Rick and Morty Season 6 Episode 6 review: Dinosaurs return in this Jurassic lark

Dinosaurs return to help the planet/wreak havoc in the new Rick and Morty, enabling the show to take shots at Marvel, David Foster Wallace, and Jurassic Park, all while while doing a spot of social commentary and bringing the laughs.

Episode 6 of Season 6 – entitled “JuRicksic Mort” – finds Rick and Morty taking a break from portal travel, just as the news reports a mysterious rift in space.

Spacecrafts appear over landmarks everywhere in ominous fashion, Independence Day-style. Then dinosaurs – rather than aliens – emerge, and they have questions. The first one being where their kind went? The big one being why did the monkeys go bald?

In maybe the most high-concept episode of the season thus far, they also have some thoughts, about what we’re doing, and how they can help.

What is Season 6/Episode 6 of Rick and Morty about?

Seems dinosaurs are clever – super-smart in fact – and evolved until their technology was planetarily harmonic. Once they’d achieved perfect balance with Mother Earth, they left.

Since then the prehistoric creatures roamed the galaxy in search of planets in need, then helping them to flourish before moving on. And they are somewhat confused returning to Earth to find their ancestors gone and their home planet screwed.

Didn’t humanity realize – somewhere between gunpowder and Amazon Prime – that we shouldn’t be running a planet? Seems not, so the dinosaurs are back, to eliminate jobs and fill our fridges, so we have time to rest, relax, and finish rounding out the Ant-Man character.

Never Trying Never Fails

Which means we all become Jerrys, paving the way for Jerry to publish his “Never Trying Never Fails” manifesto. Meanwhile the dinosaurs do a press tour that enables the show to have fun at the expense of Anderson Cooper, Wendy Williams – and most hilariously – Joe Rogan.

But Rick can’t not try, and as much as he hates the human race, he can’t bare to see us dominated by creatures who call our bluff about wanting more free time.

So having Westworlded the President, Rick heads to planets the dinosaurs visited, only to discover they were quickly followed by meteors. Because as their life-form evolved, so another devolved, turning into barely sentient rocks hurtling through space with one mission – to do as much damage to their enemy, the dinosaur.

Big Rick energy

While on the surface “JuRicksic Mort” concerns the Jurassic, it’s really very much about Rick, his short temper, and the frailty of his ego.

The prehistoric mob patronize mankind, which is fine. But then they condescend Rick, which is a big mistake, precipitating his efforts to locate the skeletons in their closet.

He won’t just go to the ends of the earth to defeat them either – Rick will hurtle to the edge of the galaxy to win, just so he can say “I told you so.” And that’s why we love him.

The Verdict – Is Rick and Morty “JuRicksic Mort” good?

There’s a petty question at the heart of “JuRicksic Mort” that’s actually about pettiness – namely are selfishness and selflessness two sides of the same coin.

Rick believes so, and even if we don’t, it enables plot and theme to combine quite spectacularly in the episode. One which ends with the dinosaurs being equally petty, and fixing Rick’s rift, preventing the show from milking that concept for a whole season. An impressive self-own in a brilliant episode, and one that could only happen on Rick and Morty.