After Rick explained how the device worked I kind of half-expected an increasingly jaded Morty to just kinda shrug and say "Eh, fuck 'em".
I mean Rick's always been a monster, but Morty's own body-count prior to this episode ain't exactly small either. The last time he asked Rick to invent something for his personal use we got the Cronenberg-verse.
After Rick explained how the device worked I kind of half-expected an increasingly jaded Morty to just kinda shrug and say "Eh, fuck 'em".
I mean Rick's always been a monster, but Morty's own body-count prior to this episode ain't exactly small either. The last time he asked Rick to invent something for his personal use we got the Cronenberg-verse.
Honestly, given what's next to where his "father" keeps bee, I was almost surprised Morty cared. It's not his first "killing some of the uncountably infinite Morties".
What about when Rick used the device first to kill Morty and reset? That only shunted Rick to an alternate universe, not the original Morty he killed, right?
So my thoughts on this characterization and themes for this episode...
The reason the entire thing started is that Rick wanted a clean and simple way to avoid conflict with the criminals in the opening, and Morty wanted to just go "fuck it," consequences be damned. Rick obviously wouldn't have any problem killing those other dudes on his on, especially if he had time to rig things up in advance. He could have had all sorts of automated death rays and what not. But for whatever reason, he decided that the aftermath wasn't worth it. He was probably dealing with that aftermath in the background.
Did his initial plan go to shit? Sure. But what really annoyed him is that Morty didn't respect his intentions. And that's why he brought the vat back at the end. He could have simply murdered everyone there, but that would have only made things worse in the long run.
Morty thought that the lesson was "consequences matter," when the real lesson was, "consequences are unavoidable." Even if the consequences of your actions aren't happening to you, they're still happening to other people. In in this case, they're happening to other Morty's. While Morty has killed people in the past, and even in this very episode, the deal with this episode is that he was effectively killing people who weren't in his way and didn't do anything to deserve it. As for why Rick seemed to be completely indifferent, it's because he intention all along was to merge all the possible timelines. They all become the same Rick.
One of the most interesting things in this episode is that aside from stealing a wheelchair, most of Morty's actions were petty and self-destructive, rather than outright evil. He had the ring of gyges at his disposal, but he didn't really do much with it. Mostly it was a purely psychological crutch.
The diving board incident is probably the main turning point for him. Even with the save point, Morty still chickens out on even trying, and instead uses the save point to avoid embarrassment.
As for why he didn't save scrum the relationship, it's probably because he wanted to avoid the "bad save" scenario. Because he might think that everything is fine on day 5 but he already messed up on day 4. What's more interesting is that once he entered that relationship, he didn't really care about using the save point for any of his other petty behavior.
I did see one thought that would be funny if true: the reason why Rick was so, so petty about this argument was because he actually doesn't know how time travel.
This was the best of the second half of Season 4 so far (and maybe of the season if Snake Time Travel didn't exist), but boy oh boy is "Rick Beats Everyone" getting old. I get it that he's got his own issues but outwardly I would like to see him struggle more than he does (he's able to survive as a pickle against a trained assassin for gods sake). Right now he kind of reminds me of Walter White and I'm Jesse screaming "He can't keep getting away with it!"
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AbsoluteZeroThe new film by Quentin KoopantinoRegistered Userregular
I don't know I mean in the prior episode Rick wound up bare-assed shitting himself on the living room carpet in front of his own daughter. I wouldn't call that a win.
Yeah, Rick was just being a baby about Morty dissing his ideas.
Not really.
Harmon storytelling is all about circles where characters initially get what they want but end up having to pay a terrible price. This was highlighted explicitly in the premiere. Rick is plainly aware that everything comes with a price. Usually he doesn't care, but sometimes he realizes that the price isn't worth it.
Morty's problem is that he still hasn't that learned this lesson, which is why Rick really needs to sink the knife in deep. Because if he doesn't learn that lesson now, then it's really going to bite him later on.
Yeah, Rick was just being a baby about Morty dissing his ideas.
More to the point, he was being a baby about Morty being right that the acid vat was pretty stupid.
I don't think this was a case of Rick avoiding confrontation with the mobsters because this was the best possible outcome, this is just another case of the Morty's Mind Blowers thing, where Rick does something embarrassing and doesn't want anyone to know.
And I think that's why I don't mind this particular spin on Rick's character, because it's not about "Rick is always the best and smartest." Rick is the smartest person in the multiverse, that's been established. He's always going to "win."
But what episodes like this one and the Unity episode show is that Rick, despite being the smartest and most competent being in all possible realities, is also cripplingly insecure and plagued with self loathing. Much like, as was referenced above, Walter White.
Walter always won, too. But in the end, it didn't matter, because his victory cost him his humanity. I don't think this show is doing quite the deep dive that Breaking Bad did, but I do think Rick is very much of the same mold. He has to be the best, because being the best is all he has.
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Donkey KongPutting Nintendo out of business with AI nipsRegistered Userregular
I think any of the many directions that fans want to pull Rick's character (compassionate, failable, nicer, clever, preachier, more nihilistic) would be gratifying in the short term but crater the show long term.
His current path of development where he's very slowly refined just to be as funny as possible is clearly the way to go. Keeping him infallible but also petty seems to be a great source of jokes and not likely to drift too quickly or write the show into a corner.
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I kinda of love how we all knew as soon as Morty meets the girl that the rewinder is gonna fuck it. We know it because we've seen it in past films and TV and expect it regardless, and these guys knows it and know us. This fuckin' show.
Morty's problem is that he still hasn't that learned this lesson, which is why Rick really needs to sink the knife in deep. Because if he doesn't learn that lesson now, then it's really going to bite him later on.
I mean we've seen this bit over and over though, it's not really a new story beat from these guys. Personally I just want some movement from these characters. If Harmon is acting as a mentor for Roiland he needs to step up his game as at this point Community had their characters nailed.
This was the best of the second half of Season 4 so far (and maybe of the season if Snake Time Travel didn't exist), but boy oh boy is "Rick Beats Everyone" getting old. I get it that he's got his own issues but outwardly I would like to see him struggle more than he does (he's able to survive as a pickle against a trained assassin for gods sake). Right now he kind of reminds me of Walter White and I'm Jesse screaming "He can't keep getting away with it!"
Rick struggles a ton with everything not related to science. It's shown again and again that he feels cut off, alone, and depressed. Every season has at least one episode where he utterly fails to get what he actually wants because he's keeps failing at being a better person.
I'm fine with Rick always winning cause sooner or later he sabotages himself.
This was the best of the second half of Season 4 so far (and maybe of the season if Snake Time Travel didn't exist), but boy oh boy is "Rick Beats Everyone" getting old. I get it that he's got his own issues but outwardly I would like to see him struggle more than he does (he's able to survive as a pickle against a trained assassin for gods sake). Right now he kind of reminds me of Walter White and I'm Jesse screaming "He can't keep getting away with it!"
Rick struggles a ton with everything not related to science. It's shown again and again that he feels cut off, alone, and depressed. Every season has at least one episode where he utterly fails to get what he actually wants because he's keeps failing at being a better person.
I'm fine with Rick always winning cause sooner or later he sabotages himself.
I didn't say he doesn't fail. We clearly see him fail a number of times (including this season in the toilet episode), hence the Walter White reference. I'm talking about in relation to the folks around him. His "Dr. Who" line in the Oval Office really just applies to the whole of the show and it kind of gets stale.
This was the best of the second half of Season 4 so far (and maybe of the season if Snake Time Travel didn't exist), but boy oh boy is "Rick Beats Everyone" getting old. I get it that he's got his own issues but outwardly I would like to see him struggle more than he does (he's able to survive as a pickle against a trained assassin for gods sake). Right now he kind of reminds me of Walter White and I'm Jesse screaming "He can't keep getting away with it!"
Rick struggles a ton with everything not related to science. It's shown again and again that he feels cut off, alone, and depressed. Every season has at least one episode where he utterly fails to get what he actually wants because he's keeps failing at being a better person.
I'm fine with Rick always winning cause sooner or later he sabotages himself.
I didn't say he doesn't fail. We clearly see him fail a number of times (including this season in the toilet episode), hence the Walter White reference. I'm talking about in relation to the folks around him. His "Dr. Who" line in the Oval Office really just applies to the whole of the show and it kind of gets stale.
Rick is supposed to be for Dr. Who what One Punch Man is for Superman. It's a deconstruction of expectations.
The dude has infinite science but he lacks any real sense of meaning or purpose. There's no point to giving sentience to a robot that only passes butter, and there's no point to giving Godhood to a guy who doesn't actually know what to do with it, but that's the life he's stuck with.
This was the best of the second half of Season 4 so far (and maybe of the season if Snake Time Travel didn't exist), but boy oh boy is "Rick Beats Everyone" getting old. I get it that he's got his own issues but outwardly I would like to see him struggle more than he does (he's able to survive as a pickle against a trained assassin for gods sake). Right now he kind of reminds me of Walter White and I'm Jesse screaming "He can't keep getting away with it!"
Rick struggles a ton with everything not related to science. It's shown again and again that he feels cut off, alone, and depressed. Every season has at least one episode where he utterly fails to get what he actually wants because he's keeps failing at being a better person.
I'm fine with Rick always winning cause sooner or later he sabotages himself.
I didn't say he doesn't fail. We clearly see him fail a number of times (including this season in the toilet episode), hence the Walter White reference. I'm talking about in relation to the folks around him. His "Dr. Who" line in the Oval Office really just applies to the whole of the show and it kind of gets stale.
That's the story for Rick. Same as Superman. The tension doesn't come from if he'll win but how, why, and what the following consequences are.
What made me kinda chuckle was Rick shitting upon Ant-Man and the Wasp, especially since the time travel in Endgame was pretty much exactly what happened in the save-scum episode, going into a different timeline can’t change your past (or future), it’s just a different reality. What you did still happens, it’s just how you experience consequences is different, yet consequences are still present.
I’m only a science enthusiast, but from what I understand, time travel and universe hopping both require the same amount of energy (infinite or near infinite energy applied in a small or finite space and time), so there’s no functional difference between what Rick does and what Rick mocks.
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Non-forward time travel at the macro level is basically a nonsense concept, as are alternate* dimensions, so the science of it is somewhat arbitrary. The main areas to mock are the inconsistencies in a given variation of the fiction, like if Rick said "we can only do this a few more times" and then they did it five thousand times.
*As in, like slight variations of other dimensions. Other *spaces* is not.
Non-forward time travel at the macro level is basically a nonsense concept, as are alternate* dimensions, so the science of it is somewhat arbitrary. The main areas to mock are the inconsistencies in a given variation of the fiction, like if Rick said "we can only do this a few more times" and then they did it five thousand times.
*As in, like slight variations of other dimensions. Other *spaces* is not.
Only do this a few more times meant finding an alternate reality that was exactly like their original one in every single way, including having a Rick and Morty that died at the same time they needed to hop into it, and it didn't have the problem they needed to fix.
... while also being metacommentary on how many times they can get away with recycling the same plot point.
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But compelling, I'll grant you.
I mean Rick's always been a monster, but Morty's own body-count prior to this episode ain't exactly small either. The last time he asked Rick to invent something for his personal use we got the Cronenberg-verse.
The back half of this season is way better than the front.
Did his initial plan go to shit? Sure. But what really annoyed him is that Morty didn't respect his intentions. And that's why he brought the vat back at the end. He could have simply murdered everyone there, but that would have only made things worse in the long run.
Morty thought that the lesson was "consequences matter," when the real lesson was, "consequences are unavoidable." Even if the consequences of your actions aren't happening to you, they're still happening to other people. In in this case, they're happening to other Morty's. While Morty has killed people in the past, and even in this very episode, the deal with this episode is that he was effectively killing people who weren't in his way and didn't do anything to deserve it. As for why Rick seemed to be completely indifferent, it's because he intention all along was to merge all the possible timelines. They all become the same Rick.
One of the most interesting things in this episode is that aside from stealing a wheelchair, most of Morty's actions were petty and self-destructive, rather than outright evil. He had the ring of gyges at his disposal, but he didn't really do much with it. Mostly it was a purely psychological crutch.
The diving board incident is probably the main turning point for him. Even with the save point, Morty still chickens out on even trying, and instead uses the save point to avoid embarrassment.
As for why he didn't save scrum the relationship, it's probably because he wanted to avoid the "bad save" scenario. Because he might think that everything is fine on day 5 but he already messed up on day 4. What's more interesting is that once he entered that relationship, he didn't really care about using the save point for any of his other petty behavior.
Not really.
Harmon storytelling is all about circles where characters initially get what they want but end up having to pay a terrible price. This was highlighted explicitly in the premiere. Rick is plainly aware that everything comes with a price. Usually he doesn't care, but sometimes he realizes that the price isn't worth it.
Morty's problem is that he still hasn't that learned this lesson, which is why Rick really needs to sink the knife in deep. Because if he doesn't learn that lesson now, then it's really going to bite him later on.
I don't think this was a case of Rick avoiding confrontation with the mobsters because this was the best possible outcome, this is just another case of the Morty's Mind Blowers thing, where Rick does something embarrassing and doesn't want anyone to know.
And I think that's why I don't mind this particular spin on Rick's character, because it's not about "Rick is always the best and smartest." Rick is the smartest person in the multiverse, that's been established. He's always going to "win."
But what episodes like this one and the Unity episode show is that Rick, despite being the smartest and most competent being in all possible realities, is also cripplingly insecure and plagued with self loathing. Much like, as was referenced above, Walter White.
Walter always won, too. But in the end, it didn't matter, because his victory cost him his humanity. I don't think this show is doing quite the deep dive that Breaking Bad did, but I do think Rick is very much of the same mold. He has to be the best, because being the best is all he has.
His current path of development where he's very slowly refined just to be as funny as possible is clearly the way to go. Keeping him infallible but also petty seems to be a great source of jokes and not likely to drift too quickly or write the show into a corner.
I mean we've seen this bit over and over though, it's not really a new story beat from these guys. Personally I just want some movement from these characters. If Harmon is acting as a mentor for Roiland he needs to step up his game as at this point Community had their characters nailed.
Completely missed that one.
And how has the best joke not been mentioned?
Rick struggles a ton with everything not related to science. It's shown again and again that he feels cut off, alone, and depressed. Every season has at least one episode where he utterly fails to get what he actually wants because he's keeps failing at being a better person.
I'm fine with Rick always winning cause sooner or later he sabotages himself.
I didn't say he doesn't fail. We clearly see him fail a number of times (including this season in the toilet episode), hence the Walter White reference. I'm talking about in relation to the folks around him. His "Dr. Who" line in the Oval Office really just applies to the whole of the show and it kind of gets stale.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t7byYMo8B4A
Not so much that he thinks it, but just what a smug, joyous asshole it seems to make him.
Like Rick said, I think that guy had some other stuff goin' on.
That stinger at the end was perfect.
Rick is supposed to be for Dr. Who what One Punch Man is for Superman. It's a deconstruction of expectations.
The dude has infinite science but he lacks any real sense of meaning or purpose. There's no point to giving sentience to a robot that only passes butter, and there's no point to giving Godhood to a guy who doesn't actually know what to do with it, but that's the life he's stuck with.
That's the story for Rick. Same as Superman. The tension doesn't come from if he'll win but how, why, and what the following consequences are.
I love the Dan Harmon is so obsessed with that song.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
I loved "I brought my own ladle"
I’m only a science enthusiast, but from what I understand, time travel and universe hopping both require the same amount of energy (infinite or near infinite energy applied in a small or finite space and time), so there’s no functional difference between what Rick does and what Rick mocks.
Battlenet ID: MildC#11186 - If I'm in the game, send me an invite at anytime and I'll play.
*As in, like slight variations of other dimensions. Other *spaces* is not.
Only do this a few more times meant finding an alternate reality that was exactly like their original one in every single way, including having a Rick and Morty that died at the same time they needed to hop into it, and it didn't have the problem they needed to fix.
Episode did not reach the heights of Vat of Acid, but it was fine overall for a Shit on Jerry episode.
Law and Order ≠ Justice
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This season seems to be going hard on anti-lessons