Part 2
Summer says to the crowd after they’ve finished purging: “Do all of you remember who you are?”
“Yeah, uh,” says one blue light bulb head in particular, “My name is Ron Benson [typical name for a blue light bulb head, I’m sure], I’m an electrical engineer, father of two, and as you can see from my flat concentric nipple rings, I’m a member of this planet’s top race!” He rips open his shirt to reveal ringed nipples:
This is followed by: “I’m Darryl Jefferson [a Jefferson no less!], I’m a landscaper, and I’ll be damned if that ripple nipple bitch’s race is superior! [Rips off shirt] The cone nipple people will rule this world!”
Then an all out race war breaks out: ring nipples beating the crap out of cone nipples, and visa-versa. Summer looks around at all the mayhem and shouts: “Why are you fighting?! Can’t you see you’re all the same?”
Morty: “Oh Summer, ha, ha, first race war, huh?”
^ While Summer is panicking at this completely unexpected turn of events, Morty is kind of just laying back and laughing at it all, laughing at Summer even for goofing up and inadvertently starting a race war. And this again brings us back to the recurring theme we’ve seen more than once in the series about liberal naivety. Summer, in trying to incite a revolt on the part of innocent, victimized blue light bulb heads against the evil mind-enslaving Unity, ends up making the situation worse by inciting instead a race war. Maybe Unity was right, maybe assimilating the blue light bulb heads was for the better after all. But the liberal mindset, encapsulated in Summer in this scene, doesn’t think beyond the assumptions that are ingrained in the psyche by social conditioning and elicited by knee jerk reactions.
^ It kind of reminds me of the naivety of Morty’s moral determination in the last episode. Now it’s Summer’s turn.
This time around, Morty is taking it rather calmly, as if Rick is rubbing off on him; he takes in the whole situation through the same nihilistic, nothing-matters visors that Rick is apt to wearing. And his comment to Summer–“First race war, huh?”–hints at a kind of haughtiness that betrays a bit of experience, like he’s watching a novice from the point of view of someone who’s been there, done that–and he has been there, done that–he’s seen many things, gone through many disturbing trials as Rick’s side-kick for the last season and a bit–so it’s no surprise that he would take this nonchalant attitude next to Summer who’s learning some harsh lessons about irony for the first time.
The race war carries on all day and into the night. There are flipped cars, fires ablaze, broken windows, and the blue light bulb heads are still at it. Morty and Summer hide behind a vehicle (a ship?) watching in fear as the violence unfolds.
Morty: “Way to go Summer, you started a race war.”
Summer: “I didn’t start it, they’re the racists. I-I merely empowered them to follow their apparently misguided dreams.” ← Apparently not quite having learned the lesson.
Morty: “Okay, thanks for clarifying. I’ll have a super accurate headstone now.” ← Kind of a Rick comment if you ask me.
Then they’re discovered. A blue light bulb points to them and asks what race they are. Morty lifts up his shirt to show they’re neither. The blue light bulb head says: “Hey, these two freaks have no race!” and starts chasing them, the crowd following. Nothing like a common enemy to bring people together.
As an aside, it seems the animators got a bit lazy in this scene. Watch the crowd in the background:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD2uLdU7XUU[/youtube]
Also, who knew they had Sikhs on other planets?
Summer and Morty are backed into a corner as the angry mob encroach on them. Suddenly, ropes drop. Heavily armed law enforcement officers come down the ropes, protecting Morty and Summer. They get reeled back up to a low flying hover-copter, bringing Morty and Summer with them. They take off.
Officer #1: “Hello, Summer. Hello, Morty.”
Officer #2: “It’s OK, you’re safe now.”
Morty: “U-U-Unity?”
Unity confirms that it’s her. They breathe a sigh of relief. Summer apologizes to Unity for ever questioning her: “Unity, I am so sorry. I didn’t know that freedom meant people doing stuff that sucks. I was thinking more of a choose your own cell phone carrier thing.” ← Maybe she has learned her lesson after all. If Summer really means this–that she believes now that freedom means people doing stuff that sucks–she, like Morty, has grown one step closer to being Rick-like. And I think this is more than a statement about Summer’s character on the part of the writers, more than a development in her growth as a character, but a statement about the nature of political freedom itself. History, especially the history of free nations, has shown that giving people freedom is one thing, watching what they do with that freedom is quite another. If things like racism, violence, civil war, mob mentality, is what comes out of people acting freely in a world that allows them such freedom, then the problems of the world cannot be solely blamed on tyrants and totalitarian governments; it’s within human nature itself. And this raises the question of whether freedom is always a virtue worth fighting for, of whether sometimes a strong central ruling power that preserves law and order, and peace amongst a people, is better than freedom.
Officer #2 continues: “Ah, Summer, you did nothing wrong. I’m having fun with your grandpa. Lost a little control. Probably shouldn’t be piloting a hover-copter, nor should I be running 200,000 pediatric hospitals and 12,000,000 deep fryers, but hey, it’s not like this planet can take its business elsewhere.” Morty suggests stopping somewhere to get Unity a coffee or splash water on her face. Officer #2 continues: “No, no, if I wanted to be sober, I wouldn’t have gotten drunk.” ← Well, at least she owns her decisions.
We get a lot of insight from this scene into the nature of how Unity’s mind control works. If this officer, having not touched a single drop of booze that night, is drunk flying the hover-copter, then it says Unity’s influence over the minds of the assimilated does indeed stem from a central point of control, namely the bombshell blue light bulb head whose brain actually is doused in alcohol. It seems Unity–the voluptuous woman Rick is in love with–is at the top of a hierarchy–as opposed to being diversified equally among each individual blue light bulb head. If the latter were the case, there would be no need to pass on the intoxicating influence from Unity the bombshell to Unity the law enforcement officer. This is not to say carbon copies of Unity for each blue light bulb head would isolate each one off from each other–there can still be a psychic network that connects each of them instantly to any other of them; furthermore, as we don’t quite know for certain what Unity is really, it could still have been hierarchical, only that Unity as the top level node in the hierarchy wouldn’t be one of the blue light bulb heads but maybe an immaterial force or bodiless intelligence ruling over this planet. But since the alcohol chemicals in the brain of Unity the bombshell are having these kinds of catastrophic effects, we can say for certain that Unity the bombshell is indeed at the top of some hierarchy (not necessarily the top of the entire hierarchy, but for sure over enough blue light bulb heads to cover 200,000 pediatric hospitals and 12,000,000 deep fryers). Damn, can this girl multitask!
Furthermore, what does Unity’s devil may care attitude about the whole thing say about her motives in taking over the minds of an entire planet of blue light bulb heads? People are dying because of her careless choices, getting seriously injure, and at the very least being put at great risk. It would seem that to Unity, the life of one blue light bulb head is peanuts. They’re a dime a dozen to her. As they fly away from a burning town in the background, we get the idea that a whole town of people have come to ruin. And while taking full accountability for this outcome, she still reasserts her decision to get drunk and have fun with the kids’ grandpa. Obviously, losing a few blue light bulb heads is like shedding a few cells from one’s body–no big loss. It’s ironic then that this becomes patently obvious right after Summer offers Unity a heartfelt apology for doubting her. Maybe Summer was right after all.
This scene also reinforces the point that even though Unity has assimilated an entire planet, business as usual must go on. Pediatric hospitals must still run, restaurants utilizing deep fryers must still run, law enforcement must still run. Her statement that “it’s not like this planet can take its business elsewhere” implies that business must happen somewhere. It’s still a bit of a mystery why all this would be necessary, but I’m forming an idea of why this is: it’s all for show. She intends to join the galactic federation; this will be quite a challenge if she just introduced herself as Unity–as she does with Rick–for then the federation would probably see her as a threat; better to keep her real identity under raps and present herself merely as a representative of a whole planet of blue light bulb heads going about their daily business, just as any other planet hosting intelligent life with advanced civilizations.
Back at the Smith’s house, Jerry is livid about finding the Korblock in his subterranean lair. He says: “Oh man, I cannot wait. I cannot wait to hear Rick explain his way around this. He is gone!” Beth pleads with him: “Jerry, stop, please, ok? We weren’t even supposed to be down here. If we confront him about this…” “Oh my GOD!!!” replies Jerry, “I love this! I love that this is how far you would go for him. You wanna go upstairs, and cut carrots, and watch a lifetime original about the f$%@ing alien dungeon! Your relationship with your father is psychotic!” ← Not sure what Jerry means by “watch a lifetime original about the f$%@ing alien dungeon”–I suppose he means Beth wants to treat this whole thing like some kind of fantasy, like she was just watching it on TV.
An even bigger point is that even though Jerry is bang on about Beth’s daddy issues and that she’s off in la-la-land about how she wants to deal with this, he’s not quite listening to her. At the utterance “He is gone!” Beth’s expression becomes one of dread:
She switches gears at this point; she stops bickering and starts pleading. That Rick leaves again is one of her deepest fears. But this flies right passed Jerry. He still sees this as a confrontation, and reacts in quite the opposite way of what might otherwise have lead to a quasi-reconciliation.
The fighting continues:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX_xsT_MyRA[/youtube]
Beth tells Jerry to step out of his ego. On this score, she might be right (given what I said above), but she too is missing the point: that Jerry ought to consider that maybe Rick has the Korblock chained up in order to protect the planet is not what Jerry ought to be focusing on here. This is just Beth feeding herself another dose of her own self-denial.
In any case, they have officially passed the point of no return in their bickering. They are on a course of shouting right passed each other and any opportunity to talk seriously or to truly listen is now gone. Also, I don’t recall in any passed episode Jerry calling it as it is as directly and loudly as he does here. This seems to be a breaking point for Jerry.
The next scene opens with another animator goof:
They really dropped the ball in this episode… anyway, Morty and Summer are ushered to Unity, who’s half passed out on a desk.
Summer: “Unity, this place is a mess.”
Unity: “Oh, it’s cool. The part of me that’s the cleaning lady is coming on Friday. [Looks at her watch] GASP! Oh my God, I have a meeting at the galactic federation in an hour. [Rests boobs on desk] Oh, I’ll never make it. I’ll push it to next week.”
^ I would think that one doesn’t just push a meeting with the galactic federation, the purpose of which is to join, to next week, especially on such short notice. If she cancels this meeting, what are the chances that the galactic federation would take her seriously enough to grant her another one? Rick really proved himself a bad influence on Unity here, and Unity an absolute push over for Rick, all too eager to please.
When the kids ask to see Rick, Unity reacts with a bit of haste: “He’s… unavailable… he’s–” “Having sex with you, we get it, gross, get him out here now!” replies Summer. They begin shouting for him. He comes out stumbling drunk, a bottle in his hand, dressed like a drunken Mexican:
^ With a name like Sanchez, maybe Rick is living out his ancestry.
“Grandpa, we need to go home, now!” demands Summer. “Fine! Sheesh!” says Rick before picking up the portal gun and shooting it at the wall. “See ya,” he dismisses them. When the kids insist that Rick come with them, he scoffs them off:
Rick: “You guys, I get it, you’re afraid the big bad hive mind’s gonna steel your grandpa away.”
Summer: “Actually, no! I think Unity’s great and you’re a horrible influence on it! […] You and Unity are like… like leggings and mid-calf boots. You think you’re great together, but you’re just bringing out the worst in each other.” ← Acute observation on Summer’s part.
Rick: “Oh, gee! Boy, Summer, well put. Uh, why don’t we see what Unity thinks. Unity?”
Unity [as man]: “I’m jus’ takin’ a lil’ break from stuff… you know? I need to relax.”
Rick: “Oh hey… what’s this on the news, guys? Le-le-lemme turn it up.”
Rick turns up the volume on a remote. Reporters on a TV speak on behalf of Unity:
Todd: “In the news today, this looks a lot worse than it is. We’re really just having a good time. Karen?”
Karen: “Thanks Todd. Up next: are you a concerned grandchild or just a buzz kill. We’ll tell you how you can know for sure.”
Rick: “I think you too are a little out numbered.”
Summer: “Okay, well, what if you did it for me? What if you came with us as a favor to us? Cause you love us?”
Rick: “What? Dumb! Bye!”
Morty: “But Rick, Summer’s just say–”
Rick: “Summer’s just a hyper-emotional needy little… what’s the word I’m looking for here? Uh, human. It runs in the family. I can tolerate it but I can’t give a crap about it. Take a hike.”
Even Unity looks a little shocked at these words. Summer tells Unity to take care of herself and then leaves through the portal with Morty. Neither Unity nor Rick see things from Summer and Morty’s point of view, but Unity seems a bit in denial about how far she’s digressed under Rick’s corrupting influence. She too partook in the mockery of Rick’s grandkids as, for example, when she called them a “buzz kill” on the news. We know that this is just Rick–he doesn’t need denial to be an asshole or to not care how badly things have fallen apart–but I don’t think Unity fully appreciates the gravity of what she has succumb to–part of this is being drunk, of course, but also how much she longs to impress Rick. Given the look on her face, however, the way Rick spoke about Summer in this scene seems to mark a breaking point for Unity, possibly snapping her out of her denial.
Back at the Smith’s household, Jerry and Beth are in the heat of a screaming match, neither one listening to the other:
Jerry: “You don’t support this family! All you care about is yourself! You’ve got two children being dragged across the cosmos by your dangerously ill father! And you force me to watch it happen because you’d rather lose them and lose me than lose him?! Why?! Because you’re the child, Beth! You, not me! You!”
Beth [at the same time]: “It’s not about supporting the family, it’s about supporting you emotionally, but you’re unsupportable because it’s never enough, Jerry! There will never be enough support to satisfy you! And you don’t even know what it’s like to be afraid of losing anything because you cling and you cling and you cling!”
I wonder if there’s any truth to Beth’s rant. She nailed it by calling Jerry “clingy”, and maybe this incessant clinging to the things he’s afraid of losing is what’s holding him back from “growing up” (or “manning up”)–maybe if he were forced to lose something, something precious to him, he’d grow out of his child-like naivety and become more cynical and dark, like Beth, like Rick (maybe even like the “orphaned” Jerries at the Jerryboree).
Anyway, the Korblock breaks free, slithers like a slug right passed Jerry and Beth, leaving a slimy trail, breaks the glass door on one of Rick’s highly sophisticated closets, grabs what looks like a gun, points it at Jerry and Beth, then sticks it in his own neck and begins to speak. The device pressed into his neck is (apparently) a translator. He speaks in his native tongue and the device translates. He says:
"Um… first of all, hello… um, my name is Blim Blam the Korblock. Second of all, cards on the table, I’m a murderer that eats babies, and I came to this planet to eat babies [Jerry gives Beth the I-told-you-so-look]… however, I am also carrying a highly infectious disease that I suppose you could call space aids, as you put it, and Rick did chain me up so that he could attempt to cure it. [Beth returns the look] At the same time, Rick’s motivation to cure my disease was not to save my life or anyone else’s, but to patent and sell the cure for billions of blemflarks. [Jerry repeats the look] But you know the reason why I ripped the chains out of the wall? And do you know why I’m never coming back to this planet? Because the two of you are the f@#$ing worst! You both hate yourselves and each other, and the idea that it has anything to do with Rick is laughable! I’d laugh, but I’m biologically incapable! That’s how alien I am! And even I’m sitting here listening to the two of you, being like ‘What the f%&k!!!’ So, good luck with your shitty marriage, and tell Rick I’m sorry he has to deal with either of you. Blim Blam out!
I’m not sure what a blemflark will buy you, but Rick’s motive for curing Blim Blam’s space aids seems counter to what we learned of Rick in Something Ricked, namely that he doesn’t seem the least bit interested in making money. Maybe blemflarks aren’t money.
Rick is sitting on a couch with three instances of Unity–a middle aged scruffy looking blue light bulb head with a bear gut and wearing a bra and looks to be sleeping, another middle-aged blue light bulb head (a redhead with big knockers) looking a bit aged and worn out and hanging over the couch from the back, and the gorgeous bombshell we all know and love. She’s sitting, legs curled up on the couch, next to Rick who’s smoking a bong. (If the one blue light bulb head is sleeping, what does that say about the unification of Unity’s consciousness with others on this planet? They all certainly seemed to have to be unified when she was drunk, all sharing in the same intoxication. But then again, maybe Unity chooses to “release” some blue light bulb heads when needed–as in when they need to sleep.) Rick is watching a program on TV which Unity is, in that very moment, putting on for him. She sits on the couch looking at him rather unimpressed.
“Ok, ok,” Rick says, “Now make him cry–but happy cry. Now make them all make fun of the blond one. Now make them all do it on the table. Can’t believe you created a whole show for me. Now cancel it! Okay, now put it back on! Ha! Ha!.. all right, I’m bored.”
Unity: “Rick, is there a way for you to call Summer and Morty? I feel bad that they–”
Rick brushes her off. It’s questionable whether this sentiment for Morty and Summer on the part of Unity betrays a conscience. I think it goes without saying that Unity is more “feeling” than Rick, more caring, but this has to be considered in contrast to the total disregard she seems to have for the people she has taken over. It may be true that, in a sense, she made life on this planet into a paradise, but we have also seen that she thinks of the people whose bodies she’s taken over as expendable and usable like tools. To her, losing a small town of racists is like a drop in the bucket when considered on the scale of a whole planet, and making them into puppets for Rick’s entertainment is harmless when seen from a nihilist’s point of view–the “big picture” so to speak–in that no one is getting hurt. But of course, her feelings of guilt over how they treated Morty and Summer are highly dependent on the fact that she respects them for Rick’s sake, and maybe when standing in Rick’s light, then things matter to her morally speaking.
The look she gives Rick when he smokes up and watches mindless television also speaks volumes. It’s almost as if she’s having a “wake up” moment, realizing this man’s not all he’s cracked up to be, that far from disappointing Rick (who seems to be quite impressed with the TV show), she’s finding that she’s disappointed in him.
Rick goes on about Summer and Morty: “Don’t waste your brain on those weirdos Unity. They’re no different from any of the aimless chumps that you occupy. They just put you at the center of their lives because you’re powerful and then because they put you there, they want you to be less powerful.”
It’s hard to say what to make of this little speech. Do Summer and Morty really put Rick at the center of their lives? Or is it just as it seems? Rick is the one dragging Morty along on all his adventures? If that’s the case, then this is just ego talking. Rick tells himself that the reason they end up on all these crazy, chaotic adventures is because Morty wants to go along with him, but then complains when Rick gets them into a mess. The irony is, we’ve seen some truth to this. The moments are rare, but we do get glimpses of Morty relishing the idea of being Rick’s sidekick (in Close Rickcounters for example). And we know that Summer can sometimes be jealous of Morty and all the attention he gets from Rick. Certainly Beth puts him at the center of her life, but she never complains, and maybe should complain more (which is what the secondary plot line is getting at). But I think the reality is more that Rick simply takes control of their lives, which does make him powerful, but also gives them more of a right to complain and to demand he relinquish some of his power. In the end, I think this little speech is more fiction than truth, more his own self-talk in order to slough off responsibility as he’s in the habit of doing–not like Unity who simply allows herself to feel a bit guilty.
It’s also interesting how he seems to think Unity should completely understand. Summer and Morty are “no different from any of the aimless chumps” that she occupies. In Unity’s case, we definitely get a glaring contrast between Rick’s words and the reality. The reality is that the blue light bulb heads certainly did not put Unity at the center of their lives (regardless of whether or not it was because she was powerful); Unity, or so we’re lead to assume, simply took over, like Rick taking over the family.
Rick goes to the bathroom to freshen up. Looking at himself in the mirror as he washes his hands, he says to himself: “Best weekend ever, Rick. I agree Rick. Let’s see how long we can go.” ← I’m surprised how much energy Rick seems to have. Presumably, he’s been up all night partying, getting drunk and high. Unity definitely seems worn out at this point, but Rick’s like the energizer bunny. He can keep going 'til the cows come home. It’s true that he was probably doing a lot of drugs, and many of those were probably stimulants, but if we are to presume this about Rick, we ought to presume it about Unity as well (we did see her snort something off the table). So why isn’t she full of energy too?
Rick walks out of the bathroom to find Unity has left–and by Unity I mean everyone, the entire planet (or so it seems). He walks out to the empty room to find notes strewn all over the place, notes to him. He reads one:
“Rick, forgive me for doing this in notes. I’m not strong enough to do it in persons. [outside, Rick picks up another note, in the voice of a man] I realize now that I’m attracted to you for the same reason I can’t be with you. You can’t change. [grabs a note taped to a wall] And I have no problem with that, but it clearly means, I have a problem with myself. I’m sure there’s no perfect version of me. [reads a note taped to the newspaper stand from earlier] I’m sure I’ll just unify species after species and never really be complete. [sitting on the steps reading another note, in a woman’s voice] I know how it goes with us. I lose who I am and become part of you. Because in a strange way, you’re better at what I do without even trying. Yours, and nobody else. Unity.”
^ A very gentle way of being let down.
What Unity has come to realize here is that she’s grown beyond Rick. Rick stays the same because, out of all people we’ve come across in the series, he’s best at being himself. People change, the message would seem to be, because they are unsatisfied or feel incomplete with who they are. Unity admits in these letters that she is chasing something that she fears she will never attain. Earlier in the episode, we heard her express her ambitions to be a god. It seems Rick attains god-hood (in his mind at least) just by accepting himself as he is now. However, Unity’s letter does seem like a rosy euphamistic way of saying what could otherwise come across as a harsh blow. She’s essentially saying that she’s grown whereas Rick has not, and now that she realizes this, she must move beyond him. Rick tried to plea a case for his own personal growth by stating that “I’ve reconnected with my family,” but the display he exhibited in front of Unity when he called Summer a “hyper-emotional, needy little […] human,” is what set off doubts in her mind, eventually culminating in that look of disappointment on her face as she put on a television show for him. ← It was at that point when she realized he hasn’t changed at all, and that she’s grown beyond him.
Yet there is a strange allure to Rick’s personality that not only draws Unity in, but Morty and Summer too as evinced by their occasional longing to be his sidekick. And us too, I might say. We know that Rick is an insensitive prick who puts his own family at great risk, and can be extremely insulting at times, yet we find ourselves liking him for some strange reason, wanting to be like him (I go into detail about this phenomenon, which can be seen in other fictional characters in film and literature, here). What’s being suggested here is that Rick’s seeming security in being himself (openly, without shame) is what draws people in, and makes them want to sink to his level, abandoning whatever growth they’ve achieve up to that point. Why? Is it because we too would like to feel secure in being ourselves? Take a break from all this self-improvement we strive for, or wish we could strive for? To feel complete, if only vicariously? Unity, in her letters, expresses that she knows this is true of herself, and that while the enchanting allure that Rick exudes makes her feel free, she realizes this is, on the whole, not good, and constitutes a step back for her. Missing the appointment with the galactic federation wasn’t just letting go, it may have cost her her deepest ambition–to become a god over countless planets. Rick, of course, was trying to get her to realize this was the whole point anyway–“you’re talking about taking over planets and galaxies–you gotta, you gotta just remember to let go sometimes, you know”–but we know from her reaction that she missed the point. No, Unity has come too far, worked too hard, to let that go.
And that Rick does what she does better than she can without even trying, that in his presence, she becomes a part of him rather than the other way around. Does this hint at why she never bothered to assimilate him? That he’s the only person she’s met whom she would rather become a part of rather than make a part of her? And is the message: one can assimilate others best if one just doesn’t try–that is, if one simply exudes confidence in being one’s self–whereas trying, if obvious, puts people off, thereby requiring, in Unity’s case, forced assimilation.
Maybe the greater message here is that while we may remain satisfied in who we are at any given point in our lives–thereby relinquishing the need to care about anything else, or anyone–growth only happens by connecting with others. One reaches beyond one’s self and tries to connect with the experiences, personalities, desires and needs of others. This not only fosters change through learning from others, but adds to one’s self–to one’s experiences, personality, desires and needs–by acquiring a sort of “extension” of one’s self–not just different but more–which is just what growth is.
In effect, if this is indeed the central message of this episode, then I think we can read between the lines and infer that Unity’s notes were more of a blow to Rick than to Unity herself. “I have a problem with myself,” was most likely a gentle way of saying “you’re bad for me.” ← It’s not you, it’s me.
Rick gets back to the Smith’s household where everyone’s watching TV in the living room. Everyone’s got a look of concern on their face except Jerry. Rick enters the room. Beth stands up to confront him:
Beth: “Dad… [cough]… I–um–Jerry and I were looking for our weed wacker and found your subterranean lair, and your alien prisoner, and he got away. And I know I sound like mom but I can’t sacrifice this whole family’s safety just because I’m afraid you’ll leave again… so… [steps closer and puts on a look of sternness] no more alien prisoners and no more subterranean excavation without consulting us.”
It appears Beth was listening and took Jerry’s words seriously, not to mention courageous enough to confront Rick despite her fears. I wonder how much of Beth’s words sunk in with Jerry. Tying this in with the theme of growth, could we say that Beth here demonstrates her ability to grow whereas Jerry does not?
But to Beth’s utter surprise, Rick answers: “Ok.”
Beth: “Ok? eh, uh, er, Ok like you’re gonna quietly teleport somewhere and never come back?”
Rick: “No, it’s your house.”
Summer: “Grandpa Rick, what happened with Unity?”
Rick: “Who? Oh, Unity. Yeah, well… I mean, honestly, we’re talking about an entity that thrives on enslavement, you know. It’s not cool. Fun’s fun, but who needs it. I’ll be in the garage.”
A complete 180, taking Summer’s point of view only now that it suits him.
Then this happens:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoKo3OaApWs[/youtube]
When I watched this for the first time, I thought Rick chickened out in the end, that he dropped his head on purpose 'cause he didn’t really want to kill himself. Then someone else online suggested that Rick was too drunk to keep his head up and inadvertently passed out before the device could nuke him. ← Not sure which is more accurate.
I’m not sure what was with Rick downing that vat of yellow chemicals (did he need that for his device to work on him?), but I see some symbolism in the poor creature he vaporizes: he hurts the ones he loves. I think that’s why the creators had him gently stroking the creature he gave life to, as if soothing the creature before submitting it to a grim fate–he seems to genuinely feel for the creature–just a little maybe–enough to say: I’m not doing this to hurt you. Rick, in this scene, is playing out what he probably knows quite painfully: that he brought harm to Unity, and that he continues to bring harm to his family.
Was Rick really in love? He was certainly depressed about being dumped, but this can happen even with infatuation or lust (as people call it). If he was in love, it means his nihilistic outlook which is usually the basis for refusal to care about anything was never quite complete–not when he knew Unity was out there–for then he had a reason to live. But without her, it seems like he has no reason to live.
This is also an example of a loss much like Beth’s fears. It’s even ironic that he would attempt to commit suicide just after telling Beth he wasn’t going to leave her for standing up to him.
Unity may not have been able to assimilate Rick, but she certainly captured his heart. Which leads one to wonder: was that intentional? I mean, who knows if there was an initial attempt on Unity’s part to assimilate Rick (the attempt would first and foremost require barfing into his mouth, which means a failure would amount to Rick merely overpowering Unity physically, but even if she managed to get passed that step, how would Rick have resisted assimilation? We saw in the last episode that he managed to block Fart out of his mind in that one scene–maybe he’s got a knack for fighting psychic control), but permitting Rick the independence of his mind may not have been free. It may have come at the cost of a surreptitious and cunning ploy on Unity’s part to assimilate his heart. It is often assumed by young women that if she is able to win a man’s heart, she will be able to change him; in extreme cases, to control him, making him into a slave who will do whatever her will desires. Unity’s realization, then, that Rick will never change constitutes her coming to grips with the fact that Rick cannot be assimilated at all, thus she gives up on him.
We all know why Rick fell for Unity–what heterosexual man wouldn’t fall for a hot brunette with huge boobies and a smooth, curvy body–and it’s understandable why any woman would fall for Rick–he has that “take charge” personality, that “asshole” attitude that makes him the polar opposite of the “nice guy”–but that Unity is a woman is a question that hasn’t been settled. The party scene in which the booze in Unity’s brain (the hot bombshell) cause everyone else on the planet to get drunk suggests that the hot bombshell is at the top of a hierarchy, a node in the psychic network from which control is issued out to other blue light bulb heads, making the bombshell more “Unity” than the others in a certain sense. But we’ve also seen that this couldn’t have been the original Unity. The opening scene in which Unity and Rick reunite suggests that Unity didn’t start out as a blue light bulb head. It takes Rick a while to recognize that the escapees on the SS Independence are Unity. If Rick remembers Unity as a blue light bulb head, surely all their talk about an entity that “absorbed the minds of [their] people,” and “the people it takes over, they, they look like your friends, your family, your leaders, but they’re not… ‘themselves’ anymore,” coupled with the fact that Rick obviously sees that they’re blue light bulb heads, would mostly likely tip him off that it’s Unity they’re talking about. But it’s only when the members of the SS Independence get re-assimilated by Unity and when Unity turns to look at Rick in that seductive way, saying “Hello Rick, long time no see,” that he realizes it’s Unity. This obviously means that when they first met, when Unity was a “young hive mind with a population of a small town,” she was a different species, which means that this Unity, the hot bombshell, is unlikely to be at the top of the entire hierarchy (maybe the planet, but not all of Unity). Which returns us to the question: who is Unity really? Male? Female? Something else? And her interest in Rick, is this really love? Sexual passion? Or is the real Unity interested in Rick for the same reason as she’s interested in all her victims–assimilation pure and simple, a stepping stone on the way to god-hood–and the hot bombshell is just the means by which to attract Rick? If her first attempt to assimilate him through the usual means failed (assuming there was a first attempt), then perhaps appealing to his libido was a second attempt.
PHILOSOPHICAL INSIGHTS
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Race and prejudice: While Summer was definitely depicted as the naive liberal type, I think, in the end, there was a bit of an anti-racist sentiment written into the script. The fact that these blue light bulb heads are going to war with each other over the shape of their nipples is a parody. Roiland and Harmon are saying differences in outward appearance are a silly thing to fight over, exactly the message that Summer was trying to convey–a clever move on the writer’s part as it allows them to poke fun at liberal naivety and at the same time distance themselves from convservative prejudice and bigotry.
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Love and lust: Was Rick really in love? Or was it just lust? What’s the difference? While these questions could be asked of Unity as well, Rick is an easier (simpler) target. The passionate, romantic frenzy that overtakes one in moments of intimate connection with another is what most people call “falling in love”. Others would like to distinguish this from “true love”, saying that the former is only infatuation and the latter is dispassionate. They say that the former is selfish, that you want to possess the person like a prized object, whereas the latter is selfless, treating the other like a human being, putting their needs ahead of your own. I’m not so sure this thing we call “falling in love” isn’t a form of love. In all my experiences with it, I know I would have done anything for the girl, sacrificed a great deal of what’s in my self-interest. True, I lust after that feeling, and I need the girl in my life in order to get it, and for her to feel the same way (<-- that’s important), but these selfless acts I want to perform for her are driven by the emotion. You could say it’s a form of “automatic” love, whereas what they call dispassionate “true” love, maybe Platonic love, is driven by something else–maybe moral principles, maybe impartial compassion, maybe guilt–it’s more “deliberate,” hard work. But when it comes to Rick, there isn’t much in the way of giving or selflessness. “I gotta sit this one out, but I’ll be back to have sex with the survivors,” doesn’t sound like love. Rick may be so cut off from love that all he can feel for Unity is lust. Wanting to be “with” a collective, not “part of,” is Rick’s way of having his cake and eating it too, to be accepted and integrated with others without having to pay the price of a bit of selflessness, without having to love. Rick doesn’t even have to sacrifice promiscuity with Unity, he doesn’t even have to care who Unity really is so long as she engages with him through hot bombshells. In fact, Rick doesn’t even seem to care that Unity has cleaned herself up (at least this planet) as he deliberately drags her down to his level and convinces her to splurge on drugs and alcohol. The fact that being dumped lead him to attempt suicide might be construed as the kind of loss one feels when one loses a prized possession, like a car that gets stolen or a house that burns down. Or it might be construed as losing the comfort and security of being loved, despite that he never had to give it. Or if Rick really did feel something for Unity over and above lust but repressed so far down that not even he could feel it, could it be that he was depressed that he lost the chance to tell Unity that he loved her, or maybe that he lost the chance to give something of himself to Unity, the only act that truly satisfies love?
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The economy and human connected: This episode of Rick and Morty does parody the idea of a world economy continuing to turn even though Unity has assimilated the entire planet. “Little weird to publish a paper about it for yourself, but hey,” Rick says. And we know that Unity has ambitions to join the federation, which means it’s in her best interest to keep the planet running as if everyone were disconnected and dependent on an economy in order to live. But this raises the question: what would happen if we were all connected? It seems one would be hard pressed to imagine why an economy would be needed at all if we were all psychically connected, the way Unity is, but one can imagine even lesser situations in which an economy–a exchange of goods and services–doesn’t seem necessary. For example, in a family, or a Hutterite community. ← These are examples in which the people are so close together, so connected, that they all pitch in to get things done for the sake of the whole. They don’t need to be motivated by money, by promises of something in return. They don’t ask “what’s in it for me”? Though not joined through a psychic connection, they do seem driven to take care of the greater community because of the feeling of belonging to it, the feeling of love that subsists between its members.
I guess the question this leaves us is: how connected would humans have to be with each other to no longer need an economy for subsistence?
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Personal growth: How does one grow beyond one’s current state? Growth connotes more than just change, it connotes becoming more, becoming better, than one is currently. In that sense, it wouldn’t seem that growth requires sacrificing much of one’s self, except perhaps for bad habits and character flaws. But then how does one acquire additional gifts, virtues, character strength, etc. without changing? This episode seems to suggest: by connecting with others. Not just connecting with others but allowing others to become a part of you. Then you, figuratively speaking, absorb them into yourself, acquire all their gifts, virtues, and strengths. As a part of you, it become natural to love others. This was Rick’s Achilles heel–he’s closed off to love, and so doesn’t want others to become a part of himself–he wants to remain independent, he wants to remain himself; consequently the connection he seeks results more in others absorbing aspects of him into themselves, none of it going the other way. ← This is Rick’s strategy for becoming a God. Those around him end up growing while he remains the same–Morty for sure as we’ve seen how being Rick’s sidekick has definitely lead to growth through the series, particularly in the way Rick’s personality rubs off on Morty. To a lesser degree, Summer too (especially the way she “makes it up as she goes” in episode 1 of season 3, how she thinks “that’s what heroes do”); Unity certainly went through a learning experience in this episode, thus growing a bit more in the end.
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Badass vs. nice guy: What kind of guy do girls really like? Does a guy have to be more like Rick or more like Beta-7? I mean, imagine Beta-7 as a single minded heart throb, not the cyborg he’s depicted as in this episode. Something like this:
Imagine this is Beta-7. He’s still a nice guy. He’d still express concern for Unity, almost in a desperate pleading way, willing to do anything but displease her. Would Unity still reject him? I think so. There’s no way Unity would go for a guy like that when she could have Rick. But what about women in general? Is Unity a good representative of women in general, at least with respect to her taste in men? Would the average woman reject the young heart throb in the picture if he were a “nice guy”? They say women like a jerk (Ecmandu says a woman would fuck a guy in a parking lot if that’s where she saw him massacre another man into a bloody pulp). They say this is an evolutionary inheritance, that women, on an instinctual level, know that assholes make better protectors and providers because they display their ability to dominate over others and destroy enemies. Not to mention that she wants her offspring (again, on an instinctual level acquired through evolution) to have the best genes, and the asshole, again, displays this by his ability to dominate and destroy. Some even say this goes so far as to attract women to men who abuse them. Is the average woman so attracted to big strong alpha genes that she would sacrifice her own well-being if only to get some of those genes for her offspring? Mothers would do a lot for their children.
In my personal opinion, which is informed by what women tell me, women like assertive men, take charge men, which is subtly different from assholes. Being an asshole is often correlated with assertiveness and a take charge personality, and so it probably seems a lot of the time like women like assholes, but I think more often than not, the asshole aspect is something women are sometimes willing to tolerate rather than the primary aspect they’re attracted to. Everyone’s different, of course, and I have no doubt women exist who actually like the asshole aspect for its own sake (I think what social groups one hangs out with has a huge effect on this), but I don’t think this is the norm. In my personal opinion (again), I think the ideal man for the typical woman is a take charge kind of guy, but not one who takes his aggressions out on her, not one who abuses her, but one who takes control of the situation (which might involve aggression against others) for her sake, or for the family’s sake. But when he’s alone with her in the bedroom, he’s gentle and compassionate (he can still be take charge in this situation, but not insensitive to her needs and desires).
A girl once told me that I’m too nice, and that I should be more assertive. ← The assertive part makes sense, but I can’t imagine a girl being turned off by a guy who goes out of his way to perform incredible acts of kindness, like taking care of a wounded bird, or feeding the homeless, or calling paramedics if he sees an old woman having a heart attack. That’s not to say I go around doing things like this on a daily basis, just that I don’t think being “nice” is necessarily incompatible with assertiveness. A guy can certainly do all these things assertively. He can decide to do it for principles he believes in, not because he was told to, or thinks he’s supposed to. Not just to impress her. Would women seriously get turned off by this?
It’s interesting that the post-credit scene involves Rick in his spaceship just outside Beta-7’s space station thingy trying to get Unity on the line. He only gets Beta-7 who tells him Unity’s not interested in talking to him and that he’s classified as a hostile entity. On the surface, this makes Beta-7 out to be the fall back guy, the “on deck, in the wings, shoulder to cry on,” in Rick’s words. But if you think of this in the context of the lesson Unity learned at the end of the episode, it makes perfect sense that Unity would turn to Beta-7. Unlike Rick, being a hive mind might mean Beta-7 is capable of growth, maybe even beyond Rick’s level. When Beta-7 reacted with hostility to Rick when they first met, and when he told Unity he was only expressing concern for Unity, Unity may have realized near the end that Beta-7 saw in Rick what she only saw much later–that Rick was a threat to her, at least in the sense that he brings her down. It’s the same thing Summer and Morty saw in Rick, that he’s a bad influence on her. If this is the case, it means that Unity is taking Beta-7 seriously, that she’s really giving him a chance, and that she now thinks Beta-7 knows what’s good for her and what’s bad for her before she does herself–a real protector and provider. Maybe. Possibly. But I still think it couldn’t last. Even if Beta-7 is better for her than Rick, even if she knows that now, they’re not right for each other. She’ll eventually want more.
And of course, it’s always possible that Unity was using both. Seducing Rick with her sexual charms so as to keep him around for the opportunity to assimilate him and Beta-7 too as an on deck, in the wings, shoulder to cry on. The games women play sometimes are all about that–keeping the guy interested enough to stay close, but never enough to seal the deal–there when she needs him, but free enough from him to switch to others when she doesn’t need him.
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The ethics of mind control and slavery: Is Unity evil? Is what she is doing to whole planets–taking over bodies and obliterating people’s individuality–a monstrous violation of her victim’s rights? On the one hand, she does seem to improve life on blue light bulb head planet, but whose life? The individuals each blue light bulb head used to enjoy being are gone, wiped away, and so it’s not easy to say life’s been improved for them. Only Unity herself can reap the benefits of her work. Then again, is being wiped away, if done painlessly and harmlessly, necessarily a bad thing? Is there something intrinsically valuable about a being’s freedom to be an individual? To have a choice? We see at the beginning that the crew of the SS Independence are, to put it mildly, disconcerted with what Unity is doing to their species. Is that perspective, even if it disappears from their minds once assimilated, still valid in and of itself? And suppose that there is nothing wrong with this ethically speaking–does Unity still have the moral obligation to treat her victims as though each individual mattered? We saw how all the destruction and mayhem that was caused to the small town in which the race war broke out, caused by Unity’s drunken shenanigans, was really no biggy to Unity–presumably because a small town of blue light bulb heads is like pennies to a billionaire. If this fills us with outrage, would we be okay with it if Unity took more care to treat each individual as sacrosanct? That is, if she continued to occupy their bodies despite their prior resistance and lack of consent but took better care of them like they were her precious children? Would this be the same question as: is slavery ok so long as the slave is treated with respect? Slavery might not be the best comparison to make because the slave still has to suffer the indignity and fear of being a slave whereas Unity’s victims (presumably) aren’t even there to feel anything. But this may be a moot point if the question is: is it ever morally permissible to take away a man’s freedom and his individuality?
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Drugs: escape from the self? Is the point of doing rugs really to escape the self as Unity says? Is it a way of connecting with others, as alcohol can help us with? Is it merely a mode of entertainment, a means to pass the time when the alternative would be boring and dull? I still don’t think it makes much sense to say “there’s no need for escape from the self when your world is one,” as Unity says, but I think it does makes sense to do away with drugs and alcohol if one feels they are standing in the way of self-improvement. And that seems to be the kick Unity is on. She seemed to do away with all drugs and alcohol as a step towards improving life on blue light bulb head planet, maybe even as something positive to put on her resume when applying to the galactic federation. It’s just that unifying the whole planet makes the decision incredibly easy. Rick, on the other hand, is not on a path of self-improvement. Rather, he sticks with his nihilistic outlook on life, an outlook that underscores apathy and “letting go” as he puts it–it doesn’t matter, in other words, whether you do drugs or not, so might as well do what your cravings call for.
But why does Rick crave the drugs? Is he trying to escape himself? It seems silly to me to dismiss the reinforcing effects of drugs, the urge for effortless and immediate pleasure that drugs can provide, so that has to be counted as one reason, maybe the primary reason. But I think most people who look for other reasons, like escaping from the self, are questioning why one would do such things if one knows how destructive it can be. Sure, it brings effortless and immediate pleasure, but surely one would care enough about one’s self to recognize the long-term harm that drugs and alcohol can do, and to do something about it. ← That I think is where most anti-drug proponents are coming from. What would they say about Rick? Is the cravings for effortless and immediate pleasure coupled with the conviction that nothing matters the only thing driving Rick? Or does he mean it when he says he wants connection? And drugs and alcohol are one way to find that connection? So it may not be so much an escape from the self, but an escape from being only the self.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The sexy blue light bulb head girl on the SS Independence:
Rick got to ride with her all the way back to blue light bulb head planet. She’d already revealed to Rick at this point that she was Unity, so what do you think they did all the way home?
The screech that Beta-7 emits (and Rick freaks out over) is the same screech emitted by Unity at the beginning when the two “ding dongs,” as Rick puts it, re-assimilate the crew of the SS Independence. Which goes to show she’s a lot more alien than she lets on to Rick, bringing into question, once again, what her motives are when selecting Rick or Beta-7 as lovers.
About the blue light bulb heads passed out in this scene here:
Why were they aligned perfectly in a circle? Okay, so they were all gathering around Summer and Morty, but perfectly aligned so as to topple over like dominoes? Moreover, they’re almost perfectly aligned with the circle sketched on the ground. And why the domino effect? If this is Unity losing control of a certain branch of blue light bulb heads, why wouldn’t they pass out in a more random fashion? And what does it say that Unity can say “I’m fine,” while the bodies she occupies are passed out?
Being at the center of attention: this may not be Summer and Morty’s motive in filling the role of Rick’s sidekick, but does it describe Unity’s? She definitely puts Rick at the center of her universe, and probably because he’s powerful (intelligence-wise), but then expects Rick to grow, which, as the message of this episode seems to be, amounts to connecting with others, thereby causing one to lose one’s self in others and have less control. Could Rick have inadvertently insulted Unity, at least indirectly? Is this the final straw that compelled Unity to leave, as in it made her realize that’s exactly what she’s doing?
And where did Unity go after Rick came out of the bathroom? I mean, we don’t see how long Rick was in there for, but I would think it takes time to write out a thoughtful letter and post on stuff, then abruptly disappear without leaving a trace. We can surmise that she went to Beta-7 but to evacuate the planet in what would have to be legions of spaceships before Rick even had the chance to spot them in the distant sky?
Anyway, one last thought: the theory of Jerry’s “urban batoi”. Yes, I actually think I know what the writers were doing with this. This isn’t the original Jerry. We’re actually following the Jerry that got swapped at the Jerry day care in the last episode. ← That’s the way he ALWAYS talks. I still wonder if this “urban batoi” allows Jerry to call it like it is, as he so harshly did to Beth. Or maybe this Jerry is just used to it, as in they’ve had plenty of yelling matches like this in his original reality. Maybe.
Oh, and what nipple shape is Unity the bombshell? Ring or Cone?