Image: Adult Swim

It’s pretty undeniable at this point that Game Of Thrones’ writing this season took a definitive turn, investing heavily in fan service and action set pieces at the expense of many of the tonal and logistical realities set up by the series’ preceding seasons. Simultaneously, it’s been pretty undeniable that Rick And Morty’s writing has gotten somehow even better in its third season, blending pathos and mordant wit with an increasingly cohesive, sprawling sci-fi cosmos, not to mention richer character arcs. Thus it came across as particularly brutal when, at the conclusion of Rick And Morty’s (excellent) most recent episode, Adult Swim aired this bumper:




Screenshot: r/rickandmorty

Which will scan to you as either a low blow from a bunch of smartasses or a puckish upstart punching up at the biggest show on television, depending on your vantage point. Fandoms like these are not generally known for their temperance, and so both Rick And Morty and series creator Justin Roiland were quick to distance themselves from the diss.





Fine, fine. But we all know that, if Rick and Morty ever found themselves trudging up north of the Wall on some “capture a White Walker” bullshit, they’d at least be riffing about how contrived that storyline is.