Rick & Morty Season 5 Promo Hints At Throwback ’90s Episode

The promo for Rick and Morty season 5, episode 3 is full of ’90s references, suggesting that “A Rickconvenient Mort” will be a retro-themed episode. The popular animated series returned on June 20, 2021, with new episodes airing every Sunday on Adult Swim. The first two episodes were followed by a brief sneak peek advertising the titular duo’s next adventure — with the promo for episode 3 suggesting a throwback special celebrating the ’90s.

So far, Rick and Morty season 5 has fixed many of the show’s problems, while still delivering on the sardonic wit and wacky stories that long-time fans expect from Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon’s series. The character dynamics have changed this season, but based on what’s already been seen — as well as the content shown in the marketing — season 5 will continue the show’s tradition of centering episodes on particular themes or genre conventions. The Rick and Morty season 5 premiere was unique in that it was a relatively low-stakes episode with several subplots: its main parody was that it introduced Rick’s Marvel-villain-inspired nemesis, Mr. Nimbus. Episode 2 was more broadly an exploration of robot sci-fi tropes, playing with ideas like Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, as well as throwing in lots of science-fiction pop culture references.

Based on the promo for episode 3, “A Rickconvenient Mort” will be a pastiche of ’90s references and jokes, likely connected to a story poking fun at the environmentalism movement of that decade — including a gender-swapped take on the edutainment superhero, Captain Planet. The title is a reference to An Inconvenient Truth, the 2006 documentary about Al Gore’s campaigns to raise awareness about global warming. While there may be a climate change element to the Rick and Morty episode, the characters and aesthetic of the promo is pure early ’90s.

In the promo, Rick and Morty are shown fleeing from acid raid (to protect their novelty t-shirts), caused by an anthropomorphic rodent calling himself “Diesel Weasel.” Acid rain was a serious environmental concern in the early ’90s because of the significant damage it had done to Europe and North America (for example, the acidic precipitation, caused by pollution, could stripe trees of their leaves or alter the pH of lakes, destroying its ecosystem). Diesel Weasel — who appears to be a take on other ’90s cartoons like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Biker Mice From Mars — is confronted by a green-skinned superhero with a recycling logo on her chest, which is an obvious parody of another ’90s cartoon: Captain Planet and the Planeteers. Her statement at the promo’s end,  “there’s only one solution for Earth’s pollution — you!” drives home the Captain Planet reference since the kids show had a similar message in its memorable theme song.

The Rick and Morty season 5 episode is having fun with a particular niche of early ’90s kids cartoons, but the actual plot is unclear. It’s not a time travel episode: Rick famously has a “no time travel” rule — and besides, having the two visit a ’90s themed planet or universe is infinitely more interesting than just setting a story set in the past. Likely, Rick and Morty are visiting a strange location for the sake of getting those T-shirts, and they find themselves in the middle of essentially a Captain Planet story. It’s also possible this is just one of several scenes, and that the episode’s ’90s references are contained within that one location. Regardless, the Rick and Morty promo sets up a very funny, and loving, tribute to an icon from many viewers’ childhoods.

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Sarah Bea Milner
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Sarah Milner is the Weekend Lead Editor for Screen Rant’s Film/Television features (SR Originals) division. She is a writer, editor, and folk musician. She often watches movies — sometimes she reviews them too.

A graduate of Trent University, Sarah’s MA thesis examines Frankenstein adaptations and their relationship with popular culture. She has a fierce love of all things “spooky,” and a deep appreciation for classic cinema.

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