In Which Rick and Morty Ends on a High Note but Still Felt Off-key
Rick Sanchez is abusive. He’s never shied away from that, it wasn’t a subtext of the show but the core of its central relationship. Morty is his preferred target but if Rick can wield power over you he will and if he can’t he’ll likely try to kill you for daring. That the two-part finale explored the relationship between the two main characters produced a compelling hour of television but the execution ultimately felt hollow.
Whatever Morty was, it is clearly that most of his identity now is provided by his relationship with and to Rick. He barely goes to school, he doesn’t have any friends and is actively traumatized by his grandfather while his mother and father do nothing. In season five, we see two potential relationships end before they could ever truly take root. We see Summer attempt to replace him. And we see Rick denigrate him as all but worthless.
To add insult to injury, it is Rick that gets emotionally healthy when the two split. Rick finds new partners, reaches a new understanding and accepts a new direction. Morty feels like he needs Rick, something that has been reinforced everyday of his life since Rick appeared. Rick doesn’t need him. And may be better off.
That story beat bothered me. It wasn’t that either Rick nor Morty were acting out of character. It was that Rick gaining empathy and resolving to be better in the future was treated as true progress. It wasn’t. It was facile and empty.
Our popular culture is filled with depictions of complicated men learning lessons off the backs of the people they’ve harmed. We, the audience, are supposed to put ourselves in their shoes and side with them. But if you don’t, if you don’t associate with Rick then him gaining empathy isn’t enough.
Rick saying to Morty, “We can’t adventure anymore, our dynamic was toxic” is only step one, not the last. We have so few stories of those that have harmed actually helping their victims heal, of being held accountable. Rick wasn’t. Him acknowledging the obvious when he’s the smartest man in the universe is simply unimpressive.
This is why Evil Morty fascinated me. He was a boy driven to do evil things because the only true evil in a multiverse ruled by Ricks is to hate Rick. The truest sin isn’t what you do to people but to hate God. And Evil Morty did. He hated Rick, him seeing them as just multiple iterations of the same awful person. But even still he didn’t try to conqueror the Ricks. He wanted to be free of them.
I wish that Evil Morty’s words had a clearer impact on Morty, that the show was willing to commit to an eventual permanent separation. Not because Rick got healthy but that Morty realized their dynamic only works if he’s unhealthy. And while I doubt they intended to do so, this season’s finale made the “Toxins” episode finally make sense.
Why was the show so insistent that this Morty was unhealthy? He had relationships, a job, he was fine. It’s because a “healthy” Morty is one that doesn’t need nor want Rick which definitionally makes him unhealthy. Rick will never truly aid Morty in becoming better, he needs his grandson to be codependent. He shouldn’t get a medal for acknowledging that fact.
Alright, gang, what did you think of this season of Rick and Morty and where would you like for their relationship to go? Leave comments.
Later Days