Rick and Morty Season 9, Episode 3 Review & Recap

That’s where “Rick Fu Hustle” tends to work best – exploring Rick’s latest feud with Morty and his over-the-top efforts to beat Lin Su at his own game. It’s amusing to watch Rick spend entire scenes only walking backwards and then build elaborate contraptions to support him in his obstinate quest. It’s also entertaining to watch Morty briefly befriend Lin Su, only to come tearfully crawling back with his own death punch problems.

Again, the martial arts parody of it all doesn’t fully click, if only because the episode seems a little scatterbrained in that regard. The entire subplot involving Lin Su and his estranged sifu is somewhat undercooked. I’m not convinced this episode needed both characters or the little tangent involving the polycule. It could have used some more streamlining and more emphasis on lampooning martial arts tropes.

Still, it all pays off in a nice way when Rick and Morty duel Lin Su in the ultimate martial arts showdown. Similar to the epic spectacle seen in the Season 9 premiere, the series is really impressing with how bombastic and over-the-top its action scenes have become. The scope of the battle is great, and you can’t help but laugh at the icnreasingly ridiculous series of special moves the three characters unleash upon one another.

That battle only grows more ludicrous when our combatants draw the wrath of the martial arts god Punchy and his massive enforcer, Punchenheimer. It’s a great way to wrap up an uneven but generally fun main storyline.

As for the other half of Episode 3, we get our first Jerry-centric subplot of Season 9. I’m the type of Rick and Morty fan who generally believes that whenever Jerry’s not on screen, all the other characters should be asking, “Where’s Jerry?”, so that’s certainly a welcome development.

Not that I’d argue this is the best or most clever Jerry subplot the show has delivered by any stretch, but it works well enough. Of course he’d somehow bungle something as simple as cleaning the pool to the point that he winds up in a violent sexual affair with the pool cleaner robot. Textbook Jerry. It’s been a nice novelty having a serialized storyline this season, even if only for something as minor as the family pool, and this is certainly one way of building on that element.