| 1 | %% |
| 2 | %% Image kept on page per crowner in the Moments Images Cleanup Thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php?crowner_id=mssry02p |
| 3 | %% https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1642193091068711500 |
| 4 | %% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1615353945073094700 |
| 5 | %% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread. |
| 6 | %% |
| 7 | %% Moments pages are limited to one image only. DO NOT place images in the folders. |
| 8 | %% |
| 9 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rickdepressed.png]] |
| 10 | [[caption-width-right:350:[[JerkassRealization Holy shit. I'm a terrible father...]]]] |
| 11 | %% |
| 12 | ->'''Bird Person:''' Morty, do you know what "wubba lubba dub dub" means?\ |
| 13 | '''Morty:''' Oh, that's just Rick's stupid nonsense catchphrase.\ |
| 14 | '''Bird Person:''' It's not nonsense at all. In my people's tongue, it means, "I am in great pain. Please help me."\ |
| 15 | '''Morty:''' Well, I got news for ya—he's saying it ironically.\ |
| 16 | '''Bird Person:''' No, Morty. Your grandfather is indeed in very deep pain. That is why he must numb himself. |
| 17 | -->-- "Ricksy Business" |
| 18 | |
| 19 | Tearjerking moments in ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty''. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | Of course, one of Creator/AdultSwim’s greatest shows of all time can even have its fair share of moments that can reduce you to drowning in your own tears. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | '''As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff as per policy.]] Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.''' |
| 24 | ---- |
| 25 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 26 | [[folder:Season 1]] |
| 27 | [[AC:Meeseeks and Destroy]] |
| 28 | * The [[MoodWhiplash infamous]] attempted rape scene by King Jellybean and Morty's terrified reaction. Doesn't matter that he beat the rapist to a pulp (and the rapist was later killed), it's still heartbreaking to watch poor Morty sob and grab onto Rick, crying that he just wants to go home. |
| 29 | ** Later, two villagers find a box ''full'' of evidence that King Jellybean was a pedophile. They then burn it as they want to keep his legacy untainted. |
| 30 | * The giant's wife and infant son walking into the kitchen after the giant slips and cracks his head open on the table. It's revealed later that the giant died from his injury, so that moment counts as especially sad for the soon-to-be widowed wife. |
| 31 | -->'''Wife:''' Oh ''Jesus,'' '''''DALE!!!''''' |
| 32 | ** What's worse is that, although Rick and Morty ''were'' there to steal treasure from the giants on behalf of the village, they had absolutely nothing to do with his death, which really was just a tragic accident. They just get railroaded in court anyway because of the animosity between the giants and the little people, and only get acquitted due to a technicality (they weren't read their rights) on behalf of a little person lobby group. So the giants family get no closure, Rick and Morty barely avoid an undeserved fate, and the village loses their beloved king Jellybean, who was a child molesting bastard all along. The only bright side is that Rick gives the villagers some of the gems he won in a poker game to cheer Morty up, which is the only good ending in the whole damn story. |
| 33 | * The idea that merely ''existing'' is painful to a Meeseeks, and that they ''cannot die'' until they accomplish a given task. Now, factor in a task borderline ''impossible'' to complete, like, say... Jerry's golf issue... |
| 34 | ** It isn’t even so much that Jerry's issue was impossible to complete, but that he didn't really care or want to commit to improving his golf swing. He just used it as an example. Beth and Summer were committed to their meeseeks tasks. Even discounting how Meeseeks work? Jerry dragged all of them through the mud for two days straight on something he didn’t even really care about. Their anger and sorrow is completely justified even if they weren't in constant pain. |
| 35 | |
| 36 | [[AC:Rick Potion #9]] |
| 37 | * The ending. Due to Rick's incompetence, 99% of the planet is transformed into hideous monsters, so Rick devises a way to go to another universe where he and Morty solved the problem but then later get killed so they can slip into their place. After burying their alternate universe counterparts, [[ThousandYardStare Morty has an emotionless stare]] that screams "hug me" while silently looking at his new home to find a new life that is just like it was before, but was still never really his in the first place. This kid is at the DespairEventHorizon and deep inside he knows he'll never leave it. |
| 38 | ** The tragedy that the Rick and Morty of the alternate universe seem very content with each other in contrast to the tumultuous Rick and Morty we know. |
| 39 | ** A special salt in the wound moment? In the devastated earth Rick and Morty left behind, Morty's parents' marriage got back on track [[TookALevelInBadAss (due to Jerry taking a level in badass to fight the monsters)]] and Beth says she feels much happier without Rick and Morty around. That's right, she feels so much happier than her own father and son are gone. I mean, it's understandable she's happy that someone like Rick is gone, BUT HER OWN SON?! This is softened a bit in the tie-in comics, though, wherein the family winds up adopting Cronenberg Morty. |
| 40 | ** Hammering it home is Music/MazzyStar's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE-z3z4x1OU "Look On Down From The Bridge"]] playing over the scene. |
| 41 | -->''I can't be the same thing to you now,''\ |
| 42 | ''I'm just gone,''\ |
| 43 | ''Just gone''\ |
| 44 | ''How could I say goodbye?''\ |
| 45 | ''How could I say goodbye?''\ |
| 46 | ''Goodbye...'' |
| 47 | |
| 48 | [[AC:Raising Gazorpazorp]] |
| 49 | * Morty takes care of his half-alien son who rapidly ages into his adult form. Fearing that his alien instincts will kick in and cause a murder spree, Morty lies to his son that the outside world is toxic. After getting in a fight with him and Morty accidentally hitting him, Morty Jr. runs outside to die and finds out the truth. |
| 50 | ** And TheStinger reveals he goes on to write a best seller about how much of a terrible father Morty was. Ouch. |
| 51 | ** After an episode of trashing Morty's parenting skills, his parents tell him he did the best he could. A failed attempt at a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}}, or a SuspiciouslySpecificDenial of his capabilities? |
| 52 | |
| 53 | [[AC:Rixty Minutes]] |
| 54 | * The look on Summer's face when Jerry reveals that she was almost aborted. |
| 55 | ** Made worse when she asks them if they really did consider getting an abortion, her parents cruelly say "You're welcome!" to her because they didn't go through with it. Talk about emotional abuse. At least she never heard them say they were ''already on their way to the clinic'' before a flat tire stopped them. |
| 56 | ** Pretty much the entirety of the Jerry/Beth/Summer plot of that episode. Summer decides to leave home after feeling like her entire existence is the cause for her parents' misery and Jerry and Beth decide to separate after finding their alternate universe selves are much happier without them being together. Though it turns out that alternate Jerry and Beth's lives have left them empty and hollow and they eventually reunite, as does the main universe's Jerry and Beth. |
| 57 | *** It's depressing to see that in all parallel timelines Beth, Jerry, and Summer saw, there seemed to be none where Beth and Jerry were a happy -or at least functional- couple, with or without a family. |
| 58 | ** On a similar note, Morty convincing Summer to stay has him tell her about what happened in "Rick Potion No.9" and says he eats breakfast a few feet away from his dead alternate universe self and saying how the world is so chaotic and you just have to make the best out of it. [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments Doubles as heartwarming]], since it convinces her [[YouAreNotAlone not to run away]]. |
| 59 | -->'''Morty''': Nobody exists on purpose, nobody really belongs anywhere, everybody's gonna die... [[TheAntiNihilist Come watch TV?]] |
| 60 | |
| 61 | [[AC:Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind]] |
| 62 | * The fact that there are hundreds of Rickless Morties. Who knows how they (and perhaps the Beths as well) will cope with the loss of Rick. |
| 63 | * While being tortured by Murder!Rick, Rick sees his memories of himself and Morty having adventures, and one of the memories is when Morty was just a baby, holding out his hands so Rick can hold him. This causes Rick to tear up, something he's never done before or since in any episode, and lay to rest any remaining doubt that, deep in his calloused and alcohol-poisoned heart, he really does love his so-called human shield of a grandson. Made worse by Murder!Rick's spiteful words towards him, basically insulting Rick for actually giving a damn about Morty. |
| 64 | -->We both know that if there's any truth in the universe, it's that Ricks ''don't care about Mortys''. |
| 65 | ** When Morty's eyes fill with tears after Rick all but states that he only keeps Morty around so he can be a human shield. It's heartbreaking to see poor Morty, who's already the biggest Woobie on the show, being reduced to tears because he thinks his grandfather doesn't actually love him and only sees him as a tool. |
| 66 | *** That in itself is a tear jerker because for all we know, Rick was saying that in the heat of the moment after he and Rick were arguing if he saw Morty as something more than a shield. [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation He was likely going to say no but their fight and the circumstances of the Evil Rick stopped him.]] |
| 67 | *** Don't forget, Murder!Rick was being mind-controlled by a Morty this whole time. When Murder!Rick says "Ricks don't care about Mortys," that's a Morty saying that. What did he go through to feel that way? |
| 68 | * Jerry having to part with Doofus!Rick, who respected and liked him far more than his own Rick. |
| 69 | ** Also when Jerry shows Doofus!Rick his R2-D2 coin collection, an investment everyone else has mocked him over. Doofus!Rick clarifies that it doesn't matter whether they up in value or even keep the same as they are now, they have value to Jerry, which must be worth something. Jerry is left teary-eyed from what is one of the very few times anyone has gave his opinion any respect. |
| 70 | ** Can be slightly sad that Jerry is so used to being Rick's chew toy that his first instinct is to assume Doofus!Rick is mocking him somehow. |
| 71 | [[AC:Ricksy Business]] |
| 72 | * According to Bird Person, Rick's "Wubba-lubba-dub-dub" catchphrase isn't nonsensical, but an actual phrase from his native language. It translates to "[[BeneathTheMask I am in great pain. Please help me]]." |
| 73 | ** Also from that episode, Morty's increasing frustration with Rick and Summer's behavior, especially now that Summer and Rick are probably the only two people he can really count on. Morty was very close to telling his parents about Rick and Summer's parties and ending his adventures with Rick. |
| 74 | [[/folder]] |
| 75 | |
| 76 | [[folder:Season 2]] |
| 77 | [[AC:A Rickle in Time]] |
| 78 | * After unfreezing the universe from the S1 finale, Rick, Summer, and Morty find themselves split across multiple possibilities due to Summer and Morty's uncertainty in themselves. While Summer and Morty are split apart, Rick remains in sync with his copy across the other timeline, and boasts that his absolute certainty in himself and his decisions means he'll never have to worry about going through the same trouble they are; at least, until Morty manages to make one quiet, offhand criticism that manages to knock Rick off his game just enough to put them all in even more trouble. What was it that shook Rick enough to cause him to become unsure of himself? Morty calling him out on [[TheAlcoholic his alcoholism]]. |
| 79 | -->'''Ricks 1 and 2:''' This time, be like ''grandpa''. |
| 80 | -->'''Morty 2''': [[NiceJobBreakingItHero You mean drunk?]] |
| 81 | ** Immediately after we see just what happens when Rick becomes uncertain and it's not fun to watch. Rick immediately becomes convinced that the alternate him is going to murder them to eliminate one of the possibilities, then admits the same idea had been in the back of his mind but that he would never actually do it. After a brief cross possibility shootout with himself, he orders Summer and Morty into the cabinets under his workbench to try and protect them from stray bullets but realized the other him would do the same thing, has them wait a few seconds before blowing away anyone who might have been inside in another possibility before turning the gun on himself figuring that if the two of them are still in sync that would kill the other Rick as well. The severe problems this reveals with Rick's psyche are staggering and begin to explain the pathological need for control. |
| 82 | ** Later on in the episode the three of them manage to obtain some collars that will allow their selves across the multiple realities to re-converge, setting everything back to normal. Summer manages to get hers to work, but in one of the 64 realities, one of Morty's collars has a broken latch, leading to him arguing with his Rick and preventing both of them from leaving. Eventually said Morty falls through a hole in space-time, and Rick hurriedly rushes after him, [[HeroicSacrifice takes off his own collar, and places it on Morty, allowing him to leave while he floats through the void.]] |
| 83 | --->'''Rick:''' I'm okay with this. Be good, Morty. Be better than me. |
| 84 | ** In one of the singularities, Rick gets on his knees and prays, "God, [[HollywoodAtheist if there is a Hell]], ''please'' be merciful to me." He knows he's going to Hell if it exists, and he sacrifices himself for Morty anyway. |
| 85 | ** Rick concludes that Morty and Summer are feeling uncertain of their place in the universe; more particularly, they both want to be his favorite grandkid. Rick then comes up with [[DarkHumour a mathematical equation explaining how they're both pieces of shit to him]], and half the time he can't even tell them apart because [[CrossesTheLineTwice they're both pains in the ass]]. It's not so much what he's explaining (at this point, [[JerkAss you expect such insults from Rick]]), but Morty's reaction to it. You can see the hurt on his face in both singularities. The idea of Rick not loving him really is a sore spot. |
| 86 | |
| 87 | [[AC:Mortynight Run]] |
| 88 | * Morty being forced to kill Fart, even though he'd spent the entire episode trying to save their life, at the expense of many others. And what drove Morty to do such a thing and violate his principles? Well, only that Fart was going to go back to his fourth-dimensional brethren and bring them to our universe so they could ''exterminate all carbon-based lifeforms'', which they view as a disease. Seeing Morty struggle with what needs to be done before tearfully killing Fart--as well as seeing his later distress when he realizes that all of the destruction that he and Rick have caused in the quest to help Fart has been totally meaningless--is pretty painful. At this point, you really just want to give poor Morty a hug after all the hell he's been through. |
| 89 | -->'''Morty:''' ''(Tearing up)'' Goodbye. |
| 90 | * The Gear cop tearfully committing suicide after Fart convinces him that his girlfriend is cheating on him with his best friend. |
| 91 | |
| 92 | [[AC:Auto Erotic Assimilation]] |
| 93 | * The ending. After realizing Rick's destructive nature, Unity quietly leaves him, abandoning the planet it conquered in the process. Rick finds himself in a completely empty room, now littered with countless sheets of paper all displaying the same break-up letter over and over. As Unity points out, it may be able to assimilate people into a hive-mind, but he's even better at turning people into mirrors of his harmful personality and cannot be changed by others. Rick reads this, goes back home utterly depressed, and attempts killing himself with an invention, only failing because he passed out and fell out of the path of the heat beam. The episode ends with watching Rick as he sits unconscious in his garage for an entire day. And no one in his family comes to check on him. |
| 94 | ** When Rick kills what seems to have been a baby alien kept in suspension to test his heat beam. Feels like horror films where they kill a cat or a dog. |
| 95 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTA0DSfrGZ0 Chaos Chaos's "Do You Feel It?"]] even continuing in the credits. Especially the ominous piano at the song's beginning and end. |
| 96 | --->''Do you feel it, do you feel it?\ |
| 97 | Do you feel that I can see your soul?\ |
| 98 | Do you feel it, do you feel it?\ |
| 99 | Do you feel the beat in your heart?'' |
| 100 | ** Rick and Morty live in an infinite universe of infinite possibilities, which means that in at least one of those universes, Rick's suicide attempt works. Since the beam turns its victim to ash, there's a good chance that the family (especially Beth) will think Rick abandoned them again. |
| 101 | *** Or not. On the commentary track one of the creators states that his theory is that the chemical Rick drinks right beforehand syncs up all your timelines, ensuring that if one dies, they all die. So, on one hand, none of the Ricks died. On the other hand, Rick was so sad he wanted to ensure not a single one of them survived. |
| 102 | ** When Rick backs down without a fight when Beth lays down ground rules about underground labs, the looks on everyone's faces show they can immediately tell he's not in a good place emotionally, to the point that even Jerry looks concerned. |
| 103 | ** There was also the fact that Dan Harmon was going through a divorce and Justin Roiland was '''actually''' [[HarsherInHindsight considering suicide.]] |
| 104 | ** While Rick languishes unconscious in the garage, not a single person comes to check on him, even though he's in there for a full day. The sheer isolation of that is bad enough, but it only gets worse when Jerry is literally out there in front of the garage, [[FailedASpotCheck but is too absorbed in weed whacking to even turn around and see.]] Rick said in this episode that he's trying to reconnect with his family, but it's very clear he's not succeeding. |
| 105 | ** [[https://www.reddit.com/r/depression/comments/3iq35k/rick_and_morty_had_one_of_the_most_realistic/ Someone on Reddit described it as]] "one of the most realistic suicide attempts I've ever seen on television". |
| 106 | ** To quote a [=YouTube=] comment: |
| 107 | --->What many people don't quite seem to understand is that this isn't just about Unity. Unity breaking up with him did make him sad but it was also a reminder to him. A reminder that he can never be happy. Because no matter what he tries, his intelligence or his personality will always come in between and fuck everything up for him. He can numb himself for a few hours but he can never be truly happy. He is doomed to restlessly travel the universe until he dies, looking for something he knows he can never achieve. And he just can't do it anymore. |
| 108 | ** Rick tests the vaporizing beam on some... ''thing.'' Before he kills it, he comforts it to apologize. The creature looks quite repulsive, but it is clearly scared or in pain, suggesting he actually gave it a MercyKill, much like the one he planned to give himself. |
| 109 | *** TheStinger is even worse, with Rick outside Beta 7's ship screaming for Unity to come out so he can talk to it, even though it's declared him a dangerous entity who shouldn't be allowed in. And Beta 7 gleefully rubs salt in his wounds by threatening to open fire on him. |
| 110 | *** Rick says he doesn't believe Beta 7 actually has guns on the ship, and was willing to call that bluff before Morty told him to stop all this and leave. Did Rick really believe that, or was he about to go SuicideByCop? |
| 111 | * Jerry and Beth's relationship is at its absolute lowest point in this episode. To wit, while looking for Jerry's weed whacker the two discover Rick's underground bunker and find an alien strapped to the wall. It leads into an argument over Rick where the two pull the lowest punches they can. Jerry screams at Beth about her blind devotion to her father, a negligent alcoholic, and sociopath who constantly puts everyone in danger, and Beth accuses Jerry of being too jealous and stupid to understand the scope of her dad's brilliance. The two begin pointing out the positive and negative possibilities of why Rick would have said alien trapped in the bunker, such as keeping it prisoner because it would kill everyone on Earth or it's an innocent creature being used for inhuman experiments against its will. Finally, said alien breaks free and uses a voice translator to deliver a massive TheReasonYouSuckSpeech. He says that while both were technically right about why Rick had him locked up, he's leaving Earth forever because the two are absolute pieces of garbage that hate each other and themselves, and simply use Rick as an excuse not to own up to their own self-loathing. |
| 112 | * Beth's behavior at the end of the episode provides a more subtle Tear Jerker. She speaks in a careful, almost scared tone when she tells Rick he can't keep aliens locked in the garage anymore. It almost sounds as if she rehearsed the whole speech, because one wrong word might send Rick away again. "And I know I sound like Mom, but I can't sacrifice this entire family's safety because I'm scared [[DisappearedDad you'll leave again]]." Even though Rick says okay, she has a quick moment of fear that she's messed up and he'll leave anyway. It seems like Jerry actually had a point when he said that she's still, at least partially, a child inside--Beth is still that same little girl dealing with abandonment issues. |
| 113 | -->''"Okay? 'Okay' like, you're gonna quietly teleport somewhere and never come back?"'' |
| 114 | ** This is made even worse, when you consider what would have happened, had Rick's aforementioned suicide-attempt been successful. Rick would simply have disappeared one day, and Beth might fear that he left because of what she said - or that his suicide was her fault. |
| 115 | ** The whole ending is even worse in hindsight for Rick, when you remember how the episode started, with Rick and his grandchildren actually enjoying their time together. And then how quickly it went downhill to Rick's DespairEventHorizon. |
| 116 | ** Made even worse [[HarsherInHindsight by the season finale,]] when Rick gives himself up to the Galactic Federation for their sakes at the cost of the rest of his life, and Beth knows it. |
| 117 | |
| 118 | [[AC: Total Rickall]] |
| 119 | * The bad memories the family has flashbacks of when determining who is real and who is a parasite. They're not particularly out of the ordinary for family problems and they're all supposed to make you laugh, but it's the reactions on the characters that tear your heart out. |
| 120 | ** Morty remembers being dragged off by a giant crab, experimented on, and Rick pantsing him and pushing him down the school stairway for fun in front of two girls he's trying to impress. They laugh and point at him. And Rick goes down the stairs to laugh and point with them. Morty is in tears. |
| 121 | *** Not to mention, Summer kicks him in the groin as hard as she can because she thought he went into her room. Damn, that's cold. |
| 122 | ** Summer remembers Beth drunk on her bed when she has to take her to school. Beth wildly swings her wine bottle, hitting Summer in the eye, then makes a spacey apology. It is class picture day. Summer is in tears. She cries that she wants the police to take her instead. |
| 123 | ** Summer also remembers catching Morty masturbating in the kitchen. The sad part comes when she calls him on how disgusting and disrespectful this is, and he tells her that not only does he do it ''in every room of the house'', he does it while thinking of her friends. |
| 124 | --->'''Summer:''' You are not the victim here!! |
| 125 | ** Beth remembers going to the grocery store with Jerry and a crazy homeless bum pursues them with a glass bottle in the parking lot. Jerry gets into the car and locks the door to be safe. He witnesses Beth grapple with the bum herself, begging him to come out and help. He doesn't come out. |
| 126 | ** We never get any from Jerry's perspective. [[ButtMonkey We don't really have to.]] |
| 127 | * Honestly, it's kind of sad at the end when Beth shoots Mr. Poopy Butthole under the apparently false pretense that he is a parasite. After it turns out he is real, she goes to the kitchen and shakily pours herself a glass of wine in an attempt to calm herself down, spilling much of the contents and overflowing the glass. That is the shot immediately before the cut to the end credits! In the post-credit scene, she and the family visit him at the hospital, and it is so very clear that [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone she regrets her actions very much]]. |
| 128 | ** The pictured look on her face as she's pouring herself the wine... good god. '''This can clearly count as one of the most heart-ripping, traumatizing and artistic shots of the entire series.''' |
| 129 | ** She drinks the wine ''as the rest of the family acts to his emergency and they call 911''. Yes, Beth legitimately decides that drowning her own stress with alcohol is more important than tending to a family friend she herself shot! |
| 130 | *** She's also a surgeon, albeit on the vet side of things, so she should have at least had some sort of training that would have helped in the situation. |
| 131 | *** And then the fact that when Beth tries to apologize to Mr. Poopy Butthole in the hospital, he refuses to meet her, though it's implied that he thinks he should be the one to apologize. |
| 132 | *** Becomes a [[FridgeHorror Fridge Tear Jerker]] when one considers the [[DownerEnding ending]] of the previous episode; Rick's destructive and alcoholic tendencies rub off badly on others, causing Unity to leave him, and it's hinted this same personality led to him abandoning Beth and her mother -- only for Beth to develop the same drinking habit, uncaring attitude, violence and desire to leave her spouse. Looks like intelligence isn't the only thing Beth inherited from Rick. |
| 133 | ** There's also the fact that the family is utterly broken emotionally, that they literally can't even CONCEIVE of a person they would have no unpleasant memories with. In other words... a truly good person with no real negative qualities? It must be a lie. |
| 134 | --->'''Jerry:''' This is depressing. We killed every good person in the house. We're what's left? What a family. |
| 135 | * Before that, Morty has Rick at gunpoint, positive that he's a parasite. Rick decides to unleash on Morty, telling him how he has "about a thousand memories of [his] dumb little ass, and about ''six'' of them are pleasant", then daring him to shoot him in the head and end his misery already. Even when Morty realizes that bad memories are the tell-tale sign of the parasites, Rick meant every single word. A double layer of sadness: Rick tearing into Morty, and Rick is ''still'' suicidal. |
| 136 | * When Beth kills Sleepy Gary, a particular parasite which falsified a secret love affair with Jerry, Jerry immediately becomes so utterly distraught he begs Beth to kill him so they can be TogetherInDeath, going so far as to say that he's a parasite himself. |
| 137 | -->'''Jerry:''' ''(sobbing)'' I'm parasite!! |
| 138 | -->'''Beth:''' I know. But you're real. |
| 139 | * Rick of all people can't bring himself to kill Pencilvester. He even sheds a tear as he orders Morty to kill him. |
| 140 | ** He even begs Pencilvester to remind him of some bad memory between the two of them. Some kind of reason to not go through with it. |
| 141 | * Summer killing her imaginary friend Tinkles. Tinkles tries to get out of it by telling Summer she loves her, Summer wearily responds "Yep" before killing Tinkles as though the fact Tinkles loves Summer is proof she's a parasite fake. Which implies that Summer doesn't believe anyone could possibly love her for real. |
| 142 | |
| 143 | [[AC: The Ricks Must Be Crazy]] |
| 144 | * The fates of anyone physically or mentally beaten by Rick's car as it defends Summer, from the man who is left paralyzed from a laser to the spine to the person who is reunited with his dead son only to see him melt in his arms. |
| 145 | ** Speaking of the dead son, [[Creator/AlanTudyk the voice of the boy's father is spot-on,]] sounding like his sadness is absolutely genuine in the entire scene. |
| 146 | * The revelation to Zeep that his microverse exists solely to power Rick's car, and the fact that his scientific endeavors will be forever hobbled by this fact, since if the power supply is ever interrupted, Rick will destroy his universe. |
| 147 | * The scientist in Zeep's miniverse committing ''suicide'' upon finding out his universe is just a scientist's creation, similar to the creation he was busy making instead of going to his father's funeral. Complete with ThousandYardStare. |
| 148 | ** It wasn't just that revelation, but also the sight of Rick and Zeep fighting over such a petty reason that contributed to the sheer existential despair that resulted in his suicide. |
| 149 | |
| 150 | [[AC: Big Trouble in Little Sanchez]] |
| 151 | * It's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech as an A-plot as Beth and Jerry spend most of the story being told by Rick, therapists, and demonized mytholizations of themselves how horrible and inadequate they are as a couple and as separate people. |
| 152 | ** Beth sadly admitting to Jerry that while they might successively hide or escape from the chaos at Neptia-4 separately, they'd probably just get in each other's way if they stick together. |
| 153 | * The social sacrifices Summer makes as she tries to save Rick from dying in the body of Tiny Rick. TeensAreMonsters, indeed. |
| 154 | * Summer forces Tiny Rick to listen to Elliott Smith to remember who he is, causing him to break down in tears. He spends the rest of the scene rapidly alternating between trying to explain how to put him back in his old body and tearfully lamenting his life. |
| 155 | * During Mytholog-Beth's rampage, several innocent bystanders are horribly killed. It was bad enough when Beth and Jerry were just making each other miserable; now their toxic relationship has collateral damage. |
| 156 | |
| 157 | [[AC: Interdimensional Cable II]] |
| 158 | * Jerry being gunned down. |
| 159 | ** The family's reaction to it (especially Beth and Summer, who cry and scream in horror, while Morty and Rick looked in shock). |
| 160 | ** And even after it turns out the advanced alien hospital was able to revive him, he's still treated poorly. |
| 161 | |
| 162 | [[AC: Look Who's Purging Now]] |
| 163 | * Morty didn't need the chemicals to start killing people for no reason. Rick lies to protect Morty from learning this. |
| 164 | ** The fact that Morty snaps like a twig when finally given the means to survive the night. The poor kid tries so hard to be a good person and the universe just keeps shattering his optimism with each new blow. It's telling that when Arthricia asks for their help with ending the Purge Morty just calls a liar and suggests killing her for revenge, and when Rick decides to hear her out Morty unloads all the repressed rage he has against his grandfather. |
| 165 | ** It's implied that Morty has '''''A LOT''''' of repressed rage against Rick, and even threatens to kill him after he snaps because of everything he's been through. |
| 166 | * It's implied the Purge will [[ShaggyDogStory start again]], even without the influence of the rich, meaning Arthricia and Rick's efforts were all for naught. |
| 167 | * Jerry's attempts to bond with Summer as a result of his unemployment, while PlayedForLaughs, can hit a bit close to home for some. |
| 168 | ** The reason he's trying to bond with her? He's hitting her up for money to pay for an expensive phone line where he pays someone to act like his best friend. The fact that Jerry is so lonely, he needs to pay someone to act as his friend is almost as bad as using his own daughter to feed his addiction by faking interest in his daughter and manipulating her to give him money. |
| 169 | |
| 170 | [[AC: The Wedding Squanchers]] |
| 171 | * Right after Rick makes a heartfelt speech about how happy he is for Bird Person and Tammy, she later reveals herself as a deep-cover agent for the Galactic Federation, and guns down Bird Person almost immediately after. The hurt in Bird Person's voice is just awful. |
| 172 | -->'''Bird Person''': ... Tammy? |
| 173 | * Rick's reaction to Bird Person being gunned down is heart-breaking. For a man who rarely shows any emotion besides anger (or annoyance), the anguish and sorrow at the death of his best friend are palpable. |
| 174 | -->'''Rick:''' '''[[SayMyName Bird Person!]]''' '''''[[BigNo NOOOOOOOOO!]]''''' |
| 175 | ** The [[https://www.instagram.com/enter_reception/ Instagram breakdown]] of that scene is commentated by your typically sweary, irreverent Rick. Click on Bird Person. |
| 176 | --->''He was my best friend.'' |
| 177 | * Rick taking back his earlier speech about love, trust, and friendship after seeing the results of Birdperson letting Tammy into his life: |
| 178 | -->'''Rick:''' Should I have been more open and trusting and loving like, oh, I don't know, my now dead best friend? Or your daughter, who was [=BFF=]s with an [[DeepCoverAgent intergalactic narc]]? ... Fuck you, Summer, and fuck the government, and fuck me for letting my guard down, which I will ''never do again''. |
| 179 | * Rick blaming Summer for Tammy's betrayal and bringing her to tears. |
| 180 | * Mid-argument with Jerry, Beth finally drops all pretense about why she puts up with Rick's craziness. The fact that she bursts into tears when she says it implies that even ''she'' knows how selfish she's being: |
| 181 | -->'''Beth''': Because I don't want him to leave again, you dumb asshole! |
| 182 | * The entire ending, scored masterfully to the Music/NineInchNails song "Hurt." |
| 183 | ** Rick turning himself in to the intergalactic feds in exchange for his family's safe return to Earth, knowing full well that it'll mean he'll never get to see them again. Given his crimes ''and'' position on the galaxy's most wanted list, it's highly likely he was given a life sentence or the death penalty. |
| 184 | --->'''Inmate:''' WhatAreYouInFor\ |
| 185 | '''Rick:''' ''(in a defeated tone)'' ... Everything. |
| 186 | ** Morty's reaction when Rick says that he's "[[ParentNeverCameBackFromTheStore going to get ice cream]]". He knows that Rick is leaving and isn't coming back, and that it'll break Beth's heart, but, well, [[ExtremeDoormat it's]] [[TheChewToy Morty]], and there's nothing he can do to stop him. |
| 187 | ** After Rick leaves, He poses as Jerry giving the tip to where he'll be. He seems genuinely concerned and serious about the safety of his family. |
| 188 | --->'''Rick:''' ''(pretending to be Jerry)'' And listen.\ |
| 189 | '''Detective on the Phone:''' Yes?\ |
| 190 | '''Rick:''' I'm doing what's right for the galaxy by calling you, so if we come back to earth, can my family have a normal life?\ |
| 191 | '''Detective:''' We only want Sanchez, sir. Your family will be fine.\ |
| 192 | '''Rick:''' Nice. Thank You. |
| 193 | ** The last thing that Rick does before turning himself in to the police is drink in a bar while looking at a picture of himself, Squanchy, and Birdperson, happy together in what looks like a strip club. |
| 194 | --->'''Song:''' My sweetest friend... everyone I know... goes away... in the end. |
| 195 | ** The entire family waiting for Rick to return home from his trip, all the while the sun sets on Dwarf-Terrace 9. |
| 196 | --->'''Beth:''' He's not coming back, is he?\ |
| 197 | '''Morty:''' No. |
| 198 | * After returning to Earth, Jerry is the only one who is happy (and that only because he's was given alien anti-depressants). Jerry hugs Beth after he gets assigned a job, but she does not return this hug. |
| 199 | * Hell, even ''TheStinger'' is kinda depressing, given the low-key implication that Mr. Poopy Butthole is now ''addicted to painkillers''. He practically gulps down an entire bottle of them! Which... can't be healthy. |
| 200 | * A more subtle one, but Tammy was Summer's best, if not only, friend. However, Tammy only became her friend to get closer to Rick, her target. Not only that, but Tammy is part of an organization that will have no problem painfully torturing Summer if need be. This makes Summer just as much of a {{Woobie}} as the rest of her family. |
| 201 | * Rick posed as Jerry when he turned himself in. Why he did was obvious, it wouldn't make sense to turn himself in. But imagine if Beth heard that Jerry had turned her father in. It's not like she would ever believe Jerry if he claims he didn't do it. So their already rocky relationship could be destroyed by this revelation. |
| 202 | ** Another possible reason he posed as Jerry to turn himself in is because if Beth learned the truth, it would really devastate her. [[ParentalAbandonment Because her mother already walked on them both, and if she found out he left her too.]] |
| 203 | [[/folder]] |
| 204 | |
| 205 | [[folder:Season 3]] |
| 206 | [[AC: The Rickshank Rickdemption]] |
| 207 | * During the stand-off when Rick, Summer, and one of the Council of Ricks Ricks are yelling at Morty for ruining Rick's gamble to free Summer from the other Rick, leading Morty to shoot his Rick in the head. It turns out it was a fake gun that Rick believed Morty would know when to use, but Morty's response indicates he didn't know that and really did intend to kill his grandfather in a fit of anger, at the end Morty's meltdown and Summer's breakdown after watching her little brother murder in cold blood her grandfather is genuine. |
| 208 | ** A bit of FridgeBrilliance and/or FridgeHorror could also be at work. Considering all the times Rick planned ahead or improvised throughout the episode, it's possible that even if Morty didn't know the gun was fake, Rick could still goad him into shooting him knowing he'd be fine. As well-played as it sounds, [[DeathSeeker It wouldn't be the first or even last time that Rick would convince Morty to kill him and prepare for him to go through with it]]. |
| 209 | ** The fact that at the beginning Summer and Morty believe that Rick was willing to shoot Summer just to kill the other Rick who was using her as a human shield, Summer's meltdown shows how incredibly angry she is for the betrayal. |
| 210 | ** It's quite heartbreaking watching Summer and both Ricks berating Morty at the same time for being a "fucking idiot". If you listen closely, Summer says that Morty is the worst brother ever and she wishes he would die, when all he was trying to do was save her life. It's a wonder that Morty didn't turn the gun on her after shooting their Rick. |
| 211 | * Beth's rant at Summer about why she can't trust people like Rick because they'll abandon her and later complains of their current situation while breaking down in tears. |
| 212 | -->'''Beth:''' Stop saying his name, he abandoned us. Don't make my mistakes Summer, don't deify the people who leave you. (gives a rant about their lives and starts crying) Is that what you want for yourself? |
| 213 | * While Jerry's life under the Federation isn't exactly desirable, he seems genuinely pleased with his situation for once before the government collapses. Then he finds himself crawling for his life through a horrifying warzone and is shortly after divorced by his wife for the sake of the man who caused the destruction of his newfound happiness. |
| 214 | * The fact that through the whole episode Morty just wants Summer to understand that Rick is nothing more than a destructive influence and that he will never change no matter what, his voice sounds disappointed and depressed, it really shows how Morty knows that Rick is a lost cause and there is no way to help him. |
| 215 | ** Also before they leave, Summer yells at Morty for [[WhatTheHellHero giving up in saving Rick and saying how horrible the life on earth is now because the Galactic Federation now rules it]]. |
| 216 | * Morty's reaction after hearing his parents are getting divorced. Worse yet, he's the only one who seems to care. |
| 217 | * Our Rick's backstory on how he lost his wife Diane and Beth to a portal bomb was incredibly depressing. Granted, it's possible [[UnreliableNarrator he really might have made the whole thing up]]. However, there is a distinct possibility that it has some grain of truth to it, and even if it was fake it was still rather sad to watch. Assuming that some of it was true and the Council Of Ricks did something terrible to him in his past, this raises many questions about just how broken Rick is. |
| 218 | ** A minor detail in the story: The Beth in the story died, which would mean that he hopped dimensions to get a new one. But even with infinite universes, he didn't go to one that also had his wife. Either he somehow couldn't find one, he could but other circumstances intervened and he lost her again, or he just wasn't willing to try and just replace her like he did everyone else. Whatever the explanation, it's depressing. |
| 219 | *** Alternatively, He did find universes with Diane still alive but didn't want to replace the Rick in those universes because he knew how devastating it was for him to lose Diane and didn't want to put his other selves through that experience. |
| 220 | *** There's some credit to that last theory. Beth occasionally mentions how she remembers Rick abandoning her and her mother... so it's entirely possible that just like after the Cronenberg incident, Rick chose to find a version of his original Earth save for the fact that Beth and Diane didn't die, but instead ''he'' did. And because he's stated to have only come back into the Smith family's lives in the last year (as of the first season, at least), that could mean that not only did he spend ''years'' trying to find such an Earth, but he was perfectly willing to accept the stigma of having been seen as 'abandoning' his family as long as it meant there was a chance they'd accept him as 'their' Rick. |
| 221 | * Even if the story is a fake, the look on our Rick's face when he sees Beth and her mother die is one of pure heartache. He may never have experienced it but seeing what could have happened clearly hurts him greatly. |
| 222 | ** As revealed in the season 5 finale - It's not. It was real. All of it. The only fictional part that allowed Rick to use it as a cover was him rushing straight back to working on the portal gun so he could get his revenge. In reality, he spent god knows how long in despair over losing Beth and Diane before he could bring himself to even start looking for revenge. And he still failed. |
| 223 | * Remember the ending last season when it seemed Rick turned himself in to spare his family from being hunted by the Federation? Well, it turns out the real reason he did it was to get back at Jerry for wanting to turn him in. His whole plan to turn himself in and destroy the Galactic Federation from the inside was with the goal to get Beth and Jerry to break up. Turns out Rick's "good deed" was just another scheme to [[EvilIsPetty get back at someone for wronging him in some way]]. |
| 224 | ** Assuming, of course, that you take [[UnreliableNarrator Rick's explanation of his motives at face value.]] |
| 225 | ** Worse is Morty's reaction during Rick's rant, he finally believed that Rick was a good guy, only to discover that he only saved the earth to make Beth and Jerry end their marriage, Rick was able to shatter Morty's faith in him being a hero in one hit by admitting that he only ended the Galatic Federation's government to get back at Jerry for suggesting to turn him to the police. |
| 226 | ** Remember Jerry's speech to his family at the end of "The Wedding Squanchers", about how Rick would never do anything for anybody but himself? Turns out, he was absolutely right about that. |
| 227 | ** With all this in mind, the rest of the family was against Jerry's suggestion no matter how unhappy they were, something Rick had clearly heard from them, and seemed genuinely depressed himself at the time from his own losses. So it's still possible that even if it was part of the plan, Rick wanted to make sure that they were safe from the Federation first ''before'' destroying it and getting Jerry out of the picture. [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim The last part also still happened in a suspiciously non-lethal fashion]]. |
| 228 | |
| 229 | [[AC:Rickmancing The Stone]] |
| 230 | * The whole episode involves Morty and Summer handling the fallout of their parents' divorce their own ways. Morty is angry at Jerry for not bothering to fight for Beth while Summer seems more unhinged than ever before. |
| 231 | * Jerry has become a magnet for ridicule. The wind sounds like it's saying ''"loser"'' around him and a wolf eats his unemployment cheque just to make his life even harder. |
| 232 | * Morty breaking down when he realizes the mutated arm (Armothy) will disappear once it kills the tyrant that caused the death of the arm's host's family. Morty just wants to continue letting out his frustrations over his parents' divorce. |
| 233 | ** Armothy spends the entire episode smashing a town's worth of mutants into a bloody paste. But when it's time for Armothy to leave, the monstrous arm gently wipes Morty's tears away and hugs him goodbye. |
| 234 | * The Morty robot that Rick created to fool Beth manages to gain sapience and desperately pleads to be allowed to live. He screams that he's alive and has all the emotions of a real person, only for his personality to be overwritten as he's reduced to a robotic husk again. It's as heartbreaking as it is chilling. |
| 235 | |
| 236 | [[AC:Pickle Rick]] |
| 237 | * The ending is all kinds of depressing. With Beth and Rick so committed to their self-destructive dynamic, that they totally drown out the kids wanting to continue visiting Dr. Wong. |
| 238 | ** As noted in the Nightmare Fuel page, there is also a bit of a fridge implication. With Morty and Summer still dealing with the divorce, seeing Dr. Wong is probably their best solution. With Rick and Beth ignoring them, this means that they won't be getting their hopes soon. This could be their chance to get some normality in their lives, but thanks to Beth and Rick's dynamic, this won't be happening any time soon. |
| 239 | * Dr. Wong's summation of Rick's personal philosophy is pretty spot-on... and pretty depressing, too: |
| 240 | -->'''Dr. Wong:''' Rick, the only connection between your unquestionable intelligence and the sickness destroying your family is that everyone in your family -- you included -- use intelligence to justify sickness. You seem to alternate between viewing your own mind as an unstoppable force, and as an inescapable curse, and I think it's because the only truly unapproachable concept for you is that it's your mind -- within your control. You chose to come here, you chose to talk -- to belittle my vocation -- just as you chose to become a pickle. You are the master of your universe, and yet, you are dripping with rat blood and feces, your enormous mind literally vegetating by your own hand. I have no doubt that you would be bored senseless by therapy... because the thing about repairing, maintaining, and cleaning is: it's not an adventure; there's no way to do it so wrong you might die. It's just work, and the bottom line is: some people are okay going to work, and some people -- well, some people would rather die. Each of us gets to choose. |
| 241 | ** And even though [[IgnoredEpiphany Rick ultimately chooses to ignore this speech]], his expression right after implies that he knows it's true. |
| 242 | ** Speaking of Dr. Wong, it was rather sad to see Beth and Rick ignore Morty and Summer asking if they could go to another session and that they liked Dr. Wong. |
| 243 | |
| 244 | [[AC:Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender]] |
| 245 | * Morty tries to look cool in front of the Vindicators because of being rejected on the second adventure for Rick's actions, only for Rick to black-out after drinking for hours, which causes him to murder Worldender and makes a series of challenges that forces the Vindicators to reveal that the only reason they bring Morty was because he's "the learning disabled kid we do photo ops with", that they destroyed a whole planet to kill an evil shape-shifter hiding there, just because they hated Rick and didn't want to turn to him for help and that Supernova and 1-Million Ants had an affair behind Alan Rails; at the end most of the team is dead, Supernova becomes a supervillain, and Morty ends up disappointed on both the Vindicators and Rick after the episode. |
| 246 | ** Morty steps on a ride in which it first appears that Rick is expressing his love for Morty as his grandson; however it is revealed the ride was intended for Noob Noob to ride, and it later shows Rick mocking Morty's love for the Vindicators and calling him a moron. After the ride, Morty doesn't want to talk to Rick, who doesn't remember any of this due to being drunk at the time (and even worse is that it was AllForNothing as Rick doesn't even remember Noob Noob at the end of the episode). |
| 247 | ** Million Ants’ death in particular is probably the saddest, having his heart literally ripped out by his own lover. |
| 248 | * Crossed over with FridgeHorror: When asked how many of his bombs Morty's had to disarm, Morty shouts "TOO MANY, RICK! TOO MANY!" which shows this isn't the first time Morty's had to clean up from Rick's blackouts. Moreover, Morty knows there's a "40% chance" the bomb is a dud. He's had to do this so many times and deal with Rick's abuse so often, he has this down to a ''science''. Those aren't skills a teenager should have to develop. |
| 249 | * Supernova and Million Ants having a child, only for it to be miscarried due to it being a half-ant colony half-collapsed star abomination. |
| 250 | |
| 251 | [[AC:The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy]] |
| 252 | * Jerry in the episode's opening. His life just got even worse after Beth kicked him out. |
| 253 | * While it is PlayedForLaughs, the fact that Jerry's relationship with Rick is so strained that he assumes that the only reason Rick would kidnap him would be to execute him instead of going on an adventure. Even Rick is surprised by this: |
| 254 | -->'''Jerry:''' My son asked you to take me on some kind of ''pity'' adventure?\ |
| 255 | '''Rick:''' W-what did you think it was?\ |
| 256 | '''Jerry:''' An execution.\ |
| 257 | '''Rick:''' ''Geez!'' You really ''do'' need a win. |
| 258 | * The kid alien accidentally killing his sister for real when the immortality shield is broken. |
| 259 | * Rick and Morty giving a huge TheReasonYouSuckSpeech on both Jerry and Beth. Morty calls out Beth for acting just like Rick as a way to keep him around, when Morty knows well that she is acting just as arrogant and irresponsible as her father and is thus pushing her whole family away from her. Rick calls out Jerry for ruining Beth's life by telling him that the only reason Beth married him was because she feels pity for him when in reality he's a predator who uses pity as a way to survive. [[ItMakesSenseInContext Even the alien snake that's trying to eat Jerry]] says "Oof." |
| 260 | ** The fact that the only way that Risotto Groupon convinces Jerry to help him is by reminding him how Rick destroyed his life without remorse. It doesn't help that Rick brings this up like it's friendly banter. And then when Risotto corners both, he only wants to kill Rick and tells Jerry that he is only being spared because he is too pathetic to even deserve a bullet. |
| 261 | ** In a quick but powerful moment in the same scene, Rick's about to tell Jerry the only reason he's keeping him alive, and Jerry quietly says: "you never had a son?" |
| 262 | * Summer being depressed by her breakup with Ethan (who leaves her for a girl with bigger boobs). When she asks Beth for advice and gets nothing, she uses the Morphizer-XE to gain a bigger bust, only to become a giant, and then when Beth tries to solve it she instead accidentally reverses Summer's body, causing Summer to run away. Luckily this is resolved when Beth comes back as a reversed giant as well and talks with her and they resolve their issues. |
| 263 | * Crossed over with FridgeHorror: Morty is indeed starting to become the Rickest Morty, by mutating Ethan into a freak just for breaking Summer's heart. Spending time with Rick is really causing some mental issues in Morty. In this case, Ethan indirectly causing what Morty wanted to avoid for once. |
| 264 | --> "I tricked Rick into taking dad on an adventure because I thought I could get a break from this kind of shit!" |
| 265 | ** That line in itself is a tearjerker. One would assume that Morty sent his father on an adventure to cheer him up after the divorce. Instead, his reason was "better my own, divorced father goes on another trauma-inducing adventure with that asshole than me". |
| 266 | |
| 267 | [[AC:Rest and Ricklaxation]] |
| 268 | * In the cold open, Rick takes Morty out of school for an adventure, one he promises will only take twenty minutes. SmashCut to six days later and Rick and Morty are in the middle of a massive space battle that would make ''Film/IndependenceDay'' or ''Franchise/StarWars'' blush. The two of them actually manage to destroy the enemy mothership and are honored by the people that they helped in an award ceremony. Most of this is actually a CMOA, right until the two of them get back in Rick's car. They let out a breath before they start ''freaking out'' and crying over how out of control that situation is and how they almost died. Something needs to be stressed here, it's not just Morty... '''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness RICK was freaking out]]'''. ''[[SeenItAll Rick fucking Sanchez]]'' even admits how he had no control over that situation, how he got through it with pure luck, and that he is still shaking from it. When Morty demands to know why Rick keeps doing this to him, Rick flat-out says he doesn't know, and that maybe it's because he hates himself and maybe it's because he thinks [[DeathSeeker he deserves to die]]. Rick has had moments where he's let his guard down before, but he's never fully cracked like this before. Doubles as NightmareFuel. |
| 269 | -->'''Rick:''' ''(puts his head in his hands)'' Fuck...\ |
| 270 | '''Morty:''' ''(starts sobbing)''\ |
| 271 | '''Rick:''' Ugh... '''GAAAAAAAAAH!!!''' HO HO, ''FUCK!!'' Fu-u-uck! Ah... Gah...\ |
| 272 | '''Morty:''' I ''can't'' fucking do this ''anymore!''\ |
| 273 | '''Rick:''' That was seriously ''fucked-up!'' We ''almost'' died!\ |
| 274 | '''Morty:''' So you ''agree?!''\ |
| 275 | '''Rick:''' FUCK ''YES!'' That wa-th-th-th-This was insane! That was pure luck! I was NOT in control of that situation ''at all!''\ |
| 276 | '''Morty:''' ''(sobs) AAAAAAAAAAAH!!! (cries)''\ |
| 277 | '''Rick:''' Look at this, Morty! Look at my fucking hands! Look at this shit!\ |
| 278 | '''Morty:''' Why do you... ''keep doing this to us?''\ |
| 279 | '''Rick:''' I don't know, Morty. Maybe I hate myself! Maybe I think I deserve to die! I-I-I-I don't-I-I-I don't know!\ |
| 280 | '''Morty''': '''WAAAAH!!!''' ''[cries]''\ |
| 281 | '''Rick:''' We need a vacation... |
| 282 | * It's rather disturbing and sad that Rick thinks that having an emotional attachment to Morty, his own grandson is toxic. Worse, it's true. While Rick does actually love Morty, it's a toxic, horrific relationship. As we see on the Citadel episodes, a near-infinite number of Mortys are suffering or dead because of their Ricks' involvements. It would be far better for his grandchildren if Rick had never met them, and Rick KNOWS IT. |
| 283 | ** By the same token, it's also disturbing that Morty thinks having a moral compass is toxic. |
| 284 | * Toxic Rick despite being a huge {{Jerkass}} who wanted to transmit the toxicity around the planet and that he always wanted to take control of Rick since always, the fact that when Rick shoots Toxic Morty he starts to beg Rick to stop and agrees to remerge with him. |
| 285 | ** Toxic Morty's death, after he dies in Rick's arms he promises that he will remerge him with Morty, Rick promising to do the last wish of a fallen relative (who is also the personification of his grandson' insecurity) is something never seen of him and that is what makes it tragic: |
| 286 | --->'''Toxic Morty:''' You are gonna save me, right?\ |
| 287 | '''Rick:''' Part of me wants to, Toxic Morty, part of me ''really'' wants to. |
| 288 | * Morty after getting rid of his toxins, becomes the more popular kid in school, he gets to date Jessica only to lose her when it turns out he is too active for her, after saving the planet from Toxic Rick, Morty becomes a successful business man, dates an older woman and he becomes famous, only to discover that without his toxins he can't enjoy his new life, so he allows Rick to find him and remerge with his toxins, is depressing seeing Morty who after being able to live a happy life away from Rick, he still can't feel the joy of it. |
| 289 | |
| 290 | [[AC:The Ricklantis Mix-Up]] |
| 291 | * The society on the Citadel of Ricks, where Ricks from different dimensions have done to themselves exactly what they left earth to escape. Most of them toil in mediocrity while a select few at the top hold all the power, wealth, and freedom for themselves. It makes a lot more sense now why C-137 Rick refuses to be a part of the Citadel. At the end of the day, The Citadel was just a world where the Ricks may as well have been Jerrys for all it mattered, they weren't special anymore and had just as little freedom as an Earthbound wage slave. |
| 292 | * Simple Rick. A Rick who eschewed the science and adventure, and decided to be a normal family man. His reward is being trapped in a LotusEaterMachine, with his happiness used to flavor the wafers. |
| 293 | ** It gets worse. When a factory worker Rick sets him free with an unlicensed portal gun, he walks into "the blender dimension" and blood explodes out the portal. The factory worker Rick then tastes freedom when he ''thinks'' that his boss is setting him free... only for him to get shot, and then [[AndIMustScream forced to replace Simple Rick]]. |
| 294 | * Campaign Manager Morty receives information that the Morty running for president is actually Evil Morty. He tries to save the day by assassinating Evil Morty but fails to kill him. As punishment, Campaign Manager Morty is tossed out of an airlock before he can warn anybody else, but not before hearing that [[TheBadGuyWins Evil Morty won the election.]] |
| 295 | * One of the Loco Mortys pulls a WoundedGazelleGambit on Police Rick. He sobs as Police Rick encounters him in a room with a crib, asks "Are you my new Rick?", and stabs Rick when the latter picks him up gently. Police Morty shoots that Morty and explains the crib was there specifically as a sympathy ploy. |
| 296 | * Cop Rick is forced to kill Cop Morty when Cop Morty's corruption comes to light. His voice shows a cynical and depressing view of his job and now has to work for the Evil Morty's new regime. |
| 297 | ** Cop Morty -- and when you think about it, a lot of the Mortys of the Citadel -- is pretty tragic. After an entire episode establishing him as a world-weary beat-cop, he drops this DespairSpeech and the viewer is suddenly reminded that this is a fourteen-year-old kid: |
| 298 | --->'''Cop Morty:''' Oh, Grandpa Rick! I don't want to be on the Citadel anymore! I want to be a regular kid! I want to go to school and throw balls around and masturbate! |
| 299 | ** What's worse is that this speech seems insincere. Cop Rick was tricked by a similar ruse by one of the criminal Morty's from earlier, and for as close as he and his partner had become it seems Cop Morty was willing to try and manipulate Cop Rick in the same way. At the same time, Cop Morty wanted to die so he manipulated Cop Rick ''specifically'' so the latter would shoot him. |
| 300 | * Slick Morty throwing himself into the "Wishing Portal" because he has nothing else to live for and whatever is on the other side is bound to be better than life trapped on the Citadel. The Wishing Portal turns out to be a trash disposal. |
| 301 | ** What he says just before he jumps: |
| 302 | --->'''Specs Morty:''' Well, I hope you’re putting something pretty goddamned important in there.\ |
| 303 | '''Slick Morty:''' Me too. But I doubt it. |
| 304 | ** The fact that Slick Morty's friends believe that his wish came true when in reality this is because of Evil Morty now being the president of the Citadel. it's horrible to see that an innocent wish (that wasn't even real to begin with) has been turned into an evil purpose. |
| 305 | * Evil Morty now rules the Citadel and what he does first is to kill an entire council of Ricks, and after that, he declares that his new regime will use action against anyone who dares to defy him. This is the DarkestHour the show has given. |
| 306 | * It's also sobering that, on the surface at least, Evil Morty keeps his campaign promises and is doing more good than the Rick and Morty we know. |
| 307 | * As mentioned in the commentary, in their own way, nobody on the Citadel really got what they wanted in this episode except for [[TheBadGuyWins Evil Morty, the bad guy]]. |
| 308 | * Getting a look at the society of the Citadel for the first time, it's rather depressing to see that a ([[{{Understatement}} somewhat]]) simple relationship between grandfather and grandson was morphed into heavy prejudice between Ricks and Mortys, how the former is viewed as top of the food chain (and even then, the social hierarchy is askew), whilst the latter are treated like second or even third-class citizens with barely any rights or prospects of their own. |
| 309 | * The level of poverty and despair on display in Mortytown. The place is nothing more than [[TheCityNarrows a glorified ghetto]] for unclaimed Mortys who fail to graduate and be paired with a Rick. Crime is rampant and Morty-on-Morty murders are common enough that it's something Police Morty points out directly. Of the few Ricks who bother to come to Mortytown, they seem to either be cops there to kill criminal Mortys or people like Crack Rick, who trades his drug addled intellect for housing with criminal Mortys. It really highlights how twisted what the counsel and citadel have done to them is; each and every one of them might well have a family to go home to but since they have no Rick, they're treated like objects or animals, not as people. |
| 310 | |
| 311 | [[AC:Morty's Mind Blowers]] |
| 312 | * Rick and Morty nearly commit suicide after going through their collection of bad memories to regain the memories they lost, deciding that life must be too shitty to keep going if they needed to get rid of all those memories. |
| 313 | ** This has apparently happened so many times that Summer has a specific set of situational cards to read instructions from whenever these sorts of things happen. In this case, tranqing both of them, resetting their memories and [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall making them think it was an Interdimensional Cable episode,]] and propping everything up to continue as normal. All the while Summer has a SeenItAll tone and simply expresses that she doesn't get paid enough while ''shrugging the whole thing off.'' |
| 314 | *** It's also kind of sad to know that every time this has happened, Rick and Morty resort to killing themselves after Morty sees so many terrible memories. It's different from season 1 where Morty seemed content with life, but here he's ready to kill himself and instead of Rick talking him out of it, he actually decides to join in. He doesn't even know this kid or his life, or even his own and he's ready to do a suicide pact with him even though he doesn't even know what Morty saw. |
| 315 | ** After waking up, both Rick and Morty believe that they fell asleep during an Interdimensional Cable episode and curse out Summer for it, and Summer just sits down and listens. It is depressing that Summer is now used to being insulted by her family. |
| 316 | ** Remember those times when Morty would call out Rick for cursing at Summer or someone else? [[TookALevelInJerkass Not the case here.]] |
| 317 | *** Slightly negated by the fact that the last step on the instruction card told Summer to leave the room when they wake up, implying that Rick knew they would lash out at Summer and wanted her to avoid getting chewed out. |
| 318 | * Morty once accidentally drove a former Marine to suicide. He didn't mean to and assumed the man was some moon creature, which Principal Vagina misunderstood and assumed the man was a pedophile, but the guilt of unwittingly driving an innocent man to kill himself is too much for a high school kid to deal with. |
| 319 | * Morty physically attacking and cursing out Rick when he finds out one of the mind blowers is him ''correcting Rick for a grammar mistake.'' No grandson should ever attack his grandfather, and they shouldn't have a ''[[{{Jerkass}} justifiable]]'' reason for it either. |
| 320 | ** The fact that this isn't the first time Rick did this either. [[KarmaHoudini And that he gets away with it.]] |
| 321 | * One random memory has Morty asking Rick to build him a device to hear what animals are thinking. This causes him to discover squirrels are secretly planning domination of the world, something even ''Rick'' can't do anything about as this basically forced them to jump to another universe when the squirrels are about to attack them for discovering it. There's no real indication for when this happened in the series besides Rick mentioning the [[CallBack exact same thing]] in that they only have a "few more of these, tops," from ''Rick Potion #9'', meaning even what people thought was a constant universe since then thus far [[FridgeHorror may not even be that anymore.]] |
| 322 | ** It also reminds one of the facts that just like back then, a single random invention of Rick's can completely ruin their lives for arbitrary reasons no one could've predicted. |
| 323 | * Another memory has an alien villain forcing Beth into a SadisticChoice to choose which one of her children he'll spare. Beth immediately chooses Summer, not even hesitating for a second to resign Morty to death. Summer is just as horrified, even if it means that she will be spared she'll have to see her little brother die. No wonder the poor kid wanted that memory removed. Even the villain who gave her the choice [[EvenEvilHasStandards looked shocked]] by how quickly she came to her decision. |
| 324 | ** Morty was once possessed by an evil parasite who wanted to kill his family, and the only way to make the parasite leave was by making him feel loved. Unfortunately, Beth and Summer couldn't stop laughing at Morty when he was puking the parasite, showing that even when he is on the verge of death, Morty's family can't stop mocking him. |
| 325 | * Other minor memories show how much Morty's messed up life and why he wanted those memories gone: |
| 326 | ** Morty met a warrior alien once who wanted to have an honorable death so he could go to heaven, only for Morty to make him doubt his faith, making him run into a car and sending him to hell. |
| 327 | ** Rick killing an innocent creature whom they had bonded with in front of Morty just to survive a horrible winter only to discover that this planet doesn't have it. |
| 328 | ** [[ItMakesSenseInContext Morty experiences true level ground thanks to Rick and experiences happiness only for Summer to try to take him to school and away from it which causes him to have a breakdown, saying how reality is crooked.]] |
| 329 | ** While helping Rick, Morty accidentally flipped a switch that shut down the life support of several people. |
| 330 | ** Others involve Morty being used for experimentation by Rick, being maimed by aliens, and even having to bury Santa Claus. |
| 331 | ** The last one, despite being PlayedForLaughs, shows Mr.Poopybutthole doing a marriage proposal to Morty, who looks happy. The fact that Rick deleted the memory of Morty's most joyful moment of his life just shows how much of a {{Jerkass}} he can be towards him. |
| 332 | *** Season 7 makes this even worse. The episode "Rickfending Your Mort" shows that Morty marrying Mr. Poopybutthole was actually listed as a wager in an underground betting ring of Ricks. Implying it was never meant to be serious at all. Considering what happens to Mr. Poopybutthole later down the line? It does not help. |
| 333 | ** Rick also appears to have erased Morty’s thirteenth birthday, or at least part of it, from Morty’s memory just because Rick got hit in the face with a piece of birthday cake and wasn’t happy about Morty having any memory that makes him look foolish. |
| 334 | ** Even the ending episode clip is pretty sad: Jerry discovers a mind blower for him and it shows him (or Morty) forgetting an alien they were trying to save was in Jerry's car and he died from being in the car too long and suffocating from the heat. |
| 335 | * One of the memories shows a giant alien who collects members of different sapient races. In the background of one scene, two noticeably aged Mister Meeseeks are in an enclosure. They aren't banging on the glass, trying to dig their way out, or even screaming. They're just...[[DespairEventHorizon standing there.]] |
| 336 | |
| 337 | [[AC:The ABC's of Beth]] |
| 338 | * Beth discovers that Rick used to send her to a fantasy land made by him so he didn't have to take care of her. Beth is angry because of Rick showing how irresponsible he is, while Rick is offended about Beth being ungrateful for all the effort he put in. This shows how far Rick's whole family is now strained that now even Beth doesn't want him around. |
| 339 | -->'''Beth''': I can't believe you used to lock me in this glorified chicken coop.\ |
| 340 | '''Rick''': Chicken coop?! Those are procedurally generated clouds, Beth. That river is a rainbow -- literally. Come on, I put real elbow grease into this place.\ |
| 341 | '''Beth''': You're supposed to put elbow grease into your daughter. |
| 342 | * It's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, but apparently ''every'' Rick (with the exceptions of Simple Rick and Doofus Rick) has created a "Froopyland" for their respective Beths. |
| 343 | * Rick and Beth's discussion after leaving Froopyland, in which she starts to realize [[GenerationXerox she is exactly like him]]. Just the entire conversation. It's worth noting that despite Beth's revelation that she's reached the same point as him, Rick does ''not sound happy at all'' throughout the conversation. Not to mention this is the first time we ever get an actual, 100% serious, good look at Rick's worldview as he explains to Beth. |
| 344 | -->'''Beth:''' ...Am I evil...?\ |
| 345 | '''Rick:''' Worse. You're smart. When you know nothing matters, the universe is yours. And I've never met a universe that was into it. The universe is basically an animal, it grazes on the ordinary. It breeds infinite idiots just to feed on them. Not unlike your friend, Timmy--\ |
| 346 | '''Beth:''' ''Tommy.''\ |
| 347 | '''Rick:''' It hardly matters now, sweetie. Y'know, smart people get a chance to climb on top, take reality for a ride, but it'll never stop trying to throw you. And eventually, it will. There's no other way off.\ |
| 348 | '''Beth:''' Dad... I'm out of excuses to not be who I am... so... who am I... what do I do...?\ |
| 349 | '''Rick:''' My advice? Take off. Put a saddle on your universe, let it kick itself out.\ |
| 350 | '''Beth:''' I can't do that! The kids, Jerry, my job, and, as much as I hate to admit it, ABC's "The Bachelor"--\ |
| 351 | '''Rick:''' I can make a clone of you, a perfect instance of you, with all your memories. An exact copy in every way. It'll love and provide for the kids, do your job, and consume broadcast-network reality TV on the same allegedly ironic level as you. You could be gone a day, a week, or the rest of your life with zero consequences. The moment you decide to come back, I flip a switch, and the clone's job is done. It feels no pain, it regrets nothing, and has zero chance of going "Film/BladeRunner".\ |
| 352 | '''Beth:''' If nothing matters, why would you do that for me?\ |
| 353 | '''Rick:''' I don't know, maybe you matter so little that I like you. Or maybe it makes you matter. Maybe I love you. Maybe something about your mother. Don't jump a gift shark in the mouth.\ |
| 354 | '''Beth:''' I don't know if I can do it.\ |
| 355 | '''Rick:''' Then stay, and luxuriate in a life you can finally know you've chosen. My secret bonus is that no matter what you choose, you're finally gonna chill the fuck out. |
| 356 | ** Can also double as a Heartwarming moment for Rick. He's making sure his daughter has all the information she needs to deal with her new self-realizations, he gives her not only a choice to stay or go, but options for making both choices minimally disruptive for her (and basically saying he'll support her whichever way she goes), and while the very last line (the "chill the fuck out" part) sounds a bit flippant, it could also be taken to mean that Rick's happy his daughter can have a less stressful life now that she's confronted the truth. |
| 357 | * During Jerry's (pathetic heel digging) break up with his girlfriend, he mentions how low his life is now. It can be seen that Beth might be the only relationship he's had before she divorced him, and he has no real clue how to form new romantic relationships. |
| 358 | ** Also Jerry's cowardice nearly leads to his children getting killed. And he still won't honestly break up with Kiara until he's publicly shamed into it. |
| 359 | * In a more sympathetic take to Beth's background as a CreepyChild, some of the devices young Beth asked Rick to make her sound less like the darkest wishes of an EnfantTerrible and [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation more like a sad little kid asking for things to fix her life,]] like "a parent trap" (which could also suggest her parents' marriage was much rockier than we know or Rick left so often that she felt that desperate to keep him home) and "a whip that forces people to like her" (which ties into Beth's feelings of loneliness, abandonment, and desperation to have her father's love). Most of the less-than-innocent sounding "toys" sound more innocent when one reframes it in the context of normal child behavior, such as playing pretend -- like, say, playing the role of an adventurer like the dad she hero-worshipped? -- with the added cool factor of having toys her genius dad whipped up for her that ''really'' did what they were supposed to. This would mean that Rick was horrified by his young daughter because he failed to understand what she was ''really'' asking for and simply wrote her off as too much like him and therefore a danger to everyone around her. The decidedly non-child-friendly inventions he mentions are explained by Beth herself as having stemmed from young Beth acting out for attention from her dad, presumably escalating the seriousness of the toys and using them for the violent purposes he thought she wanted them because [[WellDoneSonGuy it gave her the most attention from him]]. |
| 360 | * The whole A Plot of finding Tommy to clear his father's name: |
| 361 | ** Tommy's family lost their only son, and his father was arrested on charges of murdering him. A few decades later and his father is nearly given a lethal injection for a crime he didn't commit. |
| 362 | ** Beth believed that Tommy was lost in Froopy Land and that his disappearance traumatized her. It did, but not in the way that she remembered: Tommy claims she was jealous of the relationship he had with his father and tried drowning him in a honey swamp. Note that Rick had demonstrated you can't drown in the rainbow river, and Froopy Land was built as childproof as possible. |
| 363 | ** Rick's reaction to learning that his daughter tried to kill someone in the very land he built for her to prevent that exact scenario from happening. He takes more interest in Tommy's play, and sarcastically says he gives it a Fresh rating but is obviously disturbed by what Beth did. When he and Beth escape, Rick tells her that this is her problem and she has to figure it out on her own. |
| 364 | ** How Tommy has changed as the "king" of Froopyland: he's a large {{Manchild}} with a dirty beard, torn jeans, and no shirt, rambling to outsiders about his identity and putting on a show of how his best friend betrayed him and left him to die. Tommy makes it clear that he's given up hope of leaving Froopy Land a long time ago and can't tell reality from the false world anymore. When Beth reveals her identity to him, he cowers behind one of his children and shouts, "The Destroyer!" |
| 365 | ** As the episode goes on, it's made clearer that Beth wants to save Tommy not because it's the right thing to do, as she claims, but because it's self-aggrandizement that builds into her narrative of being a neglected child. She doesn't want to take moral responsibility for ruining her friend and his family's lives and thinks that. When Tommy shows fear of her, she says, "Oh suck it up, Princess Incest" with NoSympathy and claims that her pushing him into the honey was a matter of opinion. |
| 366 | ** Beth and Tommy's argument about her abandoning him in Froopy Land: she claims that it was only how he remembered events and that she respects his opinion. Tommy gives a scathing, on-point TheReasonYouSuckSpeech about how it may have been her view, but it was [[JerkassHasAPoint his reality that got affected]]. He demands an apology before returning to the real world. Beth refuses, so Tommy understandably sets his children on her. Beth then gains a SlasherSmile as she slaughters them all -- Froopy Land inhabitants and human hybrids that are ''children''-- and possibly kills Tommy offscreen. |
| 367 | ** And to cap it off, the Tommy that returns to his family isn't even the real Tommy, but a clone Rick created. Even though Tommy's father is absolved, the real Tommy presumably will never be reunited with his family. |
| 368 | |
| 369 | [[AC:The Rickchurian Mortydate]] |
| 370 | * Beth questions Rick whether she's the real Beth or a clone in her place. He casually assures her that she's just questioning herself because she's smart, but then an offhanded mention that she's afraid he'd kill her if she ''was'' a clone who was becoming self-aware causes her to scream in terror. Clone or not, Beth was terrified at the thought of her own father coldly killing her off and replacing her, especially being aware of Rick's violent methods of killing. |
| 371 | ** Not to mention if she was the clone, then she'd basically be an organic version of the robot Morty from "Rickmancing The Stone", only ''worse'' as she has the memories and emotions of the original Beth and if she was the clone, then once the real Beth gets back, she'll cease to exist. |
| 372 | * Rick immediately stops his fight with the president when Morty calls him and says he's moving back with Beth and Jerry. It's just so... unsettling to see the viciously triumphant Rick chose to walk away the moment he realizes he's about to lose what he had with Morty and Beth. |
| 373 | ** Rick finds his family in a cabin and walks up to it with a rifle. Beth pleads for him to leave their dimension for another Beth believing that he's going to kill her for being a self-aware clone. He puts the gun down and assures her that he wasn't ....he was going to kill Jerry instead, which essentially runs his somewhat improved relationship with him from "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy" straight through the dirt. |
| 374 | *** Or even further than that - despite Rick's contempt for Jerry, he never thought of causing his death up until now (he originally merely wanted to separate him from Beth), and even he was shocked at the sight of Jerry brutally dying in "Interdimensional Cable 2: Tempting Fate". Rick was so pissed by the thought of him and Beth reuniting that all bets were off and he'd actively try to murder him in front of his family. |
| 375 | * The Smiths seemingly finding peace amongst themselves and laughing together at the family table. Except for Rick, who just bitterly stares off into space as the camera pans towards him. Probably because he knows he can't use their flaws to stay in the house and has to comply with his now-healthy family. While it's a ''good thing'' that Rick isn't getting what he wants this time, but one can't help but feel sorry for him being the odd man out. It's quite possible that they may demand that he'd leave when his destructive tendencies get too much for them again one day. And Rick is NotGoodWithRejection, as we learned in back the [[BungledSuicide ending]] in "Auto Erotic Assimilation". |
| 376 | [[/folder]] |
| 377 | |
| 378 | [[folder:Season 4]] |
| 379 | [[AC: Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Rickpeat]] |
| 380 | * Summer seems to be pretty hurt by the fact that she was once again left out of a Rick and Morty adventure and when she makes fun of them, Rick and Morty gang up on her and yell at her to get out of the garage and call her a "stupid bitch" repeatedly. |
| 381 | |
| 382 | [[AC:The Old Man and the Seat]] |
| 383 | * Despite frequently denying his friendship and trying to humiliate him, Rick is clearly broken over the loss of Tony. Even worse, when he deliberately triggers the trap he laid for Tony, which spawns a thousand holographic Ricks screaming at him and berating him, their insults could easily double as a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech directed at Rick himself for getting someone who was willing to be his friend indirectly killed [[SkewedPriorities all over a toilet]]. |
| 384 | -->'''Holo Rick:''' There he is! There's our guy! Congrats, Tony! Have fun with your stupid toilet that you get to use all by yourself now. Enjoy using it all by yourself while you sit there and think about how [[LonelyAtTheTop nobody wants to be around you]] and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero how you ruined it for yourself]] because [[{{Jerkass}} you're a huge piece of shit]]. Look at you sitting there, King Shit on his throne of loneliness. Enjoy this toilet with a thousand of me screaming every time you take a shit! All hail His Majesty, the ''saddest'' piece of garbage in the entire cosmos! Long live the big bad doo-doo daddy! May his reign last a thousand years! |
| 385 | [[AC: One Crew over the Crewcoo's Morty]] |
| 386 | * Despite the ending of this episode having a comical overtone it's undertone shows just how damaged Rick is. Despite pretending not to care about Morty's heist script, he planned the entire episode's events just to sabotage Morty's desire to get his script accepted so that they can continue going on adventures. When Netflix reviews Morty's script and is on the verge of accepting it, his recent adventure burned him out on heist movies and he withdrew his script. Which was what Rick wanted to happen. Keeping in mind the speech given to Rick last episode and it's clear that Rick is so severely emotionally damaged that he is insecure about his ability to keep Morty around, and is in turn [[TroubledAbuser willing to damage and hurt those he cares about just to keep them around]]. |
| 387 | [[AC:Claw and Hoarder: Special Ricktim's Morty]] |
| 388 | * The Wizard repeatedly whipping Balthremar after learning the dragon had formed a soul bond with Rick, when it was Morty who signed the contract. |
| 389 | * The dragons, to get enough power to rise against their magic masters, forcibly conduct a mind meld with Rick, Summer and Morty against their wishes. After the debris settles, Balthremar says he still likes Morty and wants to stay. A shaking Morty points out that what happened was literal MindRape if not mind assault, and the dragon is free to go now because Morty can't stare him in the face. Who knew one little action could ruin a friendship. |
| 390 | * When Rick finally humors Jerry's request to learn why the cat can talk via a scan. Though the viewer never sees what Rick and Jerry see in the visor, their reaction speaks volumes: Rick implores Jerry '''not to see it''', Jerry does anyway, and he only sees a fraction of what Rick saw before vomiting violently. Both Rick and Jerry are screaming at the cat to GetOut in absolute disgust, Jerry is sobbing, and Rick readies to shoot himself in the head before hesitating out of it and choosing to erase Jerry's memory of what they saw. It's one of the few times where Rick is willing to help Jerry, if not because of what they saw was so disturbing that even Rick was appalled, then out of concern for Jerry's mental well-being and being willing to shoulder the burden of what they saw. |
| 391 | -->'''Rick:''' Jerry, I have a device. I-It can help us forget.\ |
| 392 | '''Jerry:''' ... No. I don't think we ''should'' forget. Not this. Someone ''has'' to remember.\ |
| 393 | ''(Rick prepares to erase Jerry's memory)''\ |
| 394 | '''Rick:''' ...Someone will. |
| 395 | |
| 396 | [[AC:Promortyus]] |
| 397 | * The entire tragic saga of Steve and Bruce, the Glorzo controlling Rick and Morty. The two eventually grow tired of living in modern Glorzo society and following Summer's orders when it's clear she'd rather have Rick and Morty back. Even though Summer embellishes their relationship, it was clear that they did love each other. However, just when they were about to leave to start their new lives, Rick and Morty manage to regain control of their bodies and mercilessly kill them. |
| 398 | * The fate of the Glorzo as a whole. As it is revealed later in the episode, the Glorzo are a largely naive and well-intentioned civilization, with their only fault having evolved as facehugging parasites that require hijacking the bodies of living hosts to survive. As Rick uses a special device to kill the current generation of Glorzo, they decry him for destroying them for the simple act of trying to advance their species and civilization, dooming their offspring to revert back to their primitive existence. |
| 399 | [[AC:The Vat of Acid Episode]] |
| 400 | * While having fun with his save point remote, Morty starts a genuine, loving relationship with a young woman. The two go through Hell together, including making up after an argument and even nearly freezing to death after their plane crashes in the mountains, and all of it is ruined when Jerry accidentally uses the save point remote, thinking it's the TV remote. Morty is reset back to his save point right before he met the woman. He tries to restart the relationship but ends up scaring the woman instead and she pepper sprays Morty, causing him to fall over and accidentally overwrite his previous save point. No matter how many times he resets, he has forever lost his chance to rebuild that relationship, which emotionally devastates Morty. Even worse, after Rick merges all the alternate timelines Morty created, the woman apparently remembers the relationship and tries to return, only to witness Morty apparently killing himself by jumping into a vat of acid. |
| 401 | ** What makes this even ''more'' heart-wrenching is the fact that, after all the crap Morty has gone through in the past four seasons, the relationship was probably the best thing to happen to him in a long time, and it was completely undone at the press of a button. |
| 402 | ** The fact Morty never even once pressed the save button during their relationship. This gives a rather heart-wrenching implication that Morty always had the idea that their relation may go to a sour note or that they would possibly break up which would cause Morty to press the button in order to never feel the sadness when that time could come. |
| 403 | * Morty is horrified to learn that he killed a dozen or so of his parallel selves while using the Reset Button. Rick mocks him for never asking how he had developed the mechanics but hints there is a way to save them. |
| 404 | [[AC:Childrick of Mort]] |
| 405 | * Summer giving Jerry a needlessly harsh TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, which even Morty thinks was too much. While Jerry often spinelessly defends himself against such accusations, this time he simply tears up and tells his kids he's going for a walk. |
| 406 | -->'''Summer:''' Oh, you think this s'more makes you special? What, because someone said "good job" to you once when you were ten? That's actually really sad, Dad. Let's be real, you've been high-roading us non-stop, forcing us to do nothing in the middle of fucking nowhere because it's the only way you're gonna level the playing field, isn't it? Because if you move the bar so low, you might actually seem like you're worth a fuck! |
| 407 | * Beth convinces Rick they should raise his kids, her half-siblings together, to give them a second chance that she never had to have a father growing up. Rick agrees under protest since he can use science the streamline the process but actually enjoys spending time with her and raising the half-Ricks, creating a viable society of productive halflings. Then they both find out that Gaia lied about him being the father, and they get killed in the ensuing tussle with Reggie, who wants to claim the kids without doing any of the actual work. All of their effort, love and caring goes down the drain, and Gaia tries to blame Rick for this when she foisted fatherly responsibility. |
| 408 | |
| 409 | [[AC:Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri]] |
| 410 | * Remember when we weren’t sure back in “The ABC’s of Beth” whether or not the Beth we have seen since then was a clone? Not only does this episode reintroduce what appears to be the real Beth, but it appears that not even Rick himself is sure, as he refers to both of them as real and as a clone at different times. As revealed in the final scene of the episode, this is because after he cloned her, he took the labels off of their containers and shuffled them, then proceeded to erase the memory. This speaks volumes about how horrible a father he is since he said he would kill the clone if she ever became self-aware. Both Beths agree that it doesn’t matter who is real, because no matter what, Rick is still a terrible excuse for a human being. And it seems Rick agrees. |
| 411 | ** During the shuffling process, Rick turns his back on the Beths so he couldn't see which was which, all the while with a forlorn look on his face. He just couldn't make the decision and he ''knew'' it would haunt him. |
| 412 | ** The ''Inside the Episode'' has Creator/DanHarmon explain that Beth gave Rick the choice of deciding what type of daughter he wanted her to be: in his life but all of her dreams and potential wasted raising her family, or become just like him but forever absent. Rick's response was a non-answer to drug her and avoid the whole conversation, which Dan describes as "an Ancient Greek-level of bad fatherhood". |
| 413 | ** By himself, Rick genuinely realizes that he is indeed a ''terrible father''. Granted he admitted it before in "The ABC's of Beth", but he's never realized just how bad a father he actually is till now, and he's sincerely depressed with this revelation. He despondently sits in the garage completely alone, as the entire family is just done with him after the whole clone situation. |
| 414 | ** To drive this home, Rick walks to the door in the garage leading into the house and reaches for the doorknob, but stops himself from going in and goes back to sit in his chair. He knows that his family is disgusted with him, and he's too ashamed to just casually walk back into their lives after this. |
| 415 | * Each Beth, on learning that another Beth exists, claims that they are the clone. They think they are so happy in their lives that it only happened because Rick engineered them to be that way. |
| 416 | * Regardless of which Beth it is, Rick goes OhCrap when Tammy captures them. He says PleaseIWillDoAnything, which is [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness uncharacteristic]] of Rick, and offers himself in exchange for his daughters. Tammy coldly turns him down because she says that Rick is more trouble when the Federation tussles with him. She ignores that this isn't a trick and he's desperate to get Beth back. |
| 417 | * The first time Rick sees his old friend Bird Person as Phoenix Person, he's disheartened to see him in the state he is in now. Even when he brings Phoenix Person back to Earth with him, the latter is still hostile towards Rick, meaning that the Bird Person we knew before is either long gone, or will take a long time to get back. |
| 418 | * The fact that Phoenix Person is ''still'' in love with Tammy is tragic, disturbing, and utterly sickening. |
| 419 | * The song, ''Kotomi & Ryan Elder - Don't Look Back'', for the moment where Rick discovers which Beth he sent away and how he purposefully erased his own memory to erase the pain of what he did. The song encapsulates Rick's thought process about moving forward; he has to be cold and heartless to survive his lifestyle because if he ever looked back at what's done to hurt someone, he'd hang himself. |
| 420 | * When Rick is fighting Phoenix Person, he says he'd always wondered who would win if the two of them fought. Phoenix Person just replies that he was always a bad friend, then. |
| 421 | * Now there's one last thing to keep in mind: Beth still doesn't know that's not even her reality's version of Rick. He's buried in the backyard with her reality's Morty. So it really doesn't even matter because she's not really Rick's daughter. THAT version of Beth is still stuck in Cronenberg Earth and she hates Rick even more than both Beth and Space Beth do. |
| 422 | [[/folder]] |
| 423 | |
| 424 | [[folder:Season 5]] |
| 425 | [[AC: Mort Dinner Rick Andre]] |
| 426 | * Morty saves Rick and himself when Rick is near-death and apologizing for getting his grandson killed. When they're safe on Earth? Rick lambasts Morty for "touching the ocean". You can't blame Morty for getting fed up. |
| 427 | * Mr. Nimbus seems like the last person who would be Rick's archnemesis. He's a LargeHam sure, but a bit skinnier than most of the other beings with whom he's tussled. Then he sees that no one in the family wants to serve as a witness for the treaty. Rick tries to go for a lame comeback, which Nimbus shuts down. Then we see him launch a rather precise blow at Rick: what would his late wife Diane think of the person he had become? |
| 428 | * Morty has an apt point when calling out Rick: his grandfather seems to have a lot of archnemeses. Why can't he just try to get along for once? Rick has a habit of turning everything into a fight, even it wouldn't benefit him. The ending of the episode proves Morty right; if Rick had just signed the treaty and not sent Summer to steal Nimbus's shell, then Mr. Nimbus would have left in peace while taunting him. Heck, Mr. Nimbus saved Rick, Morty and Jessica when it seemed they were trapped forever in the other dimension because he said it was rude of Rick to not invite him to an old-fashioned brawl. Then Summer appears, and Nimbus understandably beats Rick up for the betrayal and his lack of honor. Rick's expression shows that even he knows he deserves this one. |
| 429 | * In addition, when Morty is getting a corkscrew to open wine with Jessica, he has another low blow: Rick doesn't want him to be happy because a happy Morty wouldn't serve as his brainwave shield. Rick doesn't deny it. ''Ouch''. |
| 430 | * Hoovy helps Morty bring the wine back to his dimension, but since time moves much faster within the portal, upon his return, he sees his wife had died and his son murders him as revenge for 'abandoning' his family. Then his son, several years later, finds out that Morty was real. What's his first reaction? To pummel the kid, [[NeverMyFault blaming him for ruining his family]]. Morty doesn't even know what he did but goes back angrily and returns the favor when said a son is an old man. Cue the CycleOfRevenge as Hoovy's descendants swear revenge on Morty. |
| 431 | * It is sad that every time Morty goes to fetch wine, he either encounters yet another generation of Hoovy's descendants desperate for his blood or beats them up in retaliation for the previous foray into their realm to get some wine. He doesn't know what he did and tried to apologize, but none of them would accept it. The descendants can only think of revenge and paranoia, and it tears families apart as the parents train kids to prepare and toss out those who don't believe. It comes to a head where they become a cyberpunk dystopia, then are all wiped out and replaced by A.I. capable of mimicking Rick's technology that they created in their pursuit of this vengeance. All the robots can do is capture Morty...and they realize they're at a loss. Hoovy's descendants have gone so far, and torn themselves so apart in trying to get revenge, that said vengeance was probably all that they had left, and the robots may have taken up their sword because they just killed them all and they don't think they have any purpose left. Now that the robots have him imprisoned, they have lost that purpose. The robot guarding and studying Morty says as much: how can one human boy cause this much pain and agony? Morty has an appropriate response: "What the fuck is wrong with you?!" |
| 432 | * Then there is Morty's whole side plot. He just wants a few minutes of alone time with Jessica, a bottle of wine, and a movie. This is the closest to fourth base he's gotten with her, and Jessica engages in a makeout session when seeing that he's stressed from playing wine errand boy for Rick. As he tells Rick, he just wants one bottle, and a few minutes because he never got that before, discounting a mermaid that took his virginity and a girlfriend when he removed his toxic self. Just as he finally gets that romantic moment, one of Hoovy's descendants comes with the big guns and kidnaps Jessica by accident. Morty is ''furious'' because Jessica wasn't a part of this ongoing feud and goes back into the portal screaming for her or he'll raise some hell. He also understands when Jessica says they should be friends for now because she was trapped in a crystal, never aging, for centuries, and she needs time to process the weirdness. Morty apologizes to her for ruining her night, though Jessica wisely tells him there will be more opportunities. |
| 433 | * Only two people are happy at the end of the episode: Beth and Jerry. While Morty had a BadDate, Rick ruined his friendship with one of his oldest friends -- that is if we can believe him or Mr. Nimbus-- and Summer found out her attempt to build cred with Grandpa Rick made things worse, Beth and Jerry decide to go with the flow, talk about their relationship issues, and ask Mr. Nimbus shyly if they can do a threesome now that they signed the forms. What does it say that the two most dysfunctional family members are the only ones that got something out of this mess? |
| 434 | |
| 435 | [[AC:Mortyplicity]] |
| 436 | * While the response of most decoys is to find and kill the others, some succumb to the existential dread in depressing ways. |
| 437 | ** One Summer cuts herself to see if she bleeds. While she is initially relieved, her Rick tears off her entire arm, [[RoboticReveal revealing her robot skeleton]], making her cry. |
| 438 | ** One of the Space Squid Ricks see another Space Squid Rick, sighs, and commits suicide. |
| 439 | ** Not every decoy even had the benefit of looking like the originals. One family was horribly disfigured to begin with, and their Rick resorted to kidnapping other decoys and peeling off their skins just so they can look normal again. They're soon immolated by the Wooden Smiths. Also, the Rick that the disfigured Rick skinned lived and has to wear his own skin like a jacket. |
| 440 | ** There is an entire society of decoys that unified to co-exist with one another, but they had their hideout discovered by a group of Space Squids and were killed when Wooden Jerry left them to die. |
| 441 | ** One family simply accepted their fate and spent their last moments together watching the sunset. |
| 442 | * Wooden Jerry going through many life-threatening situations in TheStinger, but survives them all until he's reduced to just a head and yet still survives to go through another life-threatening situation. While he selfishly hogged the varnish for himself and let the decoys he was with die, it's hard not to feel bad for him. |
| 443 | |
| 444 | [[AC:A Rickonvenient Mort]] |
| 445 | * It's kind of sad that, even though Planetina clearly cares for the Tina-teers (calling them "my kids") and has been with them for around 30 years now, they don't care about her as a person and only see her as a way of making a profit, even planning to "sell" her off to someone else like some kind of object. |
| 446 | ** There's also the fact, as implied from glimpses of the past, the Tina-teers were originally idealistic kids who were dedicated to protecting the planet, only to grow up into cold and materialistic adults who exploit Planetina for money. |
| 447 | *** Or there's also the possibility that the Tina-teers never were friends with Planetina and were using her for fame and wealth while lying to her that they protect the planet from the beginning. |
| 448 | * When Beth predictably rejects the relationship Morty has with Planetina, Morty tells her off by saying he hates her and gives a speech over how she (and to a lesser extent, Jerry) never trust him, even beginning to ''cry'' as he finishes [[CallingTheOldManOut tearing into Beth]]. Even if Beth was right in the end (which makes her comforting Morty all the sweeter). |
| 449 | -->'''Morty''': My whole life, I've never fit in ''anywhere.'' ''Everything'' I have to say is always met with an ''eyeroll'' as if the '''act''' of hearing what I have to say is some ''exhausting'' chore. '''''Nobody''''' in this family thinks I can ''say'' or do anything right! I've been ''ALL'' over the universe, met '''hundreds''' of people, and Planetina's the '''ONLY ONE''' I've ''ever met'' that makes me feel I '''''BELONG''''', and '''''YOU''''' just '''''KICKED''''' her out of our house!\ |
| 450 | '''Beth:''' Morty, ''please-''\ |
| 451 | '''Morty:''' '''I WILL ''NEVER'' FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS!''' |
| 452 | ** It really goes to show how damaged Morty is by all the travels that he went on with Rick. Beth totally means well here (which is very rare but nice to see considering her actions in the past), but to Morty, she's snuffing out the light that Morty has been devoid of for so long. Poor guy '''really''' [[TheWoobie needs a hug]] (which he does get at the ending, luckily). |
| 453 | *** It gets sadder, because [[BothSidesHaveAPoint both Morty and Beth's points are totally understandable]]. Morty is ''absolutely desperate'' to find and be with somebody that isn't a mass murderer that he can look up to, someone with positive traits like Planetina, because he's sick of participating with toxic people like Rick and wants to get away from a life of wanton anguish and violence. On the other hand, Beth doesn't want Morty to make similar mistakes ''she'' made in the past, especially when you consider how Morty pointed out how ''she'' never learned from Rick's mistakes. |
| 454 | ** The most subtle moment is the response Beth gives to Morty's rant, she's [[JerkassRealization horrified and guilt-ridden]] by the fact that her [[ParentalNeglect emotional neglect]] has driven her son away and she was too self-centered to realize how damaging she, Jerry, and Rick have been to Morty. |
| 455 | * Morty quickly becomes horrified when Planetina goes off the deep end and starts killing people, and is outright shown crying and distressed several times. When she texts him later asking why he's not talking to her, he admits he doesn't know what to say to her. |
| 456 | ** It's not easy for Planetina, either. Her intentions to save Earth are all slammed by humanity's apathy toward the planet, which comes to a breaking point with a bunch of asshole coal miners who tell her off. It's not hard to be angry at her for her following actions. |
| 457 | ** Planetina's expression when she says "Can't you hear the Earth screaming?!" Her eyes shift back and forth, and she clutches her head. She can ''literally'' hear the Earth crying out in pain due to all the damage being caused to it, and there's a good chance that [[AndIMustScream she can't turn it off]]. |
| 458 | * It's subtle, but the part where Planetina is indifferent to the fact that Morty murdered the Tina-teers and the fact they were going to sell her is this. Later, when Morty breaks up with Planetina because of her murders, she tries to justify her actions because he murdered her kids, the Tina-teers, and when Morty responds that they were going to sell her away forever, all she does is changes the subject on the miners. |
| 459 | * Then, right after this, him ending their relationship. Morty knows that as long as Planetina continues to take such extreme measures, they can't be together, but they're nonetheless both devastated by the breakup. The whole conversation is just depressing, even tough, to watch. |
| 460 | --> '''Morty:''' ''Please,'' go. I can't ''see'' you anymore.\ |
| 461 | '''Planetina:''' Don't you even wanna ''try'' to make this work? We were ''so'' close.\ |
| 462 | '''Morty:''' You ''murdered'' 300 people.\ |
| 463 | '''Planetina:''' And ''you'' murdered my kids.\ |
| 464 | '''Morty:''' They were going to ''sell'' you away forever. ''Eddie'' was trying to ''kill'' me. Th-those miners were innocent!\ |
| 465 | '''Planetina:''' Those "innocent" miners voted men into power to ''protect'' their precious jobs so they can buy more plastic garbage and eat the corpses of tortured animals. The system is BROKEN, MORTY. [[WellIntentionedExtremist This is the only way I can save Earth.]] The only way I can save '''''you.'''''\ |
| 466 | '''Morty:''' If ''that's'' the only way, I don't want to be saved. ''Please'' go.\ |
| 467 | '''Planetina:''' But... '''I love you.''' ''(holds Morty's face gently towards her)''\ |
| 468 | '''Morty:''' I-I-I-I can't. I-I can't love you. I-I-I just can't. ''Please'' understand.\ |
| 469 | '''Planetina:''' ''(on the verge of tears)'' No. I'll go. ''But '''don't''' you '''dare''' ask me to understand.''\ |
| 470 | '''Morty:''' Planetina... '''''I-I'm so sorry.'''''\ |
| 471 | '''Planetina:''' ''(crying)'' '''''[[PrecisionFStrike Fuck you]].''''' ''(Planetina flies away.)'' |
| 472 | ** When Beth comes into the room to check on Morty, he breaks down in tears and admits that he loved Planetina, and the episode ends with him sobbing on his mom's shoulder. |
| 473 | ---> '''Beth:''' ''(opening the door)'' ''Morty?'' Are you alright?\ |
| 474 | '''Morty:''' ''([[BrokenTears crying]])'' '''''She's GONE, Mom!''''' She's GONE! '''I loved her so much!'''\ |
| 475 | '''Beth:''' I ''know'' you did, honey. ''(kisses Morty on the head)'' Sh-sh-sh. Mommy's here. |
| 476 | *** The part that makes it even sadder is that when the shot of Beth hugging Morty pans towards the flower model Planetina got for him, it isn't colorful, happy and full of life like before, but dead, sad, and devoid of any color as it had before- [[RuleOfSymbolism just like Morty and Planetina's relationship]]. [[BittersweetEnding There isn't even an epilogue to this love story]], as TheStinger relates to the B-story with the father and son on the formerly-doomed Ferkus 9. Which thankfully, is pretty funny, but still. |
| 477 | *** If you look closely, you can see petals falling off. Rather like tears... |
| 478 | *** During the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZPXuFZ1Ems&t=6s behind-the-scenes video]] covering the episode, the writer, Rob Schrab, said that the scene "wrecked him". |
| 479 | ** The added twist to the knife? ''Morty's'' the one who broke off the relationship. Up to this point, Morty's love life has always ended either because they broke up with him or, more commonly, a family member screws it up for him. Though it also serves as a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome for him, as he is cutting himself off from people like [[TheSociopath Rick]], especially on his own accord, it doesn't change the fact that the person he cut off had briefly made him [[RestoredMyFaithInHumanity feel happy]] in this CrapsackWorld, making the breakup all the more depressing. |
| 480 | ** Even worse, when you think about it, [[BookEnds the ending is like the beginning, where Morty rejects a toxic person that constantly justifies their horrific actions because their intelligence proves that.]] In the beginning, it was Rick that he left, and then it was Planetina that he had to leave, and again, it's heartbreaking because Morty thought Planetina was a genuinely good person. It's a plot element that comes back, but it isn't PlayedForLaughs this time. |
| 481 | * The whole episode when stripped away from the science fiction, fantastical elements, and Rick and Summer's story is very grounded and real, with the focus being on a boy in love and the heartbreak that comes with such a fragile relationship. |
| 482 | * The [[AnAesop ultimate moral]] of the episode is this, and [[HardTruthAesop a bit hard to take in:]] The path towards a peaceful life is ultimately hard-fought and full of pain, in which it can't be solved through a quick fix (like having a nice girlfriend), and it's up to other people (whether friends or family like Beth) to support people to help them on that path. |
| 483 | |
| 484 | [[AC:Amortycan Grickfitti]] |
| 485 | * Jerry's reaction to finding out was being used by Rick to pay off a debt to some demons during guy's night. What makes it sadder is that Jerry was genuinely enjoying himself, only to learn that the real reason Rick wanted to "hang out" with him was to be humiliated and have others laugh behind his back. This moment really hits home for some viewers who have had a similar experience of being betrayed by false friends who see you as nothing but a joke, especially when he questions why no one can accept him for his individuality. For all the flak Jerry gets for his flaws, we are reminded that he's still a human being who needs genuine love and care. |
| 486 | |
| 487 | [[AC:Rick And Mortys Thanksploitation Spectacular]] |
| 488 | * Coop, the first soldier shown [[JumpedAtTheCall Answers The Call]] twice, first to be turned into a turkey to help the President with his pissing contest against Rick and then to fight the evil turkey mutants. In The Stinger, we learn he is so poor he can't afford knock off Lucky Charms and that his health insurance was cut by the President to buy more missiles. Oh and he has a wife and newborn son to support. This is without mentioning him being triggered by blue berries and pecking at them like a turkey, ignoring his crying son. It ends with with his wife in tears. Note how she holds their son and backs away from Coop; it's clear she now sees her man as a monster. Not only is this scene a bit on the nose with how some veterans are treated, it's also jarring for how the stingers are usually humorous payoffs to other story lines in the episode. The payoff here is from Coop's wife Mary Lou, who didn't want him going on either mission because she knew the government wouldn't take care of him after they were finished with him and she has been proven right in the worst way imaginable. While Coop's affliction is comical, it's not unheard for real soldiers to have public breakdowns thanks to PTSD. |
| 489 | |
| 490 | [[AC:Gotron Jerrysis Rickvangelion]] |
| 491 | * While Morty and Summer's need to seek Rick's approval has been used as a plot device to drive various episodes, this one really hammers in the Smith siblings' need for family validation to a heart-wrenching degree. |
| 492 | ** Realizing that Rick's obsession will end up backfiring on anyone, Morty tries to call attention to it - only for Summer, and eventually the entire family to turn on him for refusing to go along with Rick taking his [=GoTron=] obsession to extremes and blaming him for trying to ruin everyone's fun. When you consider Morty's rant from ''A Rickconvenient Mort'' and how undervalued he is, it's not surprising he has a breakdown after the family abandons him. |
| 493 | ** After she gets fired by Rick, Summer returns home in tears and goes into a lengthy rant about how she feels like a third wheel in the family, seeing that her parents and Rick and Morty have their own dynamics as pairs. It's not the first time Summer has competed with Morty for Rick's affection, but this episode really plays up Summer's need for validation, how abusive she can be to Morty to get it, and how insecure she feels. |
| 494 | |
| 495 | [[AC:Rickternal Friendshine of the Spotless Mort]] |
| 496 | * This episode gives us a glimpse of Rick's past, and we have confirmation that Rick's original Beth (and possibly Diane) died before he was 35. It also means that the "completely fabricated memory" shown in "The Rickshank Redemption" may have been true after all, as one of Birdperson's memories show him and Rick targeted other Ricks in revenge for the deaths of a woman, who is implied to be Beth or Diane (or both). |
| 497 | * Bird Person (or his consciousness, anyway) viewing memories of Tammy when she was pretending to love him. |
| 498 | -->'''Tammy:''' (''addressing Memory Bird Person'') Good thing I’ve already tried ''your'' seed.\ |
| 499 | '''Bird Person''' (''watching from afar with tears in his eyes'') Don’t be gross, Tammy. |
| 500 | * Despite having already lost his family, Memory Rick is considerable more idealistic and virtuous than present-day Rick, which just calls into question what happens (or happened) to him to make him the jaded, cynical ass he is today. Even Memory Rick is horrified by what he is meant to become, to the point he decides being a memory is better than becoming a living being. |
| 501 | * After an intense battle that ended in their victory, Rick proposes he and Bird Person go together and continue having more exciting adventures. Bird Person, however, just wants to end the war and while he does consider Rick a good friend, he unfortunately doesn’t share Rick’s feelings. Angered by the rejection, Rick storms off while our Rick and Memory Rick watch, with Memory Rick realizing why our Rick considered this battle a horrible memory he never wanted to revisit. |
| 502 | ** Note that Rick explains to Birdperson that his travelling to different universes means it's all real and unreal at the same time, and so nothing, including the war they just won, matters. Rick's multiversal experience has made him somewhat nihilist, which ironically makes his confession more significant and its being turned down more tragic. |
| 503 | * One version of Tammy in Bird Person's mind is horrified that she betrayed him, because she was the idealized version of the woman he adored. She pulls a HeroicSacrifice when helping him leave the mindscape, and gives him a goodbye kiss. Tammy apologizes for the betrayal, and hopes what Bird Person finds out in the real world is a better future. She smiles as the DreamApocalypse turns her into black tar. |
| 504 | * It gets revealed Tammy not only had a child with Bird Person but that (due to Bird Person's status as a terrorist) their child is currently in prison. Just the mere fact this happened is nothing short of horrifying. The only silver lining is that she is ''more'' than [[PintSizedPowerhouse capable of defending herself.]] |
| 505 | ** While Birdperson is grateful that Rick saved his life, he ends up leaving because Rick didn't tell him about his child until there was no other option, [[ItsAllAboutMe because Rick secretly wanted Birdperson all to himself]]. |
| 506 | ** The fact that Rick did this at all is rather somber. Bird Person has always been loyal to Rick despite the man's faults and has always tried to defend him to Morty when the boy has had enough. But when it came down to it Rick proved that he wouldn't return the sentiment and would prioritize what ''he'' wanted over what was best for his friend. Rick may well have caused irreparable damage to one of his oldest friendships because he couldn't stop being a selfish cuss for two seconds. |
| 507 | |
| 508 | [[AC:Rickmurai Jack]] |
| 509 | * This episode fully confirmed that Rick's "totally fabricated" backstory wasn't fabricated at all. He did lose his family to a Rick, and spent his whole life trying to find and kill him. But despite killing hundreds of alternate Ricks in the process, he never did find him, which pretty much broke him. |
| 510 | ** Upon a closer inspection, many [[FridgeHorror realized]] from [[https://www.reddit.com/r/rickandmorty/comments/pkjn75/i_just_noticed_simple_rick_is_just_a/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf this post]] that the Rick before the incident looks a lot like Simple Rick. In other words, Simple Rick was a Rick before the death of his daughter and wife, meaning that they’ve captured him at that exact moment, just so they can exploit his happiness for some snack. |
| 511 | * Fridge-Tearjerker. "Morty's Mind Blowers" showed that Rick has the ability to download and effectively erase memories to prevent harmful or traumatic ones from causing problems to himself and Morty over the course of their adventures. Despite this, it's clear that Rick has ''never'' erased the painful memories he had of Beth and Diane's demise, despite them being the source of his constant apathy and world-weary outlook, not to mention the reason he's so toxic and self-destructive to himself and his allies. Despite all the harm those memories and the emotions stemming from them constantly brings him, Rick loves his deceased family too much to separate himself from the source of his pain, constantly carrying it around with him because its the only way he has of keeping 'his' Beth and Dianne alive. |
| 512 | ** On a related note, [[FridgeHorror one must think about this in relation to Rick's wife]]; one of the universal constants throughout the multiverse is that Diane is never part of the Smith household by the present day, despite there being a literally infinite world of possibilities out there. The reveal of the Central Finite Curve, though, puts a depressing spin on this, as a Multiverse where Rick is the smartest man in existence is naturally a multiverse where each and every one of those Ricks is separated from their [[MoralityChain wife]], and thus is free to focus their efforts on being a genius rather than a family man. No matter how many universes Rick hopped to, he'd never encounter one where his wife was in the picture, because she was ultimately the biggest obstacle standing between Rick and his mad science. Even if Rick can have a twisted version of the relationship he had with his daughter, he can never get his wife back. |
| 513 | * TheReveal of what Evil Morty's plan is: he just wants to leave the Central Finite Curve and escape the toxic cycle the Citadel has trapped him and every other Morty inside of. |
| 514 | -->'''Evil Morty''': That's what makes me evil: being sick of ''him'' [Rick]. [[NotSoDifferentRemark If you've ever been sick of him, you've been evil too]]. |
| 515 | * Morty asking Rick [[ArmorPiercingQuestion if he came back because he missed Morty or because the crows bailed on him]]. Rick can't bring himself to give an answer. |
| 516 | ** The whole scene, with Evil Morty explaining the literally enforced toxic cycle, only drives the point home of just how ''fucked up'' Rick's and Morty's relationship is; for example, take into account the ''completely different'' ways Rick treats Morty and Summer respectively. Morty gets fed up with and ruins Rick's [[Recap/RickAndMortyS4E8TheVatOfAcidEpisode Vat of Acid Trick]]? Rick uses the rest of the episode to manipulate and torture Morty, forcing him to live with the trauma of killing ''countless'' other Mortys as part of his "Save/Respawn device trick" as punishment, eventually forcing the poor guy to publicly recant his words about the aforementioned Acid Vat Trick. Summer gets fed up with Rick not following his own standards and ruins their [[Recap/RickAndMortyS5E3ARickconvenientMort Apocalypse Party Trip]]? He just ''commends'' Summer for acting Rick-like and makes up with her relatively quickly. Not only that, but even previous episodes have showing a shocking DoubleStandard between Morty and Summer--Summer typocally gets off with nothing more than a simple "fuck off Summer" for aiming a jab at Rick, while Morty typically gets a more lengthy line of insults at ''best'', and at ''worst'' Rick has been known to [[Recap/RickAndMortyS3E8MortysMindBlowers erase Morty's memories]] if he dares to so much as criticize something Rick says or does. At the end of it all, Evil Morty describing himself as "sick" of it all almost seems like an understatement, if he truly is just ''that'' done with the shit Rick made him put up with. |
| 517 | * The [[BittersweetEnding ending]]. Rick and Morty escape the Citadel before it explodes along with the entire district of Mortyburg, but they're stranded out in space with no portal fluid and [[TheBadGuyWins Evil Morty got what he wanted in the end]]. |
| 518 | * The now-traditional PostCreditsScene with Mr. Poopy Butthole that happens at the end of every season is much more somber this time around, starting off with Mr. Poopy Butthole excitedly recapping the events of the season...and then we find out he lost his job after the heist, now lives in a crappy apartment, and that he and his wife have apparently separated. He then begins to ruminate on all the doubts, fears and self-loathing that drive you to push away people that love and care about you, how he drove away Mrs. Poopy Butthole, and ends it by telling the viewer to try and let the people closest to you know that you love them back, because we don't have as much time as we think. The season finale itself was pretty serious, but [[MoodWhiplash it's still unexpected]]. |
| 519 | [[/folder]] |
| 520 | |
| 521 | [[folder:Season 6]] |
| 522 | [[AC: Solaricks]] |
| 523 | * Morty is sent back to his original [[ApocalypseHow Cronenberged universe]]. He finds that [[SoleSurvivor only his Jerry is still alive]], and his original Beth and Summer are both dead. Hermit Jerry is now a [[TookALevelInCynic lonely and more cynical version of his former self]], and he gives Morty a ''brutal'' TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, leaving the poor boy sobbing alone in the ruins of his former home. |
| 524 | --> '''Original Jerry''': [[TranquilFury Oh, am I cool enough for ya now?]] (chuckles) [[SarcasmMode Oh, well that was easy]]; it only cost me '''[[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] EVERYTHING.''' […] You came back and talked about us like we weren't ''PEOPLE'', Morty! [[WhatTheHellHero Then you bailed and left us to freeze!]] […] '''[[SuddenlyShouting YOUR MOM AND SISTER DIED, MORTY!]]''' (Sighs) [[TooBrokenToBreak And I moved on. From caring.]] And [[SafetyInIndifference that is the best deal]] [[NotWorthKilling you will ever get.]] ''[[GetOut So take it]]''. |
| 525 | ** Morty's response to this is further tragic, offering his Jerry the opportunity to have new versions of Beth and Summer. [[ToxicFriendInfluence Like Rick]], Morty is shown to [[DoppelgangerGetsSameSentiment view his family as interchangeable with versions from other universes]], and Jerry shows disgust for his offer. |
| 526 | ---> '''Morty''': Please don't go! [[HopeSpot If Rick comes back, we can find you a new reality!]] [[ReplacementGoldfish A new Mom, a new Summer,]] [[CallBack a job!]] |
| 527 | ---> '''Original Jerry''': (Sigh) [[DisappointedInYou You don't get it, kid.]] Except for this conversation, my life is perfect. [[JerkassHasAPoint Rick was always right -- everyone needs to let go.]] |
| 528 | * The present Jerry, having been swapped at Jerry daycare, is sent back to his original universe (where his counterpart from "Mortynight Run" has been living ever since), in which he and Beth never got divorced and stayed unhappily married all this time. This version of the family is far more hostile to him, to the point that Jerry [[HardTruthAesop actually thinks the divorce did everyone a favor in the end.]] Rick even quips that it [[LampshadeHanging reminds him of season 2.]] |
| 529 | ** After Summer tears down Jerry for being unemployed, S2!Rick claims he knows a good alligator park he can go to. [[SuicideDare Rick now actively hates Jerry enough to want Jerry to kill himself.]] |
| 530 | ** The original Jerry shows himself to be just as hostile as the rest of the Season 2 family when he appears, making an unprovoked shot at Beth by stating the shower is "Colder than Beth on our anniversary night." Instead of lashing out at him like one would expect of Beth in the earlier seasons to do, Beth as she is now is [[StunnedSilence silently taken aback.]] |
| 531 | ** Several moments earlier in the show become tragic with this reveal, such as Jerry's friendship with Doofus Rick and him reconciling with Beth in "Rixty Minutes" among others. |
| 532 | * In Rick's original universe, he had created an AI of Diane in a fit of self-loathing, just to torture himself for his failure to save her and Beth. When he moves through the house, her voice moves away from him, always just in the next room, just beyond his reach. |
| 533 | ** Additionally, all of his neighbors are stuck in a time loop, one he designed when he was hitting the alcohol ''so'' hard that it makes his current self look sober in comparison. While everyone in this loop is forced to repeat the same day, they still aged in ''real time'' so everyone in his universe is now elderly; one woman is seen dragging along her dogs '''skeleton'''. When he shuts it off, they're just incredibly happy to finally be able to die. The reason he created it is left unexplained, but for once Rick seems ashamed of himself for forcing so many innocent people to suffer. |
| 534 | ** Shortly after that scene, Rick reinforces that he needs to leave. AI Diane chimes in, questioning his wording is metaphorical and that he's moving on. Rick wearing a ''furious'' expression as she throws ''blatant'' guilt-slinging at him, and after everything he's been through here, being reminded of how ''horrible'' a place he was in before he left, Rick finally ''snaps'' and everything he's bottled up ''explodes'', revealing that despite all his healing, he ''still'' doesn't want to move on. But he ''needs'' to get out because he ''has'' to move on, [[Heartwarming/RickAndMorty for his family.]] |
| 535 | --->'''AI Diane:''' Was that symbolic~? Are you ''letting go''~? I ''understand'', baby~! I ''forgive you''~!\ |
| 536 | '''Rick:''' '''''YOU''''' ''don't get to say that, you're not'' '''''HER!!''''' You're a '''''THING''''' I built to ''torture myself!!'' This whole ''fucking timeline'' is ''cursed! I gotta get outta here!!''\ |
| 537 | '''AI Diane:''' Because you want to move on~!\ |
| 538 | '''Rick:''' '''''[[WhamLine Because I DON'T!!]]''''' |
| 539 | * Did you hold out some hope that Rick crashed into Beth's garage and joined her family because he was tired of killing and wanted some semblance of his little girl? No. Fuck you. That was Rick Prime's original universe and Rick was still just focused on revenge. All that heartwarming and growth and everything was an accident. It's why Rick found it so easy to give up on that universe and move on to a new one. |
| 540 | |
| 541 | [[AC: Bethic Twinstinct]] |
| 542 | * Amidst the CringeComedy of the two Beths falling in love with each other, there's the simple fact no matter which is the real one, Beth has crossed the line and cheated on her husband. [[ScrewYourself Even if it was with herself technically.]] |
| 543 | ** When Jerry gets all "husbandy" with his toast, Space Beth says she does not miss that making it clear she seems to no longer have any feelings for him. |
| 544 | * Jerry's reaction to hearing of Beth's affair with the clone version of herself is still heart-wrenching to watch in spite of the rather light-hearted handling of it. While him suddenly becoming a pillbug is [[MoodWhiplash hilarious to watch]], it is still tragic knowing how it activates. Since it activates whenever Jerry suffers emotional distress according to Rick, this implies that Jerry suffered a HeroicBSOD at that moment. Also, him becoming a pill bug can be easily compared to dissociating from a traumatic event. |
| 545 | * Morty and Summer's trauma throughout this episode as they have to deal with both the situation of their mom(s) cheating on their dad ''and'' the whole ScrewYourself situation. They continually have {{Thousand Yard Stare}}s and actually have an emotional break-down at the end when they're stuck eating at the dinner table while they can hear their moms and dad have a fucked-up TwinThreesomeFantasy upstairs. Oh and this is on a "family holiday" like Thanksgiving... |
| 546 | * While the last episode was ambiguous, this one confirms the portal gun is ''still'' not working. Rick, a man who invented the gun and has repeatedly given AGodAmI {{Badass Boast}}s, has so far failed to correct the problem. Evil Morty ''really'' screwed everyone over with his actions especially when you realize and wonder how many versions of Rick and Morty are stranded (and possibly killed) because the gun's not working. |
| 547 | |
| 548 | |
| 549 | [[AC: Analyze Piss]] |
| 550 | * Jerry and Pissmaster get into a protracted fist fight after the latter insults Summer and it does not look pretty. While most fights in the show are these bombastic, flashy affairs, this one just feels ''sad'': Two men who can barely throw a punch having a scrap, with the neighbors around the Smith house trying to talk them both down. The fight ends with PM sobbing and moaning in pure terror because Jerry has thoroughly whooped his butt, before tearfully apologizing to Summer and running off on his piss glider. Even though he's a total ass, it's really hard not to feel sorry for Pissmaster here. |
| 551 | * Later, as the Smiths have gone off with Jerry as his crew and Rick's satisfaction with being 'out' of the nemesis cycle turns to drunken melancholy, he tracks down Pissmaster to ring his doorbell carrying a sixpack. By the time he arrives and lets himself in, he finds that Pissmaster has committed suicide, and Rick is unable to revive him. At that point, he hears a young woman outside, and is fully prepared to leave until the moment he finds out that she's Pissmaster's daughter, scared for his wellbeing despite their rough relationship. Rick has to pretend to be Pissmaster to put her mind at ease, even doubling-down when his initial half-hearted statement that she's blameless in whatever he chooses to do makes her leery of his mental state. And then Rick finds Pissmaster’s suicide note, where he laments that everyone just wanted to see him fail. |
| 552 | ** It's implied that the ''real'' reason Rick went to see Pissmaster was because that he could relate with being a huge piece of shit. |
| 553 | ** It's ''also'' heavily implied that Pissmaster having an estranged daughter who nonetheless loves him and wants to make sure he's okay really hits home for him. This is what inspires Rick to impersonate him afterwards, become a hero, and fake a HeroicSacrifice, all so Pissmaster can be redeemed in the eyes of his family. |
| 554 | ** Easily the worst part about this whole affair is how realistic it is. Even PM's suicide note is relatable on a deep level, as he claims that all he ever wanted was for people to stop shitting on him. Underneath his sour attitude and vulgar gimmick, he's just a sad, lonely man who was humiliated in front of billions of people around the universe. |
| 555 | |
| 556 | [[AC: A Rick in King Mortur's Mort]] |
| 557 | * Morty--in an attempt to fix his own mistakes by getting the Knights of the Sun to return to their posts so they can end the Solar War--convinces them by agreeing, as part of his "duty" as King of the Sun, to go through with the required ritual for Knights and Kings of the Sun of cutting his penis off. It works, and the Knights agree. Cut to Morty in the bathroom sobbing his eyes out. Luckily, Rick offers to help him out. |
| 558 | -->"That walkway needs those knights, those knights need a king, and that king needs no dick!" |
| 559 | * Just in general, the fact that Morty has undergone ''so'' much {{Gaslighting}} and verbal and emotional abuse from Rick over the years that, when it seems like Rick is actually ''genuinely'' trying to treat him better and be a good grandpa in this episode--no strings attached, no twist involved--Morty can't help but have his doubts and fear that Rick is inevitably building up to pull a huge dick move just to teach him a lesson as he has in the past (such as "The Vat of Acid Episode", which Morty directly cites). As he puts it: |
| 560 | -->'''Morty''': I'm sorry, it's just been a hard road with you, Rick. |
| 561 | ** It gets HarsherInHindsight when the next episode reveals that, while Rick really wasn't planning on directly doing something cruel to Morty to teach him a lesson, Morty ''was'' right about this being a robot and not the real thing. |
| 562 | |
| 563 | [[AC: Ricktional Mortpoon’s Rickmas Mortcation]] |
| 564 | * The seemingly nicer Rick from the last episode really was just a robot as Morty had speculated, as the real Rick made it for the family to love them unconditionally while he continues his obsessive search for Rick Prime. Morty declares he and Rick are worse off now than they have ever been for Rick’s lies. |
| 565 | * Rickbot's programming to love and take care of the Smiths is so well-done that he feels miserable about having to lie to them and gain their trust only to inevitably hurt them when they learn the truth (as occurs with Morty), to the point of trying desperately to defy his programming to reveal the truth and becoming a genuine DeathSeeker so he can end it all and won't have to deal with it anymore. |
| 566 | * Rickbot dying for good, his last words telling Morty that if he was programmed to love him and his family and want to make them happy by Rick’s design, then this must make Rickbot an extension of Rick's own feelings and there must be some genuine goodness in him, even after Morty’s trust in him has been shattered. |
| 567 | * By the end of the episode, the toll that Rick's obsession with revenge on Rick Prime has taken on him is fairly obvious--Rick is even more disheveled than usual, hasn't showered in ''who knows'' how long, and openly admits that Rick Prime is ''enragingly'' crafty, which is compounded by Rick having to deal with near-constant booby traps with every step of his investigation. Coupled with the fact that Rick Prime apparently has few if any reservations when it comes to messing with Rick, the latter's final words for the season paint a grim picture of where this RoaringRampageOfRevenge may go for the titular duo: |
| 568 | --> '''Rick''': I-it's the most ''painful'' shit I've had to deal with and I'm ''fucking'' bringing you into it, because you asked for it, Morty! |
| 569 | * There's something deeply sad about this episode when looking at it in the context of the last season. After Rick realized he was treating Morty toxically and opened up about his past, this last season has been one of some genuine affection through the various episodes. He smiled more sincerely, he bonded properly with Jerry, he did some therapy and got some genuine empathy for some of his enemies. He got comfortable hanging out with his grandkids playing video games or hosting podcasts. He was working at being a better grandpa overall. Then the events of "Analyze Piss" sees him become EasilyCondemned in the eyes of the family, and one harsh comment from Morty serves as the final straw for him: his family doesn't ''want'' him, they want the "ideal" him, which is what he gave them in the form of Rickbot, while he's reverted back to his worst self, thinking revenge is all he needs after all. It's tragic and frustrating, but given all the trauma he drags around, very human for that kind of defensiveness. |
| 570 | ** It gets even worse when you consider how ''shallow'' it makes the family seem. They only want Rick to be around when it's in ''their'' interests, even as he's trying to be better, the moment he doesn't do as they desire they turn on him, as "Analyze Piss" demonstrated with how quick they were to praise Rick for seeing Dr. Wong, only to then condemn him for following her advice since it's no longer in their interests. And none of them even ''noticed'' that Rickbot wasn't actually Rick until Morty found out himself and spilled the beans, with all but Jerry quick to ''slaughter'' Rickbot before swearing off Rick entirely. It's no wonder Rick regressed so quickly since he realized the people he was trying to be better for didn't ''want'' a "healthier" him, they wanted someone who would just fall in line with ''their'' ideas. |
| 571 | * The PB finale stinger this year has him getting in shape to try and shake off losing his wife and son. But it ends with him breaking both legs on a dumbbell too heavy for him, and him howling that he needs his trainer to call Amy on the trainer's phone to tell her how much he still cares about her even after all the mess they created. A sad statement on how mistakes and pain can lead to bad coping mechanisms...just like Rick. |
| 572 | [[/folder]] |
| 573 | |
| 574 | [[folder:Season 7]] |
| 575 | [[AC: How Poopy got his Poop back]] |
| 576 | * This episode is apparently a follow up on the stinger from last season, as after all the troubles he brought into his life, Mr. Poopy Butthole moved into the Smith house for a little while, but quickly made a mess of himself. He couldn't pass the bar, [[FreezeFrameBonus couldn't figure out how to get custody of his son]], and at the start of the episode is thinking about hanging himself but doesn't have anything firm and tall enough to hang from. All in all, an ugly place to start from despite the BlackComedy. |
| 577 | * The family clearly has some lingering resentment from Christmas towards Rick. As none of them are putting up with his laziness to confront PB about being a bad houseguest. Not even Jerry who is the one person to show some patience towards him through all this. |
| 578 | * In a way, Rick reuniting with his friends for the night is a sad statement on where they all are in their lives. |
| 579 | ** Squanch can't stay clean. |
| 580 | ** Gearhead is constantly getting injured. |
| 581 | ** Birdperson is struggling to reign in his daughter despite the care he put into rescuing her from the federation. |
| 582 | ** Gene is a bit lonely and wanted to feel included with the group. |
| 583 | ** Mr. PB has his own issues about self loathing, anger and moving on. |
| 584 | ** And Rick feels like so much of his life is filled with "Unfinished Business". Not to mention his being on much tenser ground with his family. |
| 585 | |
| 586 | [[AC:Air Force Wong]] |
| 587 | * As has become routine in numerous episodes, this one ends with an acquaintance of Rick's deciding to cut all ties with him--in this case, Unity, with Rick having ruined his chances for good of reconciling with them due to stubbornly keeping them at arm's length until it's too late. The final scene even feels like it's going to end the same way "Auto Erotic Assimilation" did as Rick sits alone in the garage. And since Morty has been OutOfFocus for the past three episodes, you get the impression Rick's solitude will eventually be inescapable for him. |
| 588 | |
| 589 | [[AC:That’s Amorte]] |
| 590 | * In order to stop the spaghetti trade, Rick talks a terminally ill man named Fred into letting himself be euthanized. Basically, he is given some painless poison while his memories are projected worldwide so everyone on the Spaghetti Planet to see his life being played. Fred is shown going through a relationship with a woman named Amber, first fighting with her and later getting her to leave her husband for him. Fred outlives Amber, who is buried next to both of his parents. On the heartwarming side, Fred’s dreams of architecture led him to creating a Lego-esque toy called “Fredblox”. After Fred dies and Rick tries to feed Morty Fred’s body spaghetti, it puts both Morty and the entire planet off the stuff after witnessing the complexity of life through another person’s eyes. |
| 591 | |
| 592 | [[AC: Unmortricken]] |
| 593 | * The opening is where we learn the origin of Evil Morty. At first, we see what appears to be a typical adventure where Rick and Morty argue about an adventure where Morty is miserable; Rick angrily tells him that they had a discussion before and Morty can always quit. Morty appears to calm down and gives Rick some beer as a peace offering. But then, at night, in Morty's room, he's working on a device, and it is revealed that in the morning, The Morty we've been watching is Evil Morty, and we see him overpower and brainwash Rick. |
| 594 | ** The fact that what turned this Morty evil was when his Rick told him that he could always quit after he had a bad adventure. Evil Morty proceeded to take this statement to the absolute extreme of quitting the entire ''reality'' of the multiverse where the Rick-Morty dynamic could affect him, being singularly focused on achieving that aim no matter whose lives he had to unfairly ruin or destroy, and is still clearly motivated to remain apart from this by the present day. Considering how cold and ruthless this Morty is, think about how many horrors he must've gone through before snapping at this moment. |
| 595 | *** Another thing about this opening is that Jerry, Beth, and Summer are nowhere to be seen, and this version of Rick and Morty seems to be living in a different house than the usual Smith's house. Where are Evil Morty's parents and sister? Did something happen to them, and did the loss of his parents and sister contribute to Evil Morty's start to darkness? As dysfunctional as the Smith family is, they do love each other, and it would be heartbreaking to learn what possibly happened to Evil Morty's parents and sister. And that assumes they even ''exist'', and Evil Morty isn't just one of the cloned Morty's Ricks mass produce. |
| 596 | * While inside Rick Prime's trap, Prime deploys a giant robot with Diane's face on it to kill Rick and the two Morties. Rick calmly talks to his "wife" again despite the robot's crude taunting, showing how Rick is desperate for any meaningful interaction with her again. He even explicitly states he misses seeing her face, clearly distracted by the fact the robot is hellbent on killing them. |
| 597 | ** Rick Prime lampshades Rick's longing for Diane by mockingly pointing out how the Space Cruiser's AI sounds eerily similar to their wife. |
| 598 | * The reason why Rick doesn't simply move into another universe with Diane alive in it and her Rick gone. '''[[TheReveal Because there is no Diane Sanchez left within the multiverse.]]''' Rick Prime created a device that [[CessationOfExistence can kill all versions of someone throughout infinity]], as demonstrated by dropping Slow Mobius into the machine. So even though Prime is now dead, [[AllForNothing it doesn't change the fact that Rick can never see his wife ever again]]. |
| 599 | ** Slow Mobius's death is just as heartwrenching. Rick is in tears after his demise and even ''[[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes Prime]]'' regrets doing this to prove a point. |
| 600 | * As satisfying as it was, Rick killing Rick Prime is this. Not just because of how ''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness ferally violent and coldly angry]]'' Rick is as he does it. But also because of what Rick Prime says to him as he's being beaten to death. Though Rick doesn't give him the satisfaction of giving him anything but a cold PreMortemOneLiner, the ending shows that ''what he said has clearly affected him''. |
| 601 | -->'''Rick Prime:''' ''You're'' '''''welcome''''', ''by the way!'' ''[[CreateYourOwnHero I made you!]]'' I showed you ''infinity!'' And what did you ''do'' with it?! Hang out with ''my'' grandson?! Raise echoes of ''my'' daughter?! ''[[EvilLaugh (Laughs)]]'' ''[[ArmorPiercingQuestion What's your]]'' '''''[[ArmorPiercingQuestion LIFE]]''''' ''[[ArmorPiercingQuestion without me!?!]]''\ |
| 602 | '''Rick:''' '''''[[PreMortemOneLiner Let's find out.]]'''''\ |
| 603 | '''Rick Prime:''' Admit it! You would've ''been me''! I just walked into your garage before you walked into ''mine!'' But eventually, ''you did!'' '''''[[NotSoDifferentRemark You LIVED in MY HOUSE!!!]]''''' ''[[LaughingMad (Descends into strangled laughter that eventually]]'' ''[[DieLaughing dies out as Rick continues beating him)]]'' |
| 604 | * After ''who knows how many years'' he's spent committed to it, Rick ''finally'' kills Rick Prime, in the [[CruelAndUnusualDeath viciously brutal end]] [[LaserGuidedKarma he richly deserved]]...and now...[[VengeanceFeelsEmpty Rick is left feeling empty and purposeless]]. In a heart-shattering direct callback to Season 1's ''Rick Potion #9'', the ending deliberately mirrors Morty's DespairEventHorizon, with the ''exact'' same song, Mazzy Star's ''"Look On Down From The Bridge"'', playing in complete silence as Rick slowly, emptily walks around the Smith House as everyone's having fun and living their life with a ThousandYardStare on his face. |
| 605 | -->''Look on down from the bridge,''\ |
| 606 | ''There's still fountains, down there...''\ |
| 607 | ''Look on down from the bridge,''\ |
| 608 | ''It's still raining, up here...'' |
| 609 | * The post-credits scene with Mrs. Slow Mobius was heartwarming enough given she was able to move on rather than dedicate the rest of her life towards vengeance, but at the same time it's a confirmation that Rick is who he is by choice. |
| 610 | ** What makes this worse is that Rick did try to move on; it was revealed that, after Rick helped free Bird Person's planet, he offered to take him on adventures with him. There was enough ambiguity in that scene that Rick was either asking Bird Person to become a closer friend or be in a relationship, only for Bird Person to reject Rick, saying that their relationship isn't worth his integrity. Even though the two of them remain friends, it's implied that Rick, outside of Unity, never tries to get as close to someone as he did with Diane and Bird Person again, especially after it didn't work out with Unity either. It's tragic to think how Rick's life would've turned out if he met the right person to move on with. |
| 611 | ** There's also no guarantee that Rick trying to move on with his life would've worked out the same way with Mrs. Slowmobius. Remember, Rick's relationship with Unity was so toxic that they had to break up with him and cut him off from their life, and Unity pointed out that, ironically, Rick is such a toxic influence that he is much better at turning people into himself than they are, a HiveMind that takes control of people's minds. Bird Person was shown to be loyal to Rick throughout the series, but then it was revealed in the past that he rejected becoming Rick's partner and being closer to him because, in his words, their relationship isn't worth his integrity. It's implied that even though Bird Person truly does care for Rick and considers him his friend, he also knows how toxic he is and keeps him at a distance despite their friendship. Even though Mrs. Slow Mobius was able to get a happy ending by moving on with a new partner who suffered a similar tragedy, Rick Sanchez is just too broken and different as a person to do the same. |
| 612 | ** A further wrinkle to Rick's inability to "move on" from his pain is the implied side-effect of the Omega Weapon -- that in erasing a person's entire existence, it's also implied to begin erasing the memories of them as well from the minds of those who knew them. Slow Mobius' kid doesn't recognise a portrait of him as his father, and Mrs. Slow Mobius has to take a moment to recall enough to tell him who he was. The weapon doesn't ''immediately'' erase the memories of those who've been lost, but if enough time passes and one lets the details go fuzzy, then those two vanish, and memories are ''all'' that left of a victim of the weapon anymore. This allows those who mourn in the wake of their loss to ''continue'' feeling that pain, knowing that if they let too much go, they'll never get it back, and it'll be like them having killed their loved one all over again. In Rick's case, even if the memories of Diane cause him incredible pain and drive him into further toxic and self-destructive behavior, he loves her ''so much'' that he can't bear to forget a single one, instead continuing to hold them close whilst indulging in whatever behavior he can to numb the pain. |
| 613 | |
| 614 | [[AC: Rickfending your Mort]] |
| 615 | * Rick is shown to still be dealing with the aftermath of the previous episode, so much so that Morty is forced to cash in his adventure slips to force him out of his funk. |
| 616 | * While you can chalk it up to the depression Rick is feeling? It is very telling of how little Rick actually trusts or values Morty that he would need to have his adventures verified by an outside party to validate the punch cards. |
| 617 | * One of the clips shows an alien kidnapping attractive people all around the world. Summer goes outside, fully aware that she could be kidnapped, takes that risk all to wonder if she truly is attractive. When the alien fails to kidnap her, choosing to take others? Summer starts crying. |
| 618 | * In another clip, Morty is taken advantage of by two bullies after he turns into a boat and they get stranded on a desert island. During their stay, one of the bullies dies via IncurableCoughOfDeath. This is made all the worse when Rick casually portals to the island to get Morty, meaning he could have saved them at any time, but chose not to until he needed Morty, leaving the other bully stranded. |
| 619 | |
| 620 | [[AC: Rise of the Numericons]] |
| 621 | * Even after their passionate exchange, 7 telling Water T that numbers and letters can never be together as the numericons go off to destroy his homeworld. |
| 622 | |
| 623 | [[AC: Mort: Ragnarick]] |
| 624 | * There's something a little sad mixed in with the funny of Rick and Morty chasing off Bigfoot. After dying together multiple times, it's sad that the 2 humans can't stop seeing Bigfoot as an animal that needs to live in the wild even when he's now by all measures a man. |
| 625 | |
| 626 | [[AC: Fear No Mort]] |
| 627 | * Even if it was an illusion, there's something very sad about a young Diane meeting her grown up daughter and being unable to process being in either a new universe or a new timeline (whichever one comes first). |
| 628 | * After an ongoing montage of Morty second-guessing what his greatest fear is, which keeps him stuck in the Fear Hole, he realizes that his true greatest fear is being seen by Rick as being expendable. This comes after Morty realizes Rick never went into the Hole with him after he "gets out", then hears Rick saying he is "irreplaceable", and Morty ''immediately'' looks distrustful, but quickly looks shocked, as if startled he distrusted that so quickly. This moment he has makes him realize ''that's'' his greatest fear: ''the thought that Rick would never say that to him''. Morty summing it up perfectly as the fear that, even after how much they've bonded and forged a true friendship together, ''if he jumped in a hole, Rick wouldn't jump in after him''. |
| 629 | * The end of the episode shows Rick contemplating jumping into the Fear Hole after hearing Morty say that he saw Diane in there. He ends up not doing it and just leaves a picture of Morty hanging on the wall since he went in and out of the Hole successfully, but it scratched that deep itch of Rick's to just see his wife One More Time. |
| 630 | * Once again even the Stinger could be seen as this to a degree as our Mr. Poopy Butthole reveals to have swiped one of Rick's portal guns and ends up traveling to another dimension to send THAT version's Poopy Butthole away so he can take over, all without his wife or son noticing. |
| 631 | [[/folder]] |
| 632 | |
| 633 | [[folder:Extras]] |
| 634 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHB_s970Uyw Mr. Poopybutthole looks over his family album]]. In a short released by Adult Swim, we see Mr Poopybutthole reminiscing over a photo album. While most of his memories are happy ones, such as his wedding day and the birth of his child, we see a flashback of his little grey cat "Kitty" growing old and succumbing to old age. There's one photo that shows Poopy holding Kitty's blanket and silently weeping as his wife and dog comfort him. If you're a pet owner, this may get you misty-eyed. |
| 635 | * On July 23rd, adult swim released a 10 episode miniseries labeled "Vindicators 2", to their youtube channel, serving as a prequel to the Vidicators 3 episode...and turns out there's quite a few tearjerking moments throughout these minisodes. |
| 636 | ** Episode 6 sees Supernova's miscarriage of her and 'Alan Rails' (OK actually her and Million Ants') child, in the form of a large explosion, destroying the planet she was on. While many creatures that were on it were already dead (by her and Vance's hands), we don't actually know if EVERY life form was already deceased. |
| 637 | ** The above brings us to episode 7. Supernova goes out to a space nightclub with Lady Katana, Diablo Verde, & Calypso...if you recall, these are the three Vindicators Morty mentioned had died between Vindicators 2 & 3. Turns out we find out HOW they died. It wasn't in battle but by Supernova in a drunken stupor (thankfully we only see the aftermath but it does NOT look pretty). |
| 638 | ** We later see that Alan Rails took the miscarriage hard and it turns out he was really looking forward to being a father. |
| 639 | [[/folder]] |
| 640 | |
| 641 | [[folder:''Pocket Mortys'']] |
| 642 | * Test-X1 Morty's backstory. He's an artificial Morty created by a Rick shattered with guilt after his original Morty's death. It can switch over to SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming|Moments}} when you realize it means Rick cares more about Morty than he lets on. |
| 643 | ** Test-X46 Morty can only feel pain and hunger, and his creation led to the downfall and financial ruin of his Rick. It's implied that the final evolution, Test-X72 Morty, is a result of a "transdimensional pharmaceutical conglomerate" acquiring him after a hostile takeover. |
| 644 | * At the Rick restroom in the Morty Games area, hidden in the bottom right corner is a picture of a Morty. Walking up to it and interacting with it leads to this line. |
| 645 | -->'''Ghost Rick''': I'll never give up on you, Morty. I know you're out there… somewhere. |
| 646 | * Summer Morty's sister died when she was 17 and his Rick erased his memories to "keep him from pain". Jerry Morty "never knew his real father", and Beth Morty's mother left him when he was young. Each of these Mortys are dressed like their lost family member, carrying around a photo of them at all times, and have character traits like "anguished", "stunted development", and "mother issues". The kicker is the last Morty in the line, Rick Morty; he was tired of being called an idiot and "would never have even half the brain power" his Rick possessed. Like the other Mortys in his line, he's also dressed like Rick, but instead of carrying a photo he's carrying a brain. This and the choice words in his description implies this Morty pulled a KillAndReplace on his Rick. |
| 647 | [[/folder]] |
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/context.php
FollowingContext TearJerker / RickAndMorty
Go To
- Show Spoilers
- Night Vision
- Sticky Header
- Wide Load
