Summary
Rick and Mortycontinues to trudge through a disappointing season 7 with another Morty-free episode that relies more on familiar storylines and characters than original ideas. “Air Force Wong” sees the President attempting to woo Rick’s therapist, Dr. Wong, as he recruits Rick to save Earth from his ex-girlfriend, the hive mind Unity, who has infected the entire population of Virginia. The episode perpetuates the season 7 trend of recycling old material to much lesser effect. Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden have successfully replaced the show’s fired star and co-creator Justin Roiland in the roles of Rick and Morty, but the scripts they’re working with are nowhere near as sharp or well-crafted as previous seasons.
“Air Force Wong” was written by Alex Rubens, who has traditionally beenone ofRick and Morty’s strongest writers. Rubens worked on such classic episodes as “Big Trouble in Little Sanchez” (the one with Tiny Rick) and “Rick: A Mort Well Lived” (the one where Summer “does aDie Hard”). He also wrote forCommunityandKey & Peele, two of the greatest TV comedies of the 21st century, so expectations were high for a Rubens-penned season 7 episode ofRick and Morty. “Air Force Wong” isn’t a badRick and Mortyscript – it moves at a fast enough pace and it has some smart lines – but the episode suffers from a few fundamental problems that have marred season 7 so far.
For starters, it’s yet another Rick solo adventure without Morty. The producers might as well strike Morty’s name from the title, because he’s practically a side character in season 7. Morty arrives briefly in the second act of “Air Force Wong” to tell Rick about a plot development. But Morty doesn’t even get to deliver the exposition; he just takes Rick to a TV where a newscaster delivers the exposition. Once Rick realizes he needs to spring into action, he doesn’tbring Morty with him; he tells Morty to stay inside with the doors locked while he goes off alone. The rest of the Smiths are being ignored, too. Summer has a blink-and-miss-it cameo appearance and Beth and Jerry are nowhere to be seen. Much likeThe Hangovertrilogy eventually sidelined every other character to focus on Alan,Rick and Mortyseason 7 is uninterested in any major character besides Rick.
Like the previous season 7 episodes, “Air Force Wong” relies on familiar storylines and characters instead of bringing in any original ideas. The season 7 premiere rehashedRick’s drunken antics with his friendsand the second episode rehashed his arc of being forced to work with Jerry and gradually warming up to him. “Air Force Wong” rehashes Rick’s rivalry with the President, which has been done to death at this point, and his on-and-off will-they-or-won’t-they romance with Unity. Everything that’s interesting about dating a hive mind was included in Unity’s original appearance in the season 2 episode “Auto Erotic Assimilation.” Rick’s skepticism about the effectiveness of therapy, his misery over his breakup with Unity, and his begrudging mutual respect for the President have all already been covered in stronger episodes.
Rubens’ script has some fun moments of satire with the President. He refers to Earth as “America’s planet” and he casually offers Dr. Wong a handgun as if he’s offering a mint or a tissue. Keith David is always a delight in this role; his booming deliveries get the most out of every one-liner (even the subpar ones). But the character’s major “want” in this episode is a 100% approval rating, and the idea of a U.S. President who’s irrationally obsessed with their approval rating hasn’t been relevant since 2020.
It’s impressive that the producers managed to get both of the original guest voices back: Susan Sarandon as Dr. Wong and Christina Hendricks as Unity. But, whereas these A-list stars got a lot to do in their previous guest spots, they’re massively underutilized here. Hendricks is given the exact same role she had in her initialRick and Mortyappearance and Sarandon is used as a deadpan sounding board for Rick as opposed to a real intellectual challenger. It’s okay forRick and Mortyto bring back characters from the past as long as the writers have a real reason for bringing them back – and that’s not the case with the President, Dr. Wong, or Unity in this week’s disappointingly derivative installment.
Season 7 is still shaping up to beRick and Morty’s worst year. Rather than salvaging the season and getting the show back on track, “Air Force Wong” is continuing to make all the same mistakes as the past two episodes. It’s recycling old storylines, poking fun at outdated satirical targets, and fora show calledRick and Morty, Rick and Morty have barely shared the screen (and Morty has hardly appeared at all). There’s still plenty of time for season 7 to return to form but, three episodes in, there hasn’t been a single solid episode yet.
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