Rick and Morty didn't get to be one of the best sci-fi shows on the air simply by throwing the titular duo into one wacky adventure after another. This is a series full of complex, flawed characters trapped in a nihilistic universe where anything can (and usually does) happen. Many of the most memorable Rick and Morty moments are those where the crazy sci-fi antics take a back-seat to real, disturbing character drama.
With the series finally returning to Adult Swim this weekend, we thought it would be a good time to look back at the most disturbing and emotionally devastating moments the series has delivered so far. Beware of spoilers for episodes up to and including the Season 3 premiere, "The Rickshank Redemption."
As seen in: "Rick Potion #9" (Season 1)
This episode began innocuously enough, with Morty convincing his grandpa to concoct a love potion to make high school crush Jessica fall madly in love with him. But things tend to escalate quickly in this series, and it wasn't long before the entire town had been transformed into an army of nightmarish "Cronenberg" monsters. In most shows, this would be the point where our heroes whip up a handy cure that conveniently returns everything to the status quo. But the Rick and Morty universe doesn't really work that way.
Instead, this episode ended with Rick dragging his grandson to an alternate universe almost identical to their own and taking the place of their recently deceased counterparts. And that was that. No happy ending. The duo have continued to live in this alternate universe ever since, while Morty is constantly haunted by the knowledge that his own body is buried in the backyard and that his "real" family is stuck in a post-apocalyptic world ruled by Cronenbergs.
As seen in: "Ricksy Business" (Season 1)
Rick Sanchez is a man who loves his wacky catchphrases. But it turns out that "Wubba Lubba dub-dub" isn't simply the nonsensical rambling of a kooky old man. Rick's best friend Birdperson revealed that, in his language, it actually means "I am in great pain, please help me." This wasn't the first time the show made it apparent that Rick was dealing with a great deal of depression underneath his fun-loving facade, but this revelation highlighted just what a damaged individual he is.
As seen in: "A Rickle In Time" (Season 2)
In the Season 2 premiere, Rick and his grandkids learned that you can't simply freeze time for six months without facing some pretty dire consequences. As a result, the trio found themselves trapped in an exponentially growing number of parallel timelines. Rick created a set of collars that could forces these timelines to re-combine, but that plan hit a snag when Morty dropped his collar into the void below Rick's garage.
Facing his own imminent death, Rick performed one of the few truly noble and selfless acts of his life by giving his collar to Morty and allowing himself to plummet into the void. For a brief moment, Rick seemed content to accept his death. It was almost as if he had finally grown and evolved as a person. But nope. He survived his ordeal and went right back to being the same, old, self-centered Rick.
As seen in: "Mortynight Run" (Season 2)
In the Rick and Morty universe, even video games are less pleasant diversions and more disturbing glimpses into the meaninglessness of existence. This episode opened with Rick dragging his grandson to Blips and Chitz, an interstellar arcade center where the most popular attraction is a VR game called "Roy: A Life Well Lived." The object of the game is simple - role-play as an ordinary, middle-class human Roy from birth to death -- the catch being that Roy's entire life unfolds in real time.
The poor, unwitting Morty was subjected to decades of this existence, emerging from the game with an entire lifetime of false memories and enough psychological trauma to last a good, long while.
As seen in: "Auto Erotic Assimilation" (Season 2)
This episode introduced us to Unity, an old flame from Rick's past who also happens to be a hive mind intelligence bent on assimilating all life in the universe. Naturally, that plan took a detour when she reconnected with Rick for a few days of wild, drug-fueled debauchery.
Luckily for Unity, she had the presence of mind (minds?) to realize that her ex-boyfriend was still a very bad influence. Rick didn't take that re-breakup very well at all. This episode ended with a dejected Rick returning to his garage, cloning a hideous Cronenberg pet, murdering said pet with a death ray and finally attempting to turn the death ray on himself. The only thing that saved Rick from oblivion was the fact that he passed out before the death ray reactivated. Birdperson wasn't joking when he said Rick was a man in deep pain.
As seen in: "Total Rickall" (Season 2)
Leave it to Rick and Morty to deliver the most high-concept bottle episode of all time. Here, the Smith family found themselves locked inside their home as Rick dealt with an invasion by an alien parasite that worms its way into a host's memories and impersonates nonexistent friends and loved ones. Before long, the house was packed to the gills with dozens of colorful characters like Pencilvestyr, Amish Cyborg and Photography Raptor.
This parasite even created an entirely new husband for Beth in the form of Sleepy Gary. But Jerry didn't seem to mind, as Gary turned out to be both his best friend and his secret lover. So it wasn't too surprising when Jerry took the death of Sleepy Gary hard. What hurt him more - the loss of his best friend or the knowledge that he never actually existed in the first place? Either way, you couldn't help but feel awful for poor Jerry as he cradled the liquified remains of Sleepy Gary in his lap.
As seen in: "Total Rickall" (Season 2)
"Total Rickall" didn't stop traumatizing viewers with the death of Sleepy Gary. This episode ended with the Smith family successfully ridding their home of all alien parasites, a task made easier once Rick revealed that the parasites' only flaw is their inability to implant unhappy memories.
That happy ending took a dark turn when Beth shot Mr. Poopybutthole, a bizarre, cheerful little creature who, it turned out, was very much real. The sight of Mr. Poopybutthole writhing in agony on the floor wasn't even as disturbing as the shot of a distraught Beth fleeing to the kitchen and drowning her misery in wine. It was a stark reminder that, in some ways, Beth is every bit as depressed and dysfunctional as her father.
As seen in: "The Ricks Must Be Crazy" (Season 2)
Summer got her wish in Season 2 as she became a more frequent participant in Rick and Morty's wacky adventures. But she definitely regretted that after this episode. Summer stayed behind in the spaceship as Rick and Morty ventured into the Microverse battery powering the vehicle. Rick's parting words to the ship - "Keep Summer safe" - wound up having very dire consequences.
The ship's first act was to slice a passerby into small cubes. When Summer ordered the ship not to kill anyone, it responded by paralyzing its next unlucky victim. Summer then insisted that no one be harmed, an order which the ship accommodated by waging psychological warfare on the responding police officers. The ship tormented one officer by temporarily resurrecting his dead son, warning the others "All of you have loved ones. All can be returned. All can be taken away."
Skynet has nothing on this twisted A.I. unit.
As seen in: "The Wedding Squanchers" (Season 2)
One of the running gags in Season 2 involved the love affair between Birdperson and Summer's friend Tammy. That subplot culminated in the season finale as the two held a romantic wedding ceremony (much to Rick's chagrin). It was an unusually cheerful moment for the series, which probably should have clued viewers into the fact that something awful was about to happen. And happen it did, as Tammy revealed herself to be an undercover agent of the Galactic Federation, one who married Birdperson just to get close and lead her masters to Rick's band of intergalactic terrorists. As if losing the woman he loved wasn't bad enough, Birdperson was killed by her, too.
This particular twist did have a somewhat happy ending, at least. Birdperson was resurrected in cyborg form by Tammy at the end of "The Rickshank Redemption," suggesting that, despite everything, she does love him.
As seen in: "The Wedding Squanchers" (Season 2) & "The Rickshank Redemption" (Season 3)
Any scene set to the tune of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" is bound to qualify as one of the most emotionally devastating Rick and Morty moments ever. Season 2 ended on a huge downer as Rick and his family hid from the Galactic Federation on a tiny planet and Rick came to realize how much his fugitive status was costing his loved ones. Rick made another of his rare, selfless decisions as he turned himself into the Federation in exchange for allowing his family to return safely to Earth. Worse still, he didn't warn his family of his actions, leading them to believe Rick had simply abandoned them again.
As depressing as that twist was, at least Rick was doing the honorable thing for a change, right? Not really. "The Rickshank Redemption" revealed that the entire thing was a ruse. Rick simply wanted to use himself as bait in order to worm his way inside the Federation's systems and destroy his enemy utterly. Even when Rick seems to be doing the right thing, he usually has a much more selfish scheme in mind.
As seen in: "The Rickshank Redemption" (Season 3)
The entire series hinges on the relationship between the self-absorbed Rick and his neurotic grandson Morty. And as much as Rick has helped Morty come out of his shell and experience the wonders of the universe, theirs is a profoundly messed-up relationship. And every so often, Morty's pent-up aggression towards his grandfather bubbles to the surface in dramatic ways.
We saw that once before in "Total Rickall," when Morty nearly shot Rick dead before realizing that the fact that he had so many unhappy memories of his grandfather meant that Rick was real. But in this episode, Morty went a step further and pulled the trigger as he tried to save Summer's life in a deadly standoff between Ricks. It turned out that this was Rick's plan all along. He handed Morty a pistol with the note "Fake gun, shoot me in standoff," trusting that Morty would provide the necessary distraction.
The thing is, Morty didn't see that note. He acted with the full intent to kill his grandfather. That basically sets the tone for the Rick/Morty dynamic in Season 3, with the show veering in ever darker directions.
What are your favorite emotionally devastating Rick and Morty moments? Let us know in the comments!
Jesse is a mild-mannered writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.
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