Thought dump thread! This episode was stellar as well. Spoilers below.
============
Some of my notes:
- Rick and Morty's rapid world building has me in awe every episode. I felt so bad for the little alien girl.
- Sakuga, have you heard of it? Here's even more Rick and Morty sakuga if you love this stuff.
- I shivered when Summer's skin was reversed, that looked so painful. I love that it was a reference to Attack on Titan for a gag, even if I haven't actually seen the show.
- R.I.P. "My Man!" guy.
- The last season has felt like Beth's season even though she still gets so little time- we just really don't know that much about her.
- I love getting an insight into Rick's process of inventing shit. Watching him create a blow dart, create fan blades, and build a trap chair for Jerry while arguing with him was gold.
- Personal note: Oof, my self-deprecation sometimes feels like my strongest attribute, and sometimes I feel reliant on pity in my relationships. It's not a great behavior.
- Other personal note: I love the cosmic apotheosis scene so much. It speaks to a realization really personal to me- the lessons found through psychedelics are only impactful in a vacuum, and without anything else people don't really change after them. The inclusion of the trip felt like a great cap to Jerry's personal journey. Also, it was such a good parody of the psychedelic scene trope.
Dropping the expectation of season 3 matching up to any of the previous, this was my favorite episode of all the season. I hope this is indication of the crew getting their groove on for the rest of the season. The preview for 306 was unsettling at first due to the great voice acting, but the more I watch it, the more I humorous I find it. On topic of this episode, I thought this was such a great episode in comedy and character development. I love how you were able to see yourself in Jerry. What you wrote about in him and about the revelation in the psychedelic skit are bits I can identify with as well... and to an extent see where I learned it in my own household... and upon thinking about it, how it serves me (or doesn't ). I recommend subscribing to Justin Roiland's youtube channel (named "Not Justin Roiland") he's been releasing original content that inspired Rick and Morty alongside some of the Adult Swim interviews where writers and creators discuss the episodes that just aired. For the latest, Harmon spoke to the back and forth Rick and Jerry had in the forest - specifically, Ricks comment on Jerry being a predator in luring others in with victimhood. Something to the effect of Jerry's M.O.: filling a vacuum in a relationship only to double the inward pressure to pull others towards himself, if that makes sense. Experience in therapy is clear in the writing, makes for greater show and relatable charaters that I can project my own human experience onto.
My thoughts largely mirror your own. I'll add that one of the things I really love about this show is the way that it's able to keep surprising you. Just when I think they've mined the characters' flaws, neuroses, and issues for everything they're worth, a new episode comes along that does something totally different. It somehow manages to be both predictable and surprising at the same time.