Now divorced from Beth after the events of the previous episode, Jerry bids goodbye to Morty, an apathetic Summer and Rick and moves out of the house.
Summer falls in love with the Death Stalkers' leader Hemorrhage and their nihilistic lifestyle, while Morty is given the strength of a giant arm which he uses to vent his rage at his father through fighting in the Blood Dome.
However the androids well-adjusted behaviour causes Beth to doubt her decision to divorce Jerry, forcing him to return to retrieve the real Summer and Morty.
Summer's relationship with Hemorrhage subsequently falls apart in the comfort of modern suburbia and she decides to follow Rick and Morty back home.
Tony Hale and Joel McHale make guest appearances in the episode as "wastelanders" Eli, a neighbor, and Hemorrhage, the latter of which eventually forms a relationship with Summer.
Club called the different family members' unique reaction to the divorce "a surprisingly nuanced take on a complicated, emotionally fraught situation," also noting how, even though the episode is mainly about Summer's storyline, "it's balanced well enough between her and her brother."
"[14] Den of Geek criticized the wait between seasons, saying of "Rickmancing the Stone" that it "wasn’t quite the tour de force that the premiere was, but this was still a very well-plotted, pretty funny episode."
The media website also praised the complexity of the plot, saying it "sh[ook]-up [the] character dynamics, rather than just relegating it to the background or quickly resolving it.
This was a chance for the show to riff on one of the biggest movies made during its hiatus while also sneaking in a not-so-subtle allegory to a family slowly being torn apart.