Rick and Morty - S1E10 - Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind (part 2 of a 2 part analysis)
“I get it,” Rick C-137 says, “so you want me to team up with you to take down the Council of Ricks, right? Is that where you’re going with this? 'Cause that’s where I’d be going.”
Evil Rick denies this, saying he’s doing pretty good on his own. He informs Rick C-137 that his only plans for him are to download the contents of his brain and then kill him. ← A real James Bond moment.
We’re not actually told what Evil Rick wants with the contents of Rick C-137’s brain, nor whether this is what he did with any other Ricks before he killed them. We know he didn’t do it with the Rick we saw him kill in the opening scene. In that scene, he simply stepped through the portal, shot that Rick, kidnapped Morty, and left as quickly as he came. It’s possible that all the contents of that Rick’s brain overlapped with other Ricks, other Ricks of which Evil Rick already downloaded the contents of their brains, so there wasn’t any need for it in that case. If that’s true, a plausible theory might be that Evil Rick is trying not only to be the only Rick in existence, but to achieve ultimate Rick genius by amassing everything that every Rick knows. Of course, an alternative theory is that all Evil Rick is doing is kidnapping Morties for his Morty Matrix. He kills the Ricks so that they don’t come after their Morties. The only reasons he’s downloading the contents of C-137’s brain is because, well, might as well since he now has the opportunity. The only problem with this theory is it doesn’t explain why he wants to hide from other Ricks. What’s he going to do now that he’s isolated himself in an impenetrable fortress that’s “off the grid” as Rick C-137 says? But all these theories may be for not when we get to the unexpected twist we’ll see at the end (no spoilers!).
Back to the two doofuses:
Doofus Rick: “Okay, if we add a little more titanium nitrate and just a tad of chlorophyte tartrate… [pours the mixture into a pan]… ovenless brownies!”
Jerry: “[Takes a piece and eats it] Mmm… mm… It’s incredible what a gifted mind can accomplish when priorities are in order.”
First of all, I don’t know if chlorophyte tartrate is a real thing (or if that’s spelled correctly), but that aside, this is proof that Doofus Rick is no dummy (if such proof was lacking before). He certainly has a “gifted mind” as do all other Ricks (as far as we know). Jerry’s comment, however, is (as always) a bit ironic: that this Rick’s priorities are in order–I guess that means being nice, but really it more likely means being nice to him–and that making ovenless brownies–even scrumptiously delicious ones–is incredible. I mean, sure, whipping up a chemical mixture that turns into brownies is quite incredible, but why wasn’t Jerry saying this about Rick’s AI robot in the last episode. It seems Rick, all of a sudden, accomplishes incredible things just by treating Jerry with respect.
They hug each other and laugh good hardy laughs, fortifying the bonds of friendship.
Jerry invites Doofus Rick back into the house (they’re in the garage) saying “Come here, I… I want to show you something.” He brings him up to his room to show him his coin collection–the ones with R2D2s on it–trusting his judgement because he’s a “genius scientist”. Doofus Rick, with a skeptical look on his face, examines the coins.
“You know, Jerry,” he begins with sappy music playing in the background, “I’m not gonna tell you these will increase in value or even hold their current value. The truth is, you bought them 'cause you like 'em. They have value to you. That’s what matters.”
Jerry tears up and says: “How long are you staying?”
Doofus Rick: “Until we find your Rick.”
Jerry: “[Embraces Doofus Rick] I found mine. I found mine.”
^ Doofus Rick here shows another very Rick-like characteristic besides intelligence: straight forward honesty. But unlike Rick C-137, he’s able to spin it in a very positive, encouraging, and compassionate way–showing that no Rick has to be rude in order to be honest–some truths are just a matter of how you spin them.
He’s also offering Jerry more external validation–ironically, external validation on how to internally validate–in other words, he’s telling Jerry what Jerry ought to be telling himself–and though it’s good advice, hearing it from someone else most likely only reinforces Jerry’s dependence on external validation. I mean, tearing up and hugging Doofus Rick, saying “I found mine. I found mine.” is a way of saying: I need you to keep validating me.
Pounding on the prison cell door, Morty C-137 is shouting out “HELP!!!” to no avail. One of the Morties approaches him to inform him of this: “There is no escape, my son. We will find our peace in the next world.” He, along with a handful of other Morties standing around him, are dressed in robes and their faces decorated in red makeup, as if part of a religious cult:
The lead Morty hands C-137 a small book. C-137 responds:
“So what? Y-y-you’re just gonna give up?”
“We’re giving in,” says the lead Morty, “to the power of the One True Morty. [Flips down his hood; he’s bald underneath.] One day he will return. [Looks to the sky and clasps his hands in prayer.]”
He and his followers say in unison: “Praise the One True Morty.”
Morty C-137 looks down at the book he was handed. It’s titled: “The Good Morty.” He opens it. It’s a comic strip. The first box features two Morties: one with glasses sitting at a computer saying to the other Morty behind him: “Morty, take a look at this website!” In the next box, the Morty standing behind him says “Hmm, I don’t think we should be on a site like this.”
Whatever the intricacies and profundities of this Morty cult’s religious beliefs, it’s reminiscent of Christianity, and I wonder if it’s a jab on the part of the writers. It seems to suggest that religion, and Christianity in particular, is the result of “giving up” on life, just laying down passively to all the harsh brutalities of life in the hopes that, in the next life, all will be made up for and peace finally found. Even the statement: “One day he will return,” is reminiscent of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The book handed to Morty C-137 is, in particular, reminiscent of the Bible, and it’s title “The Good Morty” suggestive of the roll the Bible plays in Christianity: an example of how to be good so as to earn peace in the next life. It’s questionable whether “The Good Morty” is supposed to be the “One True Morty,” but this doesn’t develop much beyond this scene.
Interestingly, the faith this small cult following has in the peace they will find in the next life seems to bring them some degree of peace now. They don’t seem nearly as stressed out as the other Morties. As much as they seem deluded by a desperate need to cling to some kind of false hope, as much as this may be seen as “giving up” in the eyes of Morty C-137, it appears to be working for them, more so than for the other Morties.
And: what does it mean when they say of the One True Morty: “One day he will return”? Does it mean he’s been here before? It kind of hints at a previous rebellion, at a previous attempt to overthrow Evil Rick which failed, especially given what happens next:
Morty C-137 tosses the book aside expressing in disgust: “Eugh.” He proceeds to stand on a box and announces to everyone:
“All right, Morties, listen up! My name is Morty Smith from Earth dimension C-137! I know you’re scared, because I’m scared! But that’s no reason to accept our fate! We’re Morties! We’re not defined by our relationships to Rick! Our destine is our own!”
“This sounds like something the One True Morty might say,” says one Morty, “I’m sick of being a human shield! I-I-I wanna be a gardener.”
“I want to write really, crazy, intense… action novels!” says an alien-antenna Morty.
“I’m more than just a hammer!” says Hammer Head Morty.
“He’s the one true Morty!” says one of the cult Morties.
I guess this answers our earlier question: is the One True Morty the same as The Good Morty? And the answer is no. Morty C-137 dismisses The Good Morty with an “Eugh”–much like a Rick would do–in favor of provoking an uprising. Yet what we saw in the comic strip is exactly what a Morty would do. A Morty would insist that they not visits websites they aren’t supposed to. Yet this is the same Morty dismissing this comic strip in order to provoke a rebellion. Has Rick rubbed off on him? Is it just that he hasn’t been worn down yet by the futility of trying to escape?
Morty C-137’s words catch fire. They not only revive hope in the hearts of all the Morties but provoke a full scale revolt. When the lobster guard comes in to tell them to keep it down, they storm him.
Back in the control center, Evil Rick is downloading the contents of Rick C-137’s brains. They’re watching it on a screen. It’s kind of reminiscent of the scene in 1980’s Flash Gordon when Dr. Zarkov’s memory is wiped. We see scenes from Rick C-137’s past flash before Rick C-137’s eyes (literally)–scenes of adventures he’s been on, of women he’s slept with (which turn into man eating aliens), of Morty–some from scenes of past episodes, some from when Morty was a baby.
Some on the internet have noticed this scene with Morty as a toddler in diapers being picked up by Rick–the odd thing being, they say, that Morty C-137, currently, is only a young teenager (it’s not actually specified, but we can speculate that he’s probably a young 14/15 or so). In any case, he’s certainly not a 20 year old, the age he would have to be, according to these people on the internet, if Rick could possibly have held him as a toddler. According to these people, Rick has been absent from the Smith family for 20 years. ← However, after a bit of research on this theory, I have found no official mention about how long Rick has actually been away from the Smith family, and in fact, the Rick and Morty wiki site (yes, they have one: rickandmorty.wikia.com/wiki/Rick_and_Morty_Wiki) says that Rick’s only been gone for 14 years… effectively squashing that theory. Now, I don’t know how trustworthy rickandmorty.wikia.com is but, but it can’t be any more trustworthy than wikipedia… in fact, it’s one of the most formal internet sources out there for Rick and Morty trivia. Nonetheless, for an episode that seems to be hinting at the fact that this is Rick’s 1 year anniversary back into the Smith’s lives, it would be pretty convenient to slip in a hint at a conspiracy theory. (Or maybe this young toddler Morty just isn’t C-137.)
Evil Rick: “You’ve lived quite a life, Rick. It’s a real shame you’re not going to be around to see it through.”
Then the scenes of Morty come onto the screen. Rick C-137’s eyes well up in tears as sappy music plays.
Evil Rick: “You’re crying? Over a Morty?”
Rick C-137: “No, I’m just allergic to dip shits!” ← Perfect example of a mask (albeit a rather obvious one).
This scene strikes me as the moment we get closest to Rick’s true feelings. Welling up with tears in this moment would not only be extremely hard for a Rick to fake, but counterproductive, particularly in Rick C-137’s current situation where he probably shouldn’t be showing signs of weakness in front of the evil genius about to kill him. But yet, there it is. We weeps at the memories of Morty and all the times they’ve spent together. And his come back to Evil Rick: “No, I’m just allergic to dip shit,” is simply another–very quickly and quite cleverly whipped up–mask. As clever a come back as it might have been, however, it’s really a shitty mask. In fact, it’s not really masking anything at all… but it is a clever come back.
I suppose then, that this answers the question of whether Morty is just being used as a human shield, or there’s more to it (but there definitely is “it”). Obviously, Morty is more to Rick than a human shield. He’s his grandson. But this is lost on Evil Rick:
Evil Rick: “Eugh, pathetic. We both know that if there’s any truth in the universe, it’s that Rick’s don’t care about Morties [leans over C-137 with both arms clutching the sides of the beds].”
Not only is the value of family bonds lost on Evil Rick, but he’s almost unwittingly contradicting himself here. He calls C-137 “pathetic” for caring for a Morty, and in the same breath says that’s impossible, that Ricks don’t care for Morties. How is it a truth in the universe, as he puts it, if right before him is empirical evidence that it’s not? It’s almost like he’s trying to convince himself rather than convince C-137. After all, Rick’s behavior and the things he says can always, in principle, be construed as a mask. And maybe that’s what Evil Rick is trying to convey–that these tears are a mask… but a counter-productive mask? And a mask for what? ← These questions seem to slip right by Evil Rick.
Then the mob of Morties storm the control room, taking Evil Rick by surprise.
“Do your worst, you little bastards! Kill me! Do it!” Evil Rick says as the Morty mob overpowers him and take him down in a huddle.
Morty C-137 unshackles Rick C-137. “You’re lucky I’m not a Rick,” he says. “Point taken,” Rick says, “but this is-burp-no time for arcs,” as he gets up and dashes for the control panel. He presses a button that frees all the Morties outside (interesting that it ends up being Rick who saves them, not Morty). The Morties fall to their… freedom (I mean, it’s pretty high up for some of them; are we to believe they all survived the fall? And wouldn’t some of them catch some skin and flesh on the now opened shackles that line the wall?).
Rick C-137 calls home. An alternate sentinel Rick answers: “Yeah, hello?” “Hey,” Rick C-137 says, “what do me and OJ not have in common?” “Huh? Who-who is this?” sentinel Rick says. “I found the real killer, biiitch!!! Get over here!” says C-137.
We cut to Jerry and Doofus Rick putting together a lego castle–sort of a symbol of child-like innocence, something not even Morty could bring himself to be enthusiastic over when it came to constructing a model of the solar system–when two other Ricks come in the room and say “Yo Ding-Dong, we’re done here. Time to go.”
Doofus Rick tells Jerry this means good-bye. Jerry tries to persuade him otherwise:
“W-w-does it have to? [chuckles] You-you look just like Rick–we could maybe, you know, get rid of him? [Adamantly:] I’m not saying kill him, necessarily. I’m also not saying necessarily not kill him, but…”
Doofus Rick cuts him off with his finger to his lips: “Jerry, we both know it wouldn’t work. It’s time to go back to our lives.” They embrace. Doofus Rick: “I love you, Jerry. I love ya.” And he leaves. Jerry leans against the wall, eyes closed, and gives the wall a punch. A few pieces of the lego castle crumble. ← As much of a fool as Doofus Rick is, he’s got all the wisdom and insight as any other Rick.
After the Morties are done beating Evil Rick and his lobster minions to bloody pulps (Hammer Head Morty having an especially good time), several sentinel Ricks come through a few portals along with a few of the leaders for the Council of Ricks we saw in Rick C-137’s trial.
“What’s gonna happen to all these Morties?” Morty C-137 asks. “They’ll go back to their families,” says Triceratops Rick (as I call him), “attend school regularly, play video games, date girls… poor little Rickless bastards.” ← Typical Rick-like ego at it’s finest. Makes you wonder if this is the main reason, most likely out of many, why Rick is so insensitive. When he told Morty that Morties are useful to Ricks as human shield, he, in his own mind, might of thought of that as a privilege (but I don’t think so).
Back at the Council of Ricks, Triceratops Rick declares an official apology on behalf of the council to Rick C-137 for its false accusations. He offers Rick C-137 a free Morty-replacement voucher to which Rick C-137, actually a bit sensitive to Morty C-137’s issues of late, cuts them off saying “Not a good time” but takes the voucher anyway.
Walking through the “town square” (or the foyer or whatever) of the Council of Ricks, Morty says to Rick with a smug look on his face:
“Is it time for arcs yet Rick? I did a pretty good job back there for a human cloaking device. Saved your ass.”
Rick: “All right, Morty, don’t break an arm jerking yourself off.”
Morty: “Man, I can’t believe you, Rick. That right there–that-that was a great opportunity to show a little humanity, you know–to connect with me a little.”
Rick: “Hey Morty [stops and turns around], you want connection, go be part of some stupid club like all those dumb Ricks. You know, maybe I don’t connect because I’m the Rickest Rick there is,” ← Is that what defines a Rick? Not connecting? In that case, the very existence of the Council is quintessentially un-Rick-like. “And you know, it would g-burp-o without saying that the Rickest Rick would have the Mortiest Morty.”
Morty: “It would go without saying huh?”
Rick: “Yeah, it would. Did you hear me say it?”
Morty: “Nah… [To himself] The Mortiest Morty…”
Putting aside this clever device of Rick’s (i.e. to evade Morty’s criticisms of egoism by feeding him a dose of egoism himself), this concept of the “Mortiest Morty” is uncannily similar to the concept of “The One True Morty”. What would make for the “One True Morty”? Presumably the same thing that would make for the “Rickest Rick”. This idea that Rick conveys to Morty–that whatever the particular characteristics of an arbitrary Rick, those will be matched by counterpart characteristics of that Rick’s Morty–would suggest that whatever insights this episode affords us about Rick’s character ought to be matched by Morty’s character. So what does it mean that Rick C-137 is the Rickest Rick there is? That he’s the most evil Rick there is? No because Evil Rick was definitely more evil that Rick C-137. That he doesn’t connect? No, that just puts Rick C-137 on the outside of segment of the “central finite curve” that the Council of Ricks find themselves on. (All Ricks more evil than him would fall on the other side). I personally think it means Rick C-137 is the exact average of all the Ricks–at the peek of the bell curve–he is the exact poster boy for what makes a Rick a Rick. He is exactly midway between the most doofus Rick (which would be Rick J-19 zeta-7) and the most evil Rick (which would not be Evil Rick since we saw on the spectrum that there more evil Ricks than him)–all members of the Council of Ricks being like Doofus Rick because they “connect” while all other Rick’s being like Evil Rick because they don’t have the capacity to “connect”. Perhaps, then, when Rick says he doesn’t connect and that makes him the Rickest Rick there is, he means he has the capacity to connect but doesn’t give in to it (or masks it).
So what does that say about the Mortiest Morty? It says that he is the one Morty who is exactly right there at the center of the curve, the one Morty who is most like a Morty–that is, he really is the one true Morty. (If Evil Morty is the exemplar of the Morty on the Evil extreme of the curve, then maybe that puts “The Good Morty” on the other extreme, matching up with Doofus Rick (does that make Eric Stoltz Morty the exemplar of The Good Morty?)).
This makes sense out of why the Mortiest Morty could not be the Good Morty–in order for the Mortiest Morty to save the Rickest Rick’s ass, he had to be exactly midway between the Good Morty, whom the Morty Cult were trying to emulate by giving up, and Evil Morty, who wouldn’t save Rick, any Rick, at all–but this only becomes clear in the next scene. As for the present scene, Rick continues:
“Just don’t get too big for your loafers, buster brown. A cocky Morty can lead to some big problems. Can be a real bad thing for everybody.”
Morty: “Oh yeah? How’s that?”
Rick opens a portal.
Rick: “Uh, I-I’ll explain when you’re older.”
By the sounds of this, it seems like Rick’s had some experiences with cocky Morties, or at least has done some research. What exactly does happen when a Morty gets too big for his loafers? One theory on the internet is that Morty just becomes Rick when he’s older. That is to say, Rick C-137 is the “old man” version of Morty C-137. He’s naive and innocent now, which doesn’t exactly fuel his self-esteem, but as he grows older, gaining more life experiences and enhancing his intelligence, he may become cocky, which would describe exactly Rick’s personality–and it should be obvious by now how much trouble that causes. This theory adds a special twist to the ubiquitous Rick-Morty relationship–it says that not only do Ricks and Morties consistently team up in order to cancel each other’s brain waves, and not only do they team up because of any faint spark of a family bond, but because Morty just is Rick when he was younger. This theory’s interesting because it not only adds an additional incentive for Ricks to partner up with Morties, but might even supersede the motive of wanting the protective benefits of a human shield. I mean, we all know Rick isn’t big on human connection and family bonding, but to connect/bond with himself adds a whole other dynamic to his psychology that fits so conveniently in an episode devoted to an exploration of Rick’s relation to himself. It says that Morty, in the Furniture Town restaurant, was right when he said their relationship must be “pretty special” but he didn’t know the half of it. It says that the real reason we see Ricks and Morties always paired up with each other is because it is in the nature of Ricks to want to connect at least with themselves–that is, at least for those Ricks found in the Citadel of Ricks. As for the Ricks on the other side of the central finite curve, well, I suppose they’re so devoid of human connection that they don’t even care to connect with themselves. But more on this after the next scene:
“Pride cometh before the fall.” says one sentinel Rick kneeling over Evil Rick’s dead body while other Ricks examine the scene like a bunch of forensic scientists, “I guess he got what he deserved.”
“What is that?” asks another sentinel as the first sentinel turns Evil Rick’s head exposing a gash through which is seen robotic wiring and circuitry.
First sentinel Rick opens Evil Rick’s cranium to reveal nothing but robotic wiring and circuitry. ← Evil Rick has been a robot all this time.
“My God,” says sentinel Rick number two, “I’ve seen this technology before. This Rick was being controlled remotely, [pulls a device from Evil Rick’s head] puppeteered by somebody else. This is the receiver.”
Sentinel Rick #2: “Yeah, but where’s the transmitter?”
Cut to the scene of Morties being boarded on a few space ships to be transported back to their home realities. Close up on Evil Morty with his eye patch. He turns around and pauses amongst all the other Morties making their way to the ship. He takes off his patch, revealing a couple wires hinging from the seam of his eye. He drops the patch, revealing some kind of circuitry on the inside. He stomps on the patch, crushing the circuitry–obvious because this is the transmitter, effectively snuffing out the trace. He stuffs the wires hanging from his eye back into his skull and continues on inconspicuously with all the other Morties.
And that’s how the episode ends–a real cliff hanger.
It sends one’s mind looking for all the implication, and they’re not hard to find: for one thing, it means that everything Evil Rick was doing, it was really Evil Morty doing it. This means that Evil Rick really wasn’t evil after all–he was just a puppet–and that it was Evil Morty who was the real evil genius behind everything. It was Evil Morty who was killing Ricks and kidnapping Morties. It was Evil Morty who crucified them on the Morty Matrix. It was Evil Morty who wanted the contents of Rick C-137’s brain. Why? Well, it seems pretty obvious that Evil Morty absolutely hated Ricks (as many Morties do). Killing Ricks therefore needn’t be explained much beyond that. Torturing Morties? Well, since Evil Morty was manipulating his Rick (as sort of a decoy), it still makes sense that he would need a shield to hide him. Since Evil Morty is just as evil as Evil Rick (or would be if this were all Evil Rick’s doing), he doesn’t care for Morties either (much like Rick doesn’t seem to care about other Ricks). And speaking of hiding from other Ricks, we see how convoluted all this “shielding” really is: Evil Morty has at least three layers of shielding–1) Rick C-137 whom he tries to frame, 2) the actual shield of Morties, and 3) Evil Rick whom he also frames (maybe this plot of framing Ricks is a means of demonizing Ricks in front of other Ricks). ← Number 3) is the last line of defense as he is able to get away in the end undetected. The Council of Ricks discovers the receiver and infers the existence of a transmitter out there, but since Evil Morty crushes it, that more or less makes him untraceable. But the Ricks are aware and will no doubt be looking for him. Like I said, however, it is a cliff hanger, and this is the last we’ll hear about Evil Morty and the Council of Ricks throughout the series (maybe Season 3 will shed some light on this).
(There are scenes in the opening credits that aren’t taken from any of the episodes from Season 1 or Season 2–most of them are, but a few aren’t. There is the one below, for example, in which Jerry, who appears to be helping Morty with his homework, pats him on the back only to loosen the front plate of his (apparently) robotic head. It drops to the table revealing wires, circuitry, and other robotic technology. Meanwhile, Rick is seen behind them trying to usher the real Morty out of the room without either Jerry or robot Morty discovering them. Could this be a scene from Season 3? Could this robot Morty be Evil Morty, imposing on the Smith family as Morty C-137?)
And what does Evil Morty want with the contents of Rick C-137’s brain? Either theory mentioned above might still apply: either 1) Evil Morty is trying to give Evil Rick ultimate Rick genius by amassing all the knowledge and thoughts of all the Ricks and uploading it to Evil Rick’s brain, or 2) Evil Morty is just interest in Rick C-137’s brain–either because he might as well now that he’s got him, or there’s something special about Rick C-137. Either way, it doesn’t matter that it’s uploaded into Evil Rick’s brain as he’s being controlled by Evil Morty anyway. But what would be so special about Rick C-137 that Evil Morty would want the contents of his brain? More on that below.
So we’re hit, at the end, with this twist–but it’s a twofold twist: 1) not only is Evil Morty the real mastermind behind the Rick killings, but 2) Evil Rick and Evil Morty were robots. This itself has some interesting implications: the first question that came to my mind when I saw this was: why, then, is a Morty Matrix shield needed? If Rick brains send off such a detectable signal, one would think that must have something to do with the fact that this is a biological effect. Would a robot brain really send off exactly the same signals? My only thought on this is that Rick C-137, when he and Morty C-137 were sitting in that restaurant in Furniture Town, described them as “genius waves”–so maybe they’re just waves given off by intelligence period–regardless of the hardware on which it runs. In other words, maybe the “genius waves” are simply patterns of thought and information processing–the same patterns that might be seen in artificial intelligence versions of Rick. If that’s the case, then fine, but this isn’t explicitly explained, and the fact that Evil Rick turns out to be a robot ought to raise the question of whether his brain would emit the same pattern of genius waves, and if not, what was the purpose of the Morty Matrix.
Another thought that just occurs to me: maybe Evil Rick’s brain doesn’t give off genius waves, and the Morty Matrix is just another ploy. That is, it isn’t serving the function of hiding Evil Rick (and by proxy, Evil Morty) but hiding the fact that Evil Rick is a robot. That is to say, even if someone did discover Evil Rick inside his fortress, he still wouldn’t necessarily figure out that Evil Rick is a robot, and the Morty Matrix outside might just be a ploy to convince him otherwise. (Kinda makes Evil Morty seem even more evil than Evil Rick–at least the motive of trying to hide from the Council of Ricks seems more “important” than trying to trick would-be discoverers into believing that Evil Rick is a robot on the off chance that even happens–like Rick C-137 said: it’s barbaric overkill.) What spurred this thought on in my mind was the question: well, does Evil Rick’s brain give off genius waves? I mean, I suppose we are to presume so given the Morty Matrix, but there is no scene in which either Rick C-137 or the alternate Ricks from the council say: Ah, there it is! The Rick brain waves we’ve been trying to detect! As soon as we got passed the Morty Matrix, they started beeping like a hot beacon!
I also think the fact that Evil Rick and Evil Morty turn out to be robots is symbolic: it says that in order to be that evil, you’d have to be a robot. No flesh and blood human being could be that heartless, even Rick. Ricks, flesh and blood ones, might suppress their human feeling, mask it as it were, but once in a while, you can see glimpses of caring in the tears welling up in their eyes.
And finally, a thought on what’s so special about Rick C-137 that Evil Morty would want the contents of his brain: simply put, he’s the Rickest Rick there is. If this Rick more or less defines Ricks, then anyone interested in knowing about Ricks would want to download the contents of this Rick’s brain. After all, Evil Rick did say he wanted Rick C-137 to find him. He doesn’t exactly say why, but he does follow that up, after a short exchange between him and Rick C-137, with “I’m simply going to download the contents of your brain, and then kill you.” In the interim between saying he wanted Rick C-137 to find him and that he was going to download the contents of his brain then kill him, Evil Rick points out how close they are on the Rick spectrum, Super Weird Rick being the only one between them. And since he defined this spectrum as a measure of Rick evilness, it suggests that Rick C-137 is about as evil as a Rick can get before becoming a cold, emotionless robot (that is, in the symbolic sense given above). As for Super Weird Rick–well, he’s super weird, maybe a cyborg or something like that. So what does Evil Rick (or Evil Morty) want from the contents of Rick C-137’s brain? Maybe just to understand what it’s like to have feelings, why sometimes Ricks on the other side of the spectrum (Doofus Rick being the extreme example) let slip feelings and signs that they care. And why, after all, is that essential to a Rick being a Rick.
That the Rickest Rick there is is the Rick who is most evil without lacking feeling that comes with being human nicely captures why Rick doesn’t even seem to care for himself. One would think that if one were put into a council composed of alternate versions of one’s self, one would get along splendidly–one would, you know, like all those other versions of one’s self. But it’s obvious in this episode that Rick regards other versions of himself no differently than any other person–and we know how he regards other persons. If the extent of disrespect and insensitivity Rick shows to others is a reflection of his inner evil, then it shows just how evil he is that it goes even as far as himself, that he doesn’t even give a shit about himself. But unlike Evil Rick, who’s out to kill other Ricks, he seems to be OK with live and let live. This may come from still being human. ← This also fits nicely into the theory outlined above: the one that says Morty is a younger version of Rick. If this theory is true, then maybe Rick is a little desperate to reach out to himself, but he can’t do it to himself as he is now, and so he must try to connect with a younger, more innocent, less threatening version of himself–essentially a version of himself that still has certain redeeming moral qualities. If this is true, then not only is he masking a deeply rooted longing to connect with himself, but it may be the primary motive he had for returning to the Smiths’ lives, eclipsing that of needing a Morty shield. But of course, that’s something Rick would want to mask even more than his feelings for Morty.
Speaking of masks, this episode leans heavily on the theme of masks–both literally and symbolically. The excuse Rick C-137 gives Morty about why Ricks and Morties are always paired up together–that Morty brain waves cancel Rick brain waves–is one mask (not that it’s a lie but it hides the other reason why Ricks hang out with Morties–namely, that Ricks do care for their Morties on some level). Rick C-137’s come back to Evil Rick–“No, I’m just allergic to dip shits!”–is another (ineffective as it might be). But there are symbolic masks as well: the Morty Matrix can be seen as one gargantuan mask. So can the fleshy exterior of Evil Rick’s body. Evil Rick himself is a mask hiding Evil Morty, and so on.
Obviously, the remnants of human feeling in Rick C-137 is seen by Evil Rick as a flaw. And notice that Evil Rick not only doesn’t share this flaw, but a number of other flaws that come with being human: he doesn’t drink, he never burps, and he doesn’t even stutter–all things that are part and parcel of being a biological human being. So maybe being imperfect is an essential ingredient to being a perfect Rick: being a drunk, having gas issues, stuttering, and yes, not always being able to mask your feelings.
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PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTIONS:
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Relating to one’s self: If you came face to face with an exact replica of yourself, or you had to live with an exact replica of yourself, would you trust yourself? Does the fact that this replica is a separate physical person make a difference to anything? I mean, most of us take it as a no brainer that we would want to treat ourselves right, to pleasure ourselves, to trust ourselves, to like ourselves, and if this was there was to it, the answer to the foregoing questions would likewise be a no brain: yes, we’d say, we’d trust ourselves. But the fact remains that this replica is a separate person, a separate person would could conceivably live his or her own life, be jaded by totally different experience, want scarce resources all for him- or herself (for example, the last piece of cake). If Rick knows that he’s an utterly selfish person who doesn’t care for anyone but himself (and maybe not even himself), he would know that about an exact replica of himself. And then if they came face to face, what would go on through his mind? Would this knowledge of his selfish ways signal to him that this replica is also going to be selfish? And therefore, should he be on his guard? Why do we really like ourselves? Why do we really trust ourselves?
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Defining a person: Related to the above, there is the question how to define a person. If I were surrounded by a whole legion of gibs, does it make sense to say that there are some gibs who are more gib-like than other gibs? Is there one gib who is the gibest gib there is? Or would each gib be the gibest gib there is in terms of that gib–in other words, does each person define herself as the unique individual she is, regardless or how similar or different from those around her?
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Evil: Is it possible for a person to be pure evil? That is, without a single drop of compassion or human feeling, like a robot? Or is it human nature to always have some ember of compassion and feeling even if deeply repressed and faint? Was it necessary, in other words, that Evil Rick be a robot? Is it the sheer fact of Rick C-137’s humanity that makes it difficult at times for him to mask his feelings? Like everyone feels angry sometimes, everyone feel embarrassed, everyone feels joyful–for one to say that he doesn’t get angry, never feels embarrassed, has no joy in his life, one ought to ask him: did you get a lobotomy? In the same way, is compassion and humanitarian feeling for other human beings is integral part of the human organism such that it can’t be excised as simply as the masks we sometimes wear make it seem?