by the shackles of a single dimension.
Aptly titled “Night Family”, this scary Rick and Morty entry plays off on the same classic Twilight Zone trope of having seemingly innocent events unfold into chaos as Rick’s latest productivity hack brings out the darker side in the Smiths. Of course, it wouldn’t be Rick and Morty without plenty of jokes adorning this series of unfortunate events and the episode’s humor remains mostly on point throughout, having said that, there are no crucial revelations to the wider storyline in season 6.
The episode kicks off with what had been the teaser from last week, showing a poem from T.S. Eliot, a staple of the horror genre, that leaves no room for guessing what kind of adventure this will be, however, the soulless entity Beth finds in her living room is what sends the family down this rabbit hole of despair. The premise is simple: Rick has found a way to make the best use of his night sleep hours by having his mind get some rest while a “night person” does chores, like hundreds of crunches that get him some flashy abs.
Morty is instantly wowed by his grandpa’s beach body and everyone wants in, with the first few days going smoothly as Rick and Morty even launch their own podcast, or at least that is until the night family starts voicing come complaints. The nightmare scenario is triggered when Rick refuses to help the night family with the dirty dishes, a point he’s quite adamant to make no matter the cost as he mocks Jerry for being the only one that’s established a personal connection with his night persona.
Besides the usual bunch of movie or TV references and easter eggs, this Rick and Morty episode features a rare showing of Rick’s bedroom, which is exactly the kind of mess fans would expect, even packing a less than eco-friendly alarm clock. Now, even if it’s possible to draw comparisons to similar scripts, the night family plot seems to be inspired by Jordan Peele’s Us more than anything else due to the way Night Summer talks — Severance is also a likely source of inspiration, though the show makes it difficult to figure out writer Rob Schrab and director Jacob Hair had that in mind.
Although Rick and Morty rely on sci-fi comedy most of the time, “Night Family” proves to great effect it can get scary from time to time as every sleep-deprived member of the family makes for a formidable foe with Summer inexplicably being the chosen leader. Well, leave it to Rick to dismiss her leadership, because it’s been quite some time since Summer was established as the show’s go-to option for portraying action-heavy plots and becoming a stronger cast member for the past three seasons, so at this point, it’s a no-brainer appointment.
Unfortunately, the nightwalkers defeat the Smiths, despite Rick’s most stubborn efforts, and when all seems lost Jerry’s pen pal pops up top to literally save the day and unravel a very 90s chase sequence. Everyone is constantly switching on and off with some very funny jokes tossed in the middle of all the chaos, before the friendly Night Jerry offers Rick an olive branch he of course refuses.
This also highlights Jerry becoming an even more useful plot device than he’s been in the past, given that he was essential to Rick and Morty’s previous episode, which is a welcome addition considering he’s one of the show’s most reliable comic reliefs. The lesson here -if any- is to never underestimate the benefits of a good night’s sleep, even if it means sacrificing a little productivity because sustained lack of sleep has horrific long-term ramifications.
The post-credits scene swings for a Szechuan sauce grand slam as everyone wakes up to see the mess made by the night family, but nothing is worse than Rick learning the Klondike Choco Taco has been discontinued, meaning a new God of War meets Rick and Morty type of promo could be coming soon. Overall, the episode hits substantial highs with plenty of funny moments, and it’ll probably be a favorite for fans of the horror genre.
Season 6 has had a fantastic start, definitely much better than Rick and Morty’s divisive season 5, which deserves plenty of praise as the showrunners have to get more creative due to Rick’s portal gun being out of service.
It’s hard to imagine it’ll stay this way for too long, but when pulled off right it provides a nice change of pace, even if it means missing out on some great Rick and Morty characters. Still, season 6 put Rick and Morty on a path leading to Rick Prime, which should only make these one-off entries more special.