On this week’s episode of Rick and Morty, The Old Man and the Seat, Rick’s new intern, Glootie (voiced by Taika Waititi), helps Jerry (voiced by Chris Parnell) make an app that sets the world on a never-ending search for love, Beth (Sarah Chalke) attempts to “mother the hell” out of Summer (Spencer Grammer) when Jerry’s terribly named app makes her crazy for love, and Rick (voiced by Justin Roiland) goes on the hunt for a mysterious defiler who has ruined a private item for his.

When Rick initially left to go on his own adventure, I wasn’t exactly sure what was going to happen. However, Rick’s search for whoever or whatever took a dump in his private toilet on another planet was absolutely hilarious and gave him some interesting character development. Off on a faraway planet in, what Rick thought was, completely privacy, Rick has a toilet that looks over the beautiful planet landscape and forget about his family’s, especially Jerry’s, idiotic and annoying nature. Now, while he’s enjoyed it privately for quite some time, a mysterious force has come to ruin it all – and Rick’s not too happy about it. Upon discovering that his prized toilet has been violated, Rick sets off on a manhunt to find the defiler and make sure that the next thing they do is die. No seriously, all Rick does this episode is search for whoever pooped in his favorite toilet to kill them.

It’s a drive that’s so petty and unreasonable and that’s taken to such extreme lengths that only Rick Sanchez could take them to, that it’s an absolute blast. From Rick taking a fly’s, who rules the criminal underworld of frogs, kid hostage to him interceding into a war between robots and lizard soldiers, there’s nothing that’s going to stop him from finding who violated his sanctuary. However, when he meets the defecator, Tony (voiced by Jefferey Wright), he’s oddly met with a worthy match. Tony is just an ordinary man that searches for the same privacy as Rick and isn’t afraid of Rick’s threats. Tony even sees him as a friend because of how Rick just won’t kill him and even puts him in a simulation where he can live out his fantasy rather than kills him. This confrontation is a fun ride and surprisingly hits some strong emotional beats for Rick that are rarely touched on.

The best times that the series has with Rick are the ones that present a challenge for him that he can’t overlook with his cynical mind or even ignore. Thinking back to episodes like Auto Erotic Assimilation and his relationship with Unity, the times that show that Rick isn’t just the rigid and remorseless person he shows are always the best and that’s exactly shown with his short relationship with Tony. While not on the same level as Unity, there’s definitely some appreciation that Rick has for his fearlessness and for it to provide an adversary that he can always chase. However, this chase is sadly short-lived as Rick learns that he dies after following in his dreams. The moment surprisingly has some emotional weight to it as Rick actually seems kind of vulnerable, which is rare. He seems like the news actually hurts him as he no longer has someone to try to annoy or chase and even as he attends his funeral, he tries to comfort Tony’s father, which is unusual for Rick. It all ends with Rick setting off his own trap for Tony and sadly contemplating that he’s gone. It’s a nice emotional moment that we rarely get to see with Rick that could lead to more moments like this, which would be nice, throughout the rest of the season.

Unfortunately, the rest of episode is just fine with Morty and Jerry trying to stop Glootie’s app from destroying the Earth and Beth stopping Summer from finding love through the app. Outside of Morty (also voiced by Roiland) telling Jerry that he sucks and is a total loser and Beth and Summer’s fight at the airport, the plots were bland and forgettable. It’s literally a meaningless plot to give everyone else something to do while Rick is dealing with his poo demons. Even for the famous voices, like Waititi and Sam Neil, behind some of the new characters, the plot threads of Glootie’s people creating an app simply to gain water just wasn’t that interesting and the constant cutaways to Summer finding new matches got old really quick. For a series filled with many memorable faces and welcomed returns, if this was the last time we saw Glootie and the Monogatron’s, I wouldn’t be that upset.

Oddly enough, the world’s longest poop joke is the highlight of The Old Man and the Seat as it offers great comedy and character development with the relationship between Rick and Tony that the other plot threads severely lacked in this episode. Hopefully with the rest of the season can show more of the rarely vulnerable side of Rick and deliver some stronger storylines for Beth, Jerry, and Summer.

Watch the Trailer Here: