Quarantine Control #196: What if Rick and Morty Fluffed Paradise?

DC Staff | January 4, 2024 | Animation, Features, Reviews, Television | No Comments

It’s been said constantly that the year 2024 is going to be a wild one, thanks in large part to the presidential election happening this fall that will determine whether the United States as we know it will last. The fact that we’re teetering on the brink of the republic’s end is bad enough. But in case anyone doubted how this year would be, it’s already started with terrifying events. Between the latest earthquake in Japan and the attempted assassination of a high-ranking politician in South Korea, 2024 is already proving to be one for the history books, and we’re only four days in. Buckle up.

Geoffrey Barnes

Marvel’s What If? Season 2 (2021/2023)
Source: Disney Plus
Episodes: 9

The first season of Marvel’s What If? included several great ideas, though didn’t quite live up to its full potential. It was the result of Disney and Marvel Studios’ hands being tied contractually, with their belief in how the audience differently perceives animated works also being a little to blame. Marvel reportedly can’t use Spider-Man too heavily in these, and Sony would raise a fuss if certain episodes involving the character were curiously shorter than those for other superheroes. Even after considering that factor, it was difficult to shake how underutilized some ideas for episodes were, with some feeling rushed to their conclusion. The second season, then, marked an opportunity to fix some issues alongside showcasing solid ideas within the confines of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They succeeded. They also did not succeed.

Several episodes here present ostensibly interesting concepts for how certain MCU stories could have unfolded if certain events were changed. Some ideas were predictable or expected, like those continuing stories from the first season like Captain Carter and the lost Iron Man episode delayed thanks to COVID-19-related production issues. Others were brilliant through the ideas they provided, like Avengers tower being attacked before Christmas (fittingly the episode released on Christmas Eve). Others were more rudimentary, like the Avengers in 1602, with ideas inspired from the comic book series created by Neil Gaiman. They’re all fun at the very least, though some worked better than others.

The season still falls prey to issues that held the first season’s potential back. The ideas proposed by the production team are great enough given the constraints they had to work with — they couldn’t venture too far from the MCU’s established barriers. But nearly every single one of them needed more time to flesh out character development, and further show off how merely altering one event can have a ripple effect across these worlds. Most episodes felt rushed to their conclusions, like abridged versions of longer episodes or movies. Others, like the aforementioned 1602 Avengers, could have used an entire series.

The other smaller issue is the animation style, though not to the extent that it hurt the first season. It’s clear Marvel and Disney gave this season a higher budget thanks to the improved animation, character modeling, and special effects. But while the style used is good at animating fights and dynamic camera angles, it makes for some hilariously awkward basic conversations. But this one is nonetheless a minor problem, because it looks good most of the time.

There’s also the unfortunate aspect that most of the stories take from the first three Phases of the MCU, despite the main 616 MCU timeline being well in to Phase 5. This makes sense, though. Showrunner A. C. Bradley explained that the series was written between January and October of 2020, just after Phase 3 finished with Spider-Man: Far from Home. It’s unfortunate, but shows why the only references to Phase 4 works are very light, and how some characterization clashes with one work from the start of the Phase.

Episode 6 is the standout one, alone for introducing a brand-new hero: A Mohawk character named Kahhori (voice of Devery Jacobs). It’s also the one that doesn’t fall prey to most of the flaws laid out above. The episode takes place before America’s colonization, and features the story of what would happen if the Tesseract fell to Earth during this period. The Mohawk characters speak in the Mohawk language, one largely lost to time these days, with the episode itself presenting a strong tale with a great conclusion. Kahhori’s clearly going to stick around for future What If? seasons, but it would be nice if she at least received her own series too. The team had the opportunity to create the first original superhero in the overall MCU, and succeeded. There’s a lot more to explore here, and the episode itself feels like a disguised pilot.

Episode 5 is similarly great, the Captain Carter equivalent to the superlative Catpain America: The Winter Soldier, though with enough changes to be memorable on its own. It could have used more than a half an hour, though. Episodes 3 and 4 were also well done. The others were still fun, but were hurt a bit too much by the limited time allotted to the team. This is, unfortunately, a running theme.

Since the third season of What If? is being written now, there’s a great chance that its stories will wade further into Phase 4, and perhaps even a little of Phase 5. It’s unlikely that the episode lengths will be extended, but hopefully the team will craft ideas that work well within the short time given to them. I’m aware of Disney’s newfound penny pinching when it comes to green lighting new Disney Plus works now, but Kahhori deserves this. She’ll hopefully get more than an episode or two in the next season.

Joseph Daniels

Welcome to 2024. A new year is always full of new possibilities, as well as new anime. This season, the one that jumped out at me the most is…

Fluffy Paradise (2024)
Source: Crunchyroll
Episodes: Ongoing
Tigers?: Lars the Sky Tiger
Rabbits?: Numerous unnamed background bunnies

Fluffy Paradise is an isekai that sees an office worker named Midori literally work herself to death. God shows mercy on her and gives her a second chance in another world. In exchange for helping to decide whether or not humans deserve to be wiped out for their fanatical racism on the world of Asdyllon, she’s to be granted a special power, and is allowed to choose whatever she wants. She, however, doesn’t want a special power, she just wants to be able to pet animals, so God gives her the power of animal magnetism. Animals will just be naturally attracted to her.

There is, unfortunately, only one episode available so far because it’s a brand new anime, but that just means I have several weeks of cuteness to look forward to, especially tigery cuteness. It’s not every day that I see a very fluffy tiger in a new anime, and this one appears to be quite the gentle kitty, genuinely enjoying the company of the main character. The best thing is that, as the Year of the Rabbit transitions into the Year of the Dragon, it looks like there’s soon going to be a dragon friend to go along with Midori’s tiger friend.

I don’t know if this is going to be as good as Campfire Cooking was, but I feel like I’m going to enjoy it anyway. Not everything needs to be groundbreaking as long as it has a cuddly tiger in it.

~ ~ ~

I was going to retire my weekly short film section at the end of 2023, but something that happened this week made me change my mind. Out of a sense of silliness, I present to you, this week’s short film:

Steamboat Willie (1928)

Wait, that was Steamboat Willie? That was horrible. I feel like the only reason this is a classic cartoon is because it was the first of its kind. I can’t believe I didn’t watch it until now, but actually, now that I’ve seen it, no wonder Disney only celebrates the opening whistle scene and absolutely nothing else about the cartoon. Sorry, everyone. I’ll find a better short film for next week.

Angela Moseley

Rick and Morty, Season 7 (2023)
Source: Adult Swim
Episodes: 10

As I mentioned in my New Year’s Eve article, I had fallen behind on watching season 7 of Rick and Morty. (It’s easy to fall out of Sunday evening TV viewing when you spend a good chunk of your Sunday nights livestreaming on Twitch.) After making an attempt to catch up with the series in November and succeeding up to the sixth episode, I fell behind again in late November. Fortunately, I was able to marathon the rest of the series on New Year’s Day since I had the night off from work. I regret not being able to watch the series week-to-week, but maybe I’ll plan better for season 8 when it airs later this year. Anyway, season 7 is a fun mixture of emotional highs and very silly humor that blends the serialized and episodic format I’ve come to love.

In “How Poopy Got His Poop Back” Rick and friends attempt to have an intervention with Mr. Poopybutthole to help him get his life back on track. Instead, it becomes a wild party that goes off the rails when Hugh Jackman gets involved.

Later in “The Jerrick Trap” Rick and Jerry’s minds become scrambled causing them to go on wild space heist adventures. They go too far when they piss off a mob boss who takes the entire Smith family hostage.

Rick discovers Unity has been trying to reach him and goes as far taking over the state of Virginia in “Air Force Wong.” At the same time, President Curtis is interested in dating Rick’s therapist, Dr. Wong.

In “That’s Amorte,” Rick’s spaghetti night is a hit with the family, and then Morty stumbles on the secret as to how the meal is made. The spaghetti is literally out of this world as the inhabitants of 41-kepler-B have unique properties that make them quite tasty.

“Unmortricken” kicks off with Evil Morty enjoying a reality where Rick isn’t the smartest man alive. Unfortunately, disturbances from Rick’s quest to hunt down Rick Prime cause Evil Morty to return to Rick and make a deal with him.

After the events of “Unmortricken,” Rick is in a slump and Morty wants to go on adventures to cheer his grandfather up in “Rickfending Your Mort.” The teenager brings back the punch card adventure system, and Rick immediately hires a third-party observer to verify the cards. Unfortunately, the observer has his own plans.

In “Wet Kuat Amortican Summer,” Summer demands a stat-boosting device after having finished all of her chores for Rick. She uses the device to become the cool kid at a party. Meanwhile, Morty is jealous, and they fight over the device until it causes them to fuse together. The pair become a kuato a la Total Recall.

“Rise of the Numbericons: The Movie” sees the return of Water-T. His home planet is under attack by the Numbericons. Only Mr. Goldenfold can solve the prophecy and save the letter’s home world from being destroyed by numbers. Morty gets dragged into the mess because he’s in detention for not paying attention during math class. In exchange for his help, Goldenfold demands Water-T turn in the homework that’s decades overdue.

Rick discovers heaven is real in “Mort: Ragnarick” and devises a scheme to harness the energy for himself. To do this he’s killed by Bigfootx so he can create a relay in Valhalla. The plan goes awry after Morty is killed by Bigfoot as well. Things get worse when the monster is recruited by the Vatican to be the ultimate assassin.

Rick and Morty decide to conquer their fears in “Fear No Mort” by jumping into a fear hole in the men’s bathroom at the local Denny’s. While there Rick discovers Diane has come back to life.

The biggest event in this season of Rick and Morty is the departure of Justin Roiland after his numerous sexual assault allegations. Before his departure his role in the writer’s room was already greatly diminished. With his ouster, his voice acting roles were recast with Ian Cardoni playing Rick, Harry Belden playing Morty, and Jon Allen playing Mr. Poopybutthole. In the first few episodes, the new voices were slightly off as their performances were essentially re-dubs. By season’s end, I didn’t notice the change of talent at all. Which is good, as the show deserves to be able to move on without Roiland.

This season was mostly episodic, and it was hard to pin down a major theme. Still, the show seemed focused on moving on after life upending events. The big set piece episode was “Unmortricken.” It revolved around Evil Morty teaming up with Rick and Morty in order to take down Evil Rick. In past seasons this felt like an episode that would have either started or ended the season. I can’t help but respect the showrunners for making it the fifth episode in a 10-episode season. They could have ended season 7 with this episode and no one would have complained. By placing “Unmortricken” at the midway point, it immediately has to come to terms with what happens when the main character has to contend with achieving their revenge. It isn’t the end, and life has to keep moving forward no matter what direction it may take.

We also had several bombshells dropped. Evil Morty is likely the biggest threat to Rick and Morty, if they choose to pursue him. We also learn the true reason why Rick’s wife, Diane has never been seen in the present in any universe. The reveal is extremely dark, and I certainly don’t want to spoil it here.

The other two biggest emotional episodes of the season were “That’s Amorte” and “Fear No Mort.” The former deals with heavy themes such as suicide and consumerism, and why it’s important to look at the humanity of others. The latter episode covers Morty conquering his deepest fears, and we get another fantastic reminder of how much Rick does care even if he never puts his feelings into words. It’s the continuation of bringing the scientist down from the godly levels he was placed in at the series’ inception, and allowing him to find his own humanity– flaws and all.

This isn’t to say the rest of the episodes weren’t fun. They weren’t as impactful as the three I outlined, but they served as much-needed breather episodes after all the heavy lore was revealed. Honestly, this was one of the most laugh out loud seasons of Rick and Morty I’ve experienced in years. I’m also glad “Get Schwifty” is now canon as revealed in “Rise of the Numbericons: The Movie.” The episode itself is a loving homage to everything Transformers. I’d say my favorite breather episode was “Mort Ragnarick” for all the visual gags and pointlessly violent humor.

After this season, I’m looking forward to where the series goes now that the biggest plot device from previous seasons has been nullified. What will Rick continue to do now? Enjoy more adventures with the family? Find a way to undo what was done to Diane? As for Morty, despite his growing independence from Rick in previous seasons, it has become clear he still deeply loves Rick. How will Morty continue to grow as a character? Will he serve as a greater foil to Evil Morty? How about the rest of the family? There are so many questions I hope to see resolved in future seasons of Rick and Morty.

There’s a chance that the worst type of future could be averted, that 2024 won’t be as bad as expected. But have fun convincing anyone of that considering the events that have already transpired. Good luck, everyone. Until next week.

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