Rick and Morty ‘Night Family’: Uprise And Shine
Image source: Adult Swim
This week, Rick and Morty took us on a journey of humanity and reminds us all about treating workers right. Don’t inflate your own ego, or else.
The episode starts with a quote from TS Eliot, but the action begins with the scene from the promo. An insomniac Beth sees Rick doing his crunches in his sleep, and the next morning asks him what’s up. He answers with the Somnambulator, alien technology which programs the tasks he wants to accomplish into his unconscious body, his “night person,” and gets it done while he sleeps. Several family members get very excited over how they’d utilize it. Rick declines, deeming it too advanced for them. However, he quickly concedes when Summer doesn’t react upset enough. That’s when the blood samples are taken, for a DNA profile.
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With their Night People made, Summer is acing school, Beth is learning the trumpet, and Morty’s got his abs. He’s even teamed with jacked Rick for an ab-based podcast. Jerry’s made his night person his pen pal and gets berated for it because he’s not using it “correctly.” Later, we see the Somnambulator activate the “Night Family,” but in addition to Night Beth’s trumpet and Rick and Morty’s crunches, Night Jerry’s doing laundry, Night Summer’s doing the dishes, and she’s pained. When Jerry comes in after Rick and Morty record, he passes along that she wants the family to start rinsing their plates when they’re done eating, and Rick is alarmed, believing they shouldn’t make the night people’s lives easier. In essence, the disaster arises as the introducer of the technology is misusing it and exploiting it instead of the people it was introduced to doing so. He then intentionally makes their work harder by spraying ketchup over the dishes. The next morning, the Night Family have retaliated as all the dishes are found destroyed. Rick has indestructible plates forged in response. They then wake him up the next night, led by Summer, for continuing to refuse. He is fed the plates’ remainders, including hardened grime and gruel. Night Jerry’s even wincing.
The next morning, the entire house is ransacked and thus must be shielded. Summer must go undercover as Night Summer to deactivate the Somnambulator. She succeeds and so the security is deactivated, but Night Summer takes over, literally seeking to seize the day, summoning the droids to enslave the main family. They’re washing the dishes now, Beth is burning day-titled movies, and Morty is forced to do his crunches. They’re then sent to pods for their “resting” period, which would of course activate the Night Family. However, thanks to a note Jerry leaves Night Jerry, the latter breaks them out, proving a true allegiance. He finds Jerry very special. Jerry is then awakened with a slap, and in trying to escape, Morty trips the measures that blow up Rick’s ship.
To the car they go, Night Summer and her drones in pursuit. I love the empty cardboard boxes she lands in. Every time a family member falls asleep, they risk sabotage, as it awakens the Night counterpart; they therefore must be immediately snapped out of it, a very interesting angle. The chase goes on for a while, but it’s rather fun seeing the continuing switches between who’s dominant in the bodies. The explosions in environments of dynamite, gasoline, and dry leaves were very amusing. When it seems the family members are their “day selves” again, Summer gets caught by the drones’ needles, which brings out Night Summer. She swerves them off the road, and everyone’s thrown out of the cars. A squabble ensues, featuring constant flips from the Night Family to the “daymanoids” until the Night Family has Rick subdued, ready to put him under. Night Summer would consider a truce (at Night Jerry’s urging) if the day family would just rinse their dishes. Everyone agrees but Rick, as we see Night Rick activated. The family drives off with scrolling credits. Night Family wins! “Daytality”…but at only the 19-minute mark.
The Night Family splurges, visiting everywhere from Bed, Bath, and Beyond to more expensive destinations like Hawaii, China, and France. As such, after the credits are over, they’re completely broke. But Night Rick has a solution: he shoots the Somnambulator to essentially off themselves permanently and make the mess they leave the day family’s responsibility. And when they awaken, they react in horror…to the discontinuation of the Choco Taco!
“Night Family” was a very interesting take on an exploited worker/slave uprising story, with a bit of zombie in the lethargic, barely conscious movements of the Night Family. There’s also something starting to bubble between Morty and Summer in terms of a power dynamic and how they tolerate each other. Maybe that’ll be explored throughout future episodes. New Pocket Mortys avatars inspired by the episode are Night Person Morty and Washboard Morty, and the new trainer is Day Summer, in her specially made stay-awake suit. The next episode is “Final DeSmithation”, the Rick and Jerry adventure recognizable as the first event seen in the season trailer. “Night Family” gets an 8 out of 10.
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