Rick and Morty
word of advice : SPOILERS ahead forRick and MortySeason 3 , Episode 9
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Rick and Mortydoesn’t take itself very seriously , and since it ’s a science - fiction series ( albeit with an anarchic comedy bent ) Dan Harmon and the writer have always take a special joy inneedling fanswho endeavor to take it badly anyway . The show mocks its own sense of persistence , blows off seemingly " important " secret plan threads with a measured shrug , and use its central sci - fi conceit ( that the titular " Rick " is able to journey interdimensionally between alternate reality comprising infinite incarnations of every part - himself include ) as both a fix - all for almost any extreme plot turn and a way of reinforcing Rick ’s omniscient - syndicalist view of the universe of discourse as something like a series motto : " Nothing matters . "
Except that itdoes , and that ’s the dramatic event that ’s underpinned all the drollery ever since the broad extent of what Rick ’s ability ( re : being the smartest homo in the macrocosm and also the only one who get to break the " you only get one reality " rule ) were divulge in time of year 1’s"Rick Potion No . 9;“where a rarefied attempt by Morty to tap his grandfather ( Rick ’s ) inventions ( and deficiency of honorable restraint ) to his own remainder in effect destruct the world . Rick " solved " this problem by casually relocating both of them to another reality - one identical to their own , keep open that the apocalypse had been averted and the other Rick and Morty had randomly died shortly thereafter . The concluding second go out Morty ( and the audience ) dumbstruck at how impossibly well-fixed it was for them to " get away " with this and Rick ’s consummate nonchalance ; both numbed by the same chilling ( to save nothing of judgement - alter ) motion : " How many clock time has Rick done this ? "
This , of course , is all part of the bigger ( actual ) closed book that sits at the foundation garment of the serial ' main plot : Rick Sanchez fly without explanation from his girl Beth ’s ( Morty ’s mom ) life when she was a untested girl , only to re - seem decades later as a dimension - hopping alcoholic super - scientist who ( for yet - unexplained reason ) " pauperism " to continue his various experimentation - almost all of which involve sci - fi version of small - time criminal action . Why he go away , what he was doing and why he ’s back now have all been questions whose answers are parse out slowly , in piece and often in contradiction over three seasons , but the overriding implication has tended to be that it involves " something bad " that Rick is either working to prevent or to bring about ( season 3 has largely been all about prompt us that it ’s perhaps more potential that Rick is the villain of his own fib ) , and that his coming and go are flat bind to this .
“THAT ACORN PLOPPED STRAIGHT DOWN”
But if Rick isnotthe most dangerous thing in the Universe , Rick and Mortyhas no deficit of possible other character seemingly prepared to step into the theatrical role - if they are n’t already occupying it . The Galactic Federation do n’t seem to be necessarily be good guys , and neither do The Council of Ricks ( a collective of Rick ’s alternate selves from across the multiverse , who regard " our " Rick as the regretful of the clump ) and multiple other occasional curse . There ’s also " Evil Morty , " a memorable season 1 villain who made a shocking return two episodes back that seemed to reposition him as the new looming Big Bad . Indeed , the mind that " the enemy " ( if there is one ) could be an alternate version of a member of the Sanchez category ( Rick , Morty , Morty ’s babe Summer , Beth and her now - ex - hubby Jerry Smith ) is apopular sports fan theory;and last Sunday ’s instalment featured a shocking mid - story swerve that find one of them in conclusion realise - and excepting - that they were in fact " just like Rick . " But it was n’t Morty ( or even " a Morty " ) … it wasBeth !
Titled"The ABC ’s of Beth,“the episode send Morty and Summer off to deal with Jerry in a drollery B - story while Rick ( reluctantly ) came clean to Beth about a few affair . Specifically , after teach that a topically - infamous death row inmate convicted for murdering his boy Tommy age ago was finally set to be execute , Beth recalled that Tommy had actually been a childhood friend of hers and that she had " convinced herself " at the fourth dimension that he ’d not been killed but rather lose in " FroopyLand , " her imaginary fantasy earth . Problem ? As it turn out , FroopyLand was n’t imaginary : It was an actual position , a pocket - universe of discourse ( designed in the manner of aMy Little Pony / Lisa Frank rainbow - colourise wonderland ) that Rick had created for her as a girl - mean that Tommy might still be animated and trapped there .
A rescue attack lead to some fairly repelling ( even for Rick and Morty ) reveals about how Tommy had managed to survive and what had become of FroopyLand with Tommy as it ’s " magnate ; " but that turned out to be mismanagement for the braggart reveal : Every Rick , in every realism , also made a FroopyLand for " their " beth ; but not as she ’d assumed to get rid of her - they did it for the protection of the vicinity . As Rick puts it : " You [ Beth ] were a shuddery f***ing child , adult male ! " and " It was just more hardheaded to withdraw you before I had to get , y’know , clone a transposition for every less - than - polite little male child or fleeceable animal that cross your socio - itinerary . "
To establish his point , Rick revealed a both of toys that young Beth had ask him to invent for her - all of them either fearsome variation on stereotypical " little girl " toys ( a engorge animal with biologically - correct organs for dissecting , a pink talking switchblade knife , a cat - atomic number 8 - nine tails " that makes the great unwashed like you " ) or just practical tools that a nonparallel killer might need - simulated fingerprints , " rainbow " duct tape , a replica police badge .
EVIL… OR JUST SMART?
finally , Rick and Beth work the Tommy problem , but in a decidedly Rick - like mode ( i.e. violently and dishonestly but " okay " because those wrong but still endure will never know the truth ) . It also conduce to Beth in the end allow " I ’m my father " - first with repulsion , but then with exhilaration . And if one could ignore what it was they were really doing , the climactic coda of them at long last move out the variety of family relationship Beth has been ache for - the two of them function together on a " problem solving " experiment as partners - would almost be mellifluous . But it also mean that Beth ca n’t hide from her own the true anymore : Her father is n’t a misunderstood good guy wire she wants to be like ; he ’s a bad guy who she ’s precisely like .
" Am I malefic ? " " Worse , " Rick says " you ’re smart ; " which to Rick entail that she ( like he ) " gets " that the universe of discourse is a giant wasted joke of a thing and has the option ( like he does ) of take off and tantalise lifespan until it throws her off . He even bid to give her a guilt - gratuitous style out : He ’ll make a utter clone , with all her memories , that can step into her place , lovingly raise her nipper and do her job with no evident difference and " zero hazard of going Blade Runner " for as long as she need to be gone - even if it ’s constantly . She take a crap a decision , but we do n’t get to find out what it was , with the scene or else cutting to Morty and Summer retrovert home to portion out a blissfully - incognizant family dinner party with Rick and ( a ? ) Beth .
Along with reminding us that Rick is decidedlynotthe " grinder " ofRick & Morty , Season 3 has also been about teasing fans with the aspect of what chance when his influence infects the rest of the syndicate . We ’ve already assemble one Evil Morty , we ’ve now watch what " our " Morty might look like with his cowardliness and indecision removed ( unforesightful rendering : he becomes Jordan Belfort ) and Summer has actively essay to become detached and dark , but " Evil Beth " - armed to the teeth with the arm Rick had made at her request as a miss - is really the first time we ’ve see to it any of them be well at it and not at long last pass up it as a persona . That ’s reasonably scary , but ( because Rick & Morty does , secretly , take this part of itself middling seriously ) not without case law . It ’s been established before that Jerry was a codependent doormat who relish her contumely , and at one point a machine project to generate a projection of his scene of her created an unstoppable monster .
It also , perhaps more significantly in the farseeing - term , adds a dark young attribute to all of the still - unrequited big mysteries about Rick himself . The question of why he abandoned Beth and her mother ( whose identicalness is also still unknown , at least to the audience ) now comes with an option most would n’t have consider : Did he forget because of what Beth was ? Is he back now for the same reason ? Have his previous action i.e. squeeze Morty and Summer to keep most of their exploits hole-and-corner from their mother and engineering her divorce from Jerry been about protect them from her - and is that why he ’s willing to make the ringer ? Keep in mind : The wonted stake - credits " stinger " this metre served as an extra comedic flush in the teeth for Jerry ’s B - story - include the reveal that , sometime in the interim , Rick had found time to write his life .
Is whatever is " wrong " with her really only the result of inheriting his pathology , or is it something else ? It might be important that , when Rick tiredly interjects " Firstly , you ’re not my girl " into their argument this clock time , it ’s Beth who cuts him off an explains that she already understands about The Multiverse … Rick does n’t really polish off his prison term . Remember : Interdimensional travelling " live " here , but time - traveling does n’t - Rick ca n’t prevent or desex mistakes , only foresee or miss them . Only one thing can be sealed : Whether Beth choose to leave or not , somewhere there ’s at least one version of Beth who only just understand the " freedom " of living like a Rick ; and while the show does n’t of necessity believe in that nihilistic vision of the truth , it feels like Beth absolutely does … and might think she has some catch up to do . And given that a good stack of the big problems Rick and Morty be given to face regard Rick ’s " creations " going out of command , it feels all plausible that the serial publication ' next handsome threat … has been close to house all along .
Next:Rick and Morty Reveals Rick’s Toxic Worst Enemy
