R&M4

The fourth season of Rick and Morty is over. It was separated into two 5-episode sections, the second airing about five months after the first.  That was annoying, but what about the episodes themselves?

They were good, but this was the first time the new season didn't top the previous one.  I'd say there were only two classic episodes, the eighth--"The Vat of Acid Episode"--and the tenth--"Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri."

Unfortunately, too many of the episodes had the show swallowing its own tale.  For instance, "One Crew over the Crewcoo's Morty" was a parody of all the double, triple and quadruple-crosses we see in caper films, and it got tiresome.  Same for "Never Ricking Morty" where the title characters have to fight their way off a literal Story Train that has them work through many different plots and emotional moments.

I'm not saying any episode was bad, and they all reward second viewings, but much better are more straightforward stories examining how the characters react to outside forces, not comments on storytelling itself.

PS  I watched two new comedy shows, Upload and Space Force. They were both fine, though not great.

Space Force got a lot of negative reviews, but it wasn't that bad, and the cast was excellent--Steve Carrell as the general who at first seems to be another military clown, but turns out to have some nuance; Diana Silvers and the general's bored teenage daughter, Tawny Newsome as Captain Ali, the general's aide who has higher aspiration; and Jimmy O. Yang as one of the leading scientists at Space Force. Above all, there's John Malkovich, as Dr. Mallory, the intelligent, effete chief scientist.

Both Upload (a comedy about the afterlife--coming right after The Good Place finished) and Space Force end season one with cliffhangers.  I don't like this.  If a comedy is funny, I'll be back.  They think it's better if I worry about whether a character will die. It isn't.

I also finally finished Hunters, which came out in February.  I watched the first few episodes of the much-advertised show back when it came out and gave up.  The characters and the politics were gross caricature, and the Holocaust was used as a prop for comic book antics.

Since I've got nothing but times these days, I went back and watched the rest, and it was even worse than I remembered. On top of which, there's a twist at the end so ridiculous that I suspect even fans of the show threw up their hands in disgust.

Anyway, awful, just awful. Despicable, really.