The Rick and Morty season 8 premiere could and should have been a game-changer – instead it's a wasted opportunity for the sci-fi show's future

It might feel like years since Adult Swim released new episodes of Rick and Morty, but for Morty and Summer, that's just a fraction of time compared to what they go through in the season eight premiere.

'Summer of All Fears' begins with much older versions of the Sanchez siblings in a world very different from our own. Phone chargers are all anyone seems to talk about, which might have something to do with the reason why Summer is in the midst of launching an electrical sky grid that will make said chargers obsolete.

With her mission accomplished, Summer and Morty are thrust back into the real world where we discover they've lived 17 years in a matrix of Rick's design, all to teach them one brutal lesson: "Never take Grandpa's phone chargers." The problem is that only a few days have passed in the real world, and both kids still remain trapped in the same teen bodies they started out with.

"I fell in love and ran a country," argues Summer, desperate to hold onto those memories before Rick mindwipes her and Morty. Grandpa agrees, allowing them both to remember everything that happened in the matrix. What could go wrong, right?

A new horizon

At first, Summer and her mother get on better than ever. "I love this version of you," says Beth as they share a third mimosa together on a casual Wednesday afternoon. Rick too is impressed by this new "older" version of Morty who's gotten a lot more crafty when it comes to building machinery.

Everyone bonds and everything is schwifty. The end. Except, with this being Rick and Morty, things soon turn south in the biggest, most deranged way possible.

Summer begins to patronize her mother rather cruelly, as if those extra 17 years of existence make her better somehow. The pair end up in a store for middle-aged women who are actually vampires in disguise, because… Well, because Rick and Morty's gonna Rick and Morty.

Meanwhile, Morty tricks Rick into a new matrix to teach his Grandpa a lesson of his own: "Don't put people in the matrix." With Rick out of the way, Morty races off on a suicide mission triggered by PTSD he developed following the "Phone Wars" he lived through in the matrix.

By the end of the episode, Rick frees himself in time to save his nephew and everything resets, as per usual. Except, for a moment there, it really looked like Morty and Summer were going to keep their aged-up minds. "I have a feeling things are going to be different now," says Matrix Summer, as if she has a plan to stick around longer. But then Rick resets both of their brains last minute, reverting the show back to exactly how it was before.

One last scene teases how the ramifications of this episode could still linger, however, when Summer comes across a video that "Matrix Summer" left behind to reveal the memories she's lost while sharing advice for the future. Our Summer doesn't care though, cutting the video off mid-sentence – "Urgh, send a text" – and then calls her friend Trisha to ask about something far more important: "What are we huffing tonight, biiiitch?"

A missed chance to re-energize

So the writers were just toying with us all along, leading us to believe that Matrix Summer might have a bigger impact before switching things up and pulling the rug out from under us. It's a cheeky twist that definitely kept me on my toes, but it's also a missed opportunity for Rick and Morty's future.

With at least two more seasons confirmed and fan interest waning, introducing "Matrix" versions of two key characters could have re-energized the series, shaking up the family dynamic in entirely unexpected ways. We've only known this new Morty and Summer for one episode, but there could have been a lot of potential here for something exciting and even game-changing.

There's the way Summer speaks down to her mother, and presumably her father too, renegotiating her vapid teen experiences with an adult mind that – let's not forget – started an actual war in the matrix.

Morty's numerous deaths in said war could have been interesting to explore as well, building on the nihilist thread that's already integral to his and Rick's storyline especially. Plus, wouldn't it have been fascinating to see an "older" Morty hold his own more against his grandpa? Who needs Evil Morty when you've got "Matrix" Morty?

One-off episodes number among the show's best, but it's the serialised storylines that generate the most discussion between fans online. And when handled right, they're also memorable in their own right, such as Rick Prime's role in season seven and the fate of Rick's wife, Diane.

Had the writers decided to keep Matrix Morty and Summer around, they could have serialised the plot of season eight with this throughline while remaining free to explore the usual adventure of the week episodes too.

There's also precedent for this, as far back as the sixth episode of season one (titled 'Rick Potion No. 9') when Rick and Morty accidentally mutated the whole world into "Cronenbergian" monsters. Rather than fix their mistake, Rick simply found another universe almost identical to his own where he and Morty replaced freshly deceased versions of themselves who they buried in the backyard.

While 'Summer of All Fears' didn't have to be a game-changing episode of that magnitude, it wouldn't hurt to see more ambition of that kind, 11 years in. After all, the trailer for season eight describes Rick and Morty as "the best high concept sci-fi rigamarole in the universe." While the premiere is a decent crack at this, the show is not quite at that level anymore, which means something needs to change if we're really gonna make it to "Rick and Morty forever, 100 years."

Check out our Rick and Morty season 8 review for even more on the show. You can also keep up to date with our Rick and Morty season 8 release schedule.