Rick And Morty Season 7 Referenced One Of The Best Episodes Of Community

"Rick and Morty" season 7 has been a big surprise, giving us some of the best episodes since the show's earliest seasons. After the Justin Roiland controversy that ended with his firing, it feels like nothing has changed, and yet everything has changed too. While the voice acting features a seamless transition to two new unknown actors as the titular characters, the writing feels sharper and more balanced. There is a great blend of bizarre sci-fi plots with character development, taking Rick's story to new territory. 

This has never been a show that prioritizes deep lore or character development, but this season has struck a balance where Rick's character arc has reached a milestone, while also giving us plenty of fun standalone episodes. Episodes with excellent parodies and references, like the "Never Let Me Go" episode, or the trend of Summer going on action movie homage trips — pulling a "Taken" this season with a "Total Recall" spin – have been more than satisfying

In the latest and penultimate episode of the seventh season, Rick's latest wacky plan involves him dying and going to heaven in order to mine the infinite energy emanating from it. Specifically, he goes to Valhalla. The problem is that he inadvertently draws the ire of the Pope, who sets out to kill Rick once and for all. The episode sets its sight on both '90s anime — "Pokémon" is a big part of the story, ending with the Pope himself fighting in a Pokémon battle — and also a big reference to one of the best episodes of co-creator Dan Harmon's comedy series "Community."

As Rick, Morty, and their new ally Bigfoot storm the Vatican to confront the Pope, they try out different armor and weapons to avoid dying over and over again. Among them is a set of armor made entirely out of pillows, which doesn't work because they all get killed by Spears of Longinus straight out of "Neon Genesis Evangelion." The pillow armor looks identical to the "doomsday device" Pierce wears in the "Pillows and Blankets" episode of "Community," when he turns into a pillow monster that obliterates everyone in his path.

"Pillows and Blankets" was an episode of season 3 that is played as a Ken Burns documentary like "The Civil War." The episode followed the campus-wide pillow fight that broke out after a disagreement about a blanket fort. It is the kind of weird, out-of-left-field, experimental parody episode that made "Community" so great. Not because of the parody itself, but because of the way the characters took the wacky situations seriously. Whether it is a paintball game that turns into a Star War, a floor-is-lava game that spirals out of control, or a new social media app that turns dystopic, a big part of the joke was how quickly the entire campus of Greendale Community College would embrace any and all stupid ideas. 

An entire campus' worth of students spending their day and night building a blanket fort at the college, and then spending days fighting each other with pillows is stupid, and yet, it makes sense. I suppose we can say the same about almost every single episode of "Rick and Morty."