Rick and Morty Season 2 has finally arrived, with a July 26 premiere. So now’s a good time as any to rank Season 1 episodes of Rick and Morty and settle this once and for all.

Rick and Morty Season 1 Episodes Ranked

And awaaaaay we go...

11. “Rixty Minutes”

Rick and Morty Season 1 Episode 8

The best episodes of Rick and Morty are meticulously plotted, condensing a feature-length sci-fi idea and somehow still finding rooms for jokes. The worst episode of Rick and Morty Season 1 throws that out the window. Dominated by sometimes amusing, but mostly painful improvised television from alternate realities, “Rixty Minutes” is the unwanted Abradolf Lincler of Rick and Morty Season 1. Instead of Rick being Rick, Rick and Morty Season 1 episode “Rixty Minutes” gives us half-baked Rick-less and Morty-less material like “Two Brothers,” “Baby Legs,” and “Turbulent Juice.” Pull “Ball Fondlers” out of the wreckage and let’s move on.

10. “Anatomy Park”

Rick and Morty Season 1 Episode 3

Rick and Morty Season 1 struggles with its more family-oriented B-plots, but “Anatomy Park” may also be the series’ weakest A-plot, riffing on Jurassic Park and Fantastic Voyage without adding any of the big ideas or mean-spirited laughs for which Rick and Morty is beloved. John Oliver is fine, but everything Dr. Bloom did or said would probably have been better coming from Rick.

9. “Raising Gazorpazorp”

Rick and Morty Season 1 Episode 7

Enabling 14-year-old Morty’s orange juice-fueled sex marathon is a great start but, just like real children, the sex aftermath gets quite serious. Morty raising Gazorpazorp scores points with Beth and Jerry’s poisonous cynicism, but doesn’t feel as frenetic as Rick and Morty does while on the run (okay, it's pretty much downright boring). Rick and Summer’s plot fares better (though it’s not their best team-up of the season), launching Rick and Morty’s Big Picture cynicism right at our contemporary version of the Battle of the Sexes.

8. “Something Ricked This Way Comes”

Rick and Morty Season 1 Episode 9

Rick vs. The Devil is amazing. That Summer is on the Devil’s side, and it makes complete sense, is even better. Their post-credits revenge may be the best end to any Rick and Morty episode. Unfortunately, it’s hard to tell which part of the Jerry and Morty Pluto plot is supposed to be funny.

7. “Lawnmower Dog”

Rick and Morty Season 1 Episode 2

One of the better Rick and Morty fusions between Rick and Morty A-plot and Smith family B-plot, “Lawnmower Dog” delivers on sci-fi. Inception slipping into Nightmare on Elm Street is such a perfect move that it’s astounding the two hadn’t been combined before. Maybe the plotting is too dense? Perhaps it’s that Snowball’s burgeoning awareness is more intriguing than funny? It’s hard to explain exactly why “Lawnmower Dogs” doesn’t stand with the best of Rick and Morty, but it just doesn’t.

6. “Ricksy Business”

Rick and Morty Season 1 Episode 11

Sure, it’s light on the sci-fi plotting, but “Ricksy Business” throwing a house party proves that the Rick and Morty focus on character has paid off. Sure, it’s light, but nothing is better than Rick in his element. It doesn’t hurt that Beth and Jerry’s Titanic subplot is one of the strangest ever devised for television, proving that Rick and Morty would probably be great even as a more “typical” family drama.

5. “Meeseeks and Destroy”

Rick and Morty Season 1 Episode 5

Morty steering an adventure is a fun change of pace, plus his adventure’s dark conclusion is, perversely, some of Rick and Morty’s best character work. While the fandom obsession with Mr. Meeseeks seems a bit much, the charm of “I’m Mr. Meeseeks! Look at me!” is undeniable.

4. “M. Night Shaym-Aliens!”

Rick and Morty Season 1 Episode 4

Elaborate and hilarious, “M. Night Shaym-Aliens!” is Jerry’s best episode. It’s also a Rick powerhouse, as he faces off against David Cross’ Zigerion scammer. While the virtual world stuff is great, the end, with Rick holding a knife to Morty’s throat, is the most well-earned bit of dark, dark, dark comedy in Rick and Morty Season 1.

3. “Rick Potion #9”

Rick and Morty Season 1 Episode 6

An Earth abandoned to Cronenbergs is one of the biggest sci-fi ideas in a Rick and Morty Season 1 loaded with big ideas. Seeing Morty get all that he wants, then lose everything he loves is both hilarious and heartbreaking. Summer recapping Jaws, the Smith family finally happy, is the perfect end to a shotgun-loaded gorefest of an episode.

2. “Pilot”

Rick and Morty Season 1 Episode 1

Everything great about Rick and Morty is there right at the beginning. The relationship between Rick and Morty is well-drawn from the start, the nastiness and grotesqueries already in place (“Don’t think about it!”). Rick forcing Morty to kill Galactic Federation bureaucrats is the perfect introduction to Rick and Morty. And while the school stuff ended up falling away as Rick and Morty Season 1 continued, at least we got Principal Vagina's "No relation" joke.

1. “Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind”

Rick and Morty Season 1 Episode 10

Taking multiple universes to their logical conclusion, “Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind” is just plain great science fiction. That it also gives us more concentrated Rick than any other episode doesn’t hurt. The episode even has a little heart, coming to a place of mutual almost-maybe respect between Rick and Morty, even after the revelation that Morty is no more than a fleshy cloaking device. The best Rick and Morty Season 1 episode also gives us the show’s most intriguing villain: an evil Morty capable of outsmarting even the Rickest Ricks.

If Season 2 of Rick and Morty manages to top Rick and Morty Season 1, we’re all in for a great ride in a spaceship made of garbage.