Rick and Morty season 6 episode 4 recap & review: Night Family

Rick and Morty season 6 episode 4 ‘Night Family’ sees the family contend with the horrors the night versions of themselves unleash upon them.

Recap

Episode 4 starts with Beth having trouble sleeping thanks to Jerry’s loud snoring. She goes downstairs to sleep on the sofa instead.

As she’s about to lie down to sleep, she receives a jumpscare from Rick, who is doing crunches and not answering her questions. The next morning, Rick reveals to her and the family the reason why he didn’t answer Beth last night.

He has got his hands on a new contraption called the Somnambulator. The user can type into the device whatever they want to get done and then the device programs the user’s unconscious body, or what Rick calls “night person”, to do the things while the user sleeps.

Rick has been enjoying the perks of this new device and the new set of abs he now sports as a result of it. Everyone else in the family also wants in on it, and Rick, after initial reluctance, eventually allows them to have their own night persons do what they want to be done.

Everyone is making strides and learning new skills while they sleep and the corresponding night persons grind constantly. Rick and Morty have shredded bodies, Summer learns Spanish, Beth learns how to play the trumpet, and Jerry becomes pen pals with Night-Jerry.

doing laborious chores that they eventually get fed up with. The especially frustrating chore is washing the dishes that don’t get rinsed out by the daytime family beforehand.

The night family rebels and holds Rick captive, locking him out of his own tech and weapons. Another special thing about this turn of events is that the Night-Summer is the one in charge of the night, not Night-Rick.

Night-Summer, it turns out, is another entity altogether, claiming to have always been there inside Rick’s grandchild. The night family strips the home of all the contents and locks away the garage, locking all kinds of access to tech as well.

Rick devises a plan that involves Day-Summer remaining conscious throughout the night and sabotaging the Somnambulator. She succeeds in doing so but Night-Summer one-ups them, eventually enslaving the day family to do the laborious chores.

However, Jerry, who had been using his Night-Jerry to have a pen pal, asks for his night version’s help. Night-Jerry obliges and helps them flee.

Summer gives chase and there’s a whole sequence of Hollywood genre films being parodied while factories get exploded, people jump from one car to another, and the climactic struggle sees Night-Summer win.

However, in the end, the night family get fed up with the numerous responsibilities and social problems of the waking world, eventually shooting the Somnambulator and destroying themselves.

Review

• Rick and Morty continues to focus on more grounded (relatively) one-shot episodes in season 6. The latest instalment allows for more time otherwise attributed to a bazillion references and lets the jokes work.
• There are still far too many references and ‘Night Family’ makes great use of them. The parody of the mystery sci-fi genre films works great too.
• Jerry proves that compassion is a skill greater than playing the trumpet or having chiselled abs, and it’s always great seeing him score a win through his sincere wholesomeness amidst all the cynicism of the rest of the family.
• The episode is rife with hilarious gags that land well. However, the ending seems a bit of a dud compared to the rest of the show, leaving much to be desired for the night persons’ departure.
• Night Summer is a creepy and formidable foe that has the potential to become a part of the canon, should the makers choose to go that route.

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