Anna Daniels
At the time of its airing, the Rick and Morty season 2 finale drew near-universal critical acclaim. Zach Handlen at The A.V. Club said that “The Wedding Squanchers” was “a brilliant conclusion — one that both presents plenty of story possibilities for the seasons ahead, while still serving as a fitting conclusion to the show’s excellent sophomore year.”
The episode begins with the Smith family receiving an invitation to attend Birdperson’s (Harmon) wedding to Tammy Guetermann (Cassie Steele), a high school friend of Summer’s (Spencer Grammer). Rick is vehemently opposed to going due to his visceral hatred of any open display of genuine emotion (more on that below), but the family is ultimately roped into attending after Jerry (Chris Parnell) gets accidentally shipped out to the planet Squanch with the RSVP. Not the worst thing that’s ever happened to Jerry, but it’s up there.
Aside from Rick’s decidedly unromantic, cynical attitude toward the proceedings, the party’s going just fine; that is, until the Galactic Federation comes crashing into the reception SWAT-team-style to assassinate Birdperson and Rick. As it turns out, Tammy was actually a deep cover agent acting on behalf of the Federation to infiltrate Birdperson’s inner circle and take out his band of rebels. Why play this con out for over a year, you might ask? It would seem that Tammy’s intentions were to manufacture an event — like a wedding — where most of Birdperson’s inner circle would be congregated in one place. This would present an opportunity for the Federation to wipe out the entire cadre in one fell swoop, while taking out Public Enemy Number One: Rick Sanchez.
Tammy kills Birdperson, as well as a number of other guests, but Rick and his family still manage to escape. With Earth now locked down under the Federation’s martial order, the Smith family goes in search of another planet to inhabit. By the end of their search, Rick decides to turn himself in so that his family can return home in peace. An uncommon act of altruism from the smartest man in the universe? Not quite, but that reveal won’t come until the season 3 premiere, “The Rickshank Rickdemption.” That aside, what does it all mean?
Written by: Looper
