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rickssugarplum · 5 months

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The Rick is Over

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR 7x05! Watch it first before reading this! Thanks and enjoy! ❤

(Rick Sanchez x Reader) Spoilers for 7x05, Angst, Hurt/Comfort

You help Rick process it all.

With the pull of the lever, all the lights in the sub-basement go out, finalizing the end of the decades-long show that's been ongoing most of his life.

It's all finally over.

Rick Prime is dead.

Still coated head to toe in blood, Rick stands in the darkness in the now useless lair, where he'd spent countless days and nights searching, tracking, and looking for any signs of his lifelong enemy. The one who caused him all his pain, destroyed all of his dreams he had when he was young. All he ever wanted, was to live as a husband and father to the two most precious girls in his life.

That life had been ripped away from him so many years ago.

Now, he has killed the man who was responsible. His ultimate goal had been achieved.

So, why does he still feel so empty?

He didn't say a word while flying back home. The voice of his grandson right beside him felt like miles away. It was as if his entire world had gone mute. He could not just go to sleep in his room. Not tonight.

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You were in your living room, reading a book in complete silence, until it was broken by the familiar whirling sound of the portal. You were clearly expecting Rick to emerge from it, but you nearly screamed when you saw him soaked in crimson blood.

"Oh my God! Rick?!!" you shrieked as you stepped towards him. He stood there, emotionless.

"Rick! What the fuck happened!? You look like you came through a slaughter!"

The old man just looked at you; still silent. It caused even more panic in your veins.

"Rick, please. You're scaring me! What is going on!? Say something!" you begged. He was never one to be quiet, even more alarming when he's drenched in blood. Did an adventure go awry or...

"W-where's Morty!? Is he okay?" You asked in fear that something might have happened to him. Your heart rate slightly lowered when he nodded, assuring his grandson was alright.

Looking more closely at him, you saw more damage inflicted on his face. "Jesus Christ, Rick. Your nose is broken!"

Rick finally spoke in a hoarse but defiant voice. "I got him."

His bloodshot eyes stared directly into yours. You saw the anger he's shown in them only when he's described his past, his stolen life; his darkest demons.

Immediately, you knew who he was talking about.

"You-you got...him?" You couldn't speak the name, despite sharing it with the man in front of you. Rick simply nodded again. Not knowing what exactly happened, the blood covering him made one thing clear.

Rick had finally killed his enemy.

Slowly, you took his hands, searching in his eyes for any ounce of how he was feeling, knowing he had avenged his wife and daughter.

"Are-are you okay?"

Morty had asked him that exact same question after it was all said and done. He said that he was. But now seeing the concern in your face and repeating his grandson's words just mere hours before caused the final crack in the dam.

Suddenly you felt two long arms around you, grasping your frame tightly, and Rick let out the loudest, broken wail you'd ever hear. His anguish was bigger than his body, causing him to collapse, dragging you both to your floor. You simply held him as he cried into you, letting out decades of repressed grief and trauma that'd haunted him.

"Shhhh... It's okay, Rick..." you murmured, placing his head on your chest and stroking his slightly damp hair. "It's over..." you whispered. "I'm here... I've got you..."

The man was trembling like a newborn fawn. He looked so fragile. You couldn't possibly know exactly what was going through his tormented mind as he screamed into your chest. His cries sounded so animalistic, it almost scared you. But your heart was breaking hearing him suffer inside. He had cried for the life he lost, his wife he had promised forever to, and his little girl, whom he swore to protect. All Rick wanted was to have his beloved Diane by his side and to see his baby Beth grow up. He wanted them to grow old together. All of his plans. His dreams. Their future, will never come.

Tears welled up in your own eyes, but you stayed and gently rocked him, whispering words of comfort.

"It's alright, baby," you said softly.

Baby. Diane used to call him that. He let out another sob at that memory. Leaning down, you press soft kisses on his forehead.

"I'm so proud of you, Rick..." you confessed. It was the truth. You wanted him to know that. How lucky you were to have the most passionate Rick throughout infinity. He squeezed you a bit tighter at your affirmation.

Time didn't matter to either of you. You could hold him forever if he needed it. That would be how long it would take to heal this broken heart.

After awhile, his sobs started to fade into soft weeping.

"Rick? Can you look at me?" You asked softly. There was no command in your voice. It was mainly to make sure he knew his surroundings. Slowly, he lifts his head up to look at you. The blood of his enemy was slightly rinsed underneath his eyes from tears. You cupped his face in your hands so tenderly, giving him a faint smile.

"You did it."

Rick's expression had become nearly blank. After all the crying, he almost felt numb. "What do you need right now?" you asked him, stroking his cheek.

He wrapped his arms around you again. This time, not in desperation, but in comfort and gratitude. In his hold, he simply whispered,

"Just you..."

It relieved you to hear his answer. You both stayed in your embrace, with no plans on letting each other go. Rick could feel a slight relief as you assured him you were not going anywhere. He closed his eyes and let everything sink in. Through all the changes he's made, he's achieved the biggest change of all. The hunt for his nemesis was over.

So.

What now?

He's going to find out.

❤

#rick and morty spoilers #season 7 spoilers #unmortricken #rick sanchez #rick sanchez x reader #rickssugarplum

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ricksanchezbignaturals · 6 months

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i rewatched s7e3 and the weird sort of straight washing that happened with unity was worse than i realized in my first 1 and a half viewings. so im here to be a little bit more of a hater lol.

okay so like fuck this bitch in particular

now, i understand that unity has appeared in the comics which i haven't read so it's possible there's some lore there that idk about, but here's the deal as i understand it and why this specific alien acting like the face of unity bugs me so much. this alien is part of a species that, as of the episode in season 2, was very recently assimilated by unity. so like im not sure why there's so much focus placed on her specifically. having her act as a representative of sorts made sense in the first episode, she was a president on the newly assimilated planet that rick and the kids were visiting. but like, that's it, right? it doesn't make sense to me why she would be any more important than any of the other, what? trillions of life forms unity has under its belt? like the only reason for her to be here at all is to be recognizable to the audience, which like, fine. i think it's a little dumb, but whatever. the problem isn't having her as a symbol (personally i think it'd be cooler to not have an entity like unity tied down to being primarily represented through one body but i digress), the problem is that she's treated like more than that in this episode.

this is a part i didn't notice until my rewatch that really irked me.

these are concurrent shots from the scene when rick shows up and starts spraying unity. we see it in virginia telling rick to take it easy through the body of this human, then we see it continuing the conversation from its spaceship in the body of the alien. i am like super not a fan of the implications of that. this alien is not supposed to be unity any more than any one of my cells is me, but here it's depicted as though whenever unity does something in any of its bodies, it's coming from this lady. and like, that'd be super lame even if it wasn't an obvious womanification of a nongendered entity.

now im no english major so i don't have an elegant transition to put here, but yes, it is time to talk about pronouns. yeah yeah, ik, trans person gets hung up on pronouns, bite me okay, it's relevant. i went back and watched the first unity episode to be sure id remembered correctly, and yes, in that episode nobody uses gendered pronouns for unity. morty says "they" which seems more to be referring to a number of bodies, and other than that, people mostly say "unity" or "it". as for the new episode i noticed rick using nongendered pronouns twice

but after that he goes with she/her for the rest of the episode

and yeah, i think that is pretty disappointing. i didn't catch that "it" until my rewatch, but the use of "them" did make me really happy but then everybody started she/hering it. the combination of all that emphasis being put on a female body and people calling unity she so much makes for an episode that manages to be significantly less queer than the one that came out in 2015. it feels weirdly cowardly after that "we're all a little gay" bit in the last episode and doesn't inspire much confidence in me regarding rick's relationships with nonwomen. like stuff can be gay if it's for a joke, but there's more money on the line now than back in season 2, so rick's ex lover needed straightening up.

idk. i still like the episode because im easy and focusing on rick's mental health and relationships always makes me happy, but man, i am certainly not happy with how they handled unity. they really did it dirty, watered it down to being pretty much just another alien lady.

(also to be clear, i am not trying to shit on the writers here. obviously idk exactly what went on, but im pretty comfortable placing the blame squarely on execs)

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starrbitez · 10 days

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Is it a coincidence that both Rick AND Beth abandoned morty for summer? Like father like daughter? And isn’t it interesting that in this universe she doesn’t regret not aborting summer? They way rick hugs summer back in the gotron episode. But he never hugs morty back until fear no mort, but even that has hesitation. He said summer reminds him of Diane. Does Beth think that too? would rick abandon morty for Diane if given the chance— morty clear thinks so from his pov in the hole, but the question is, would Beth give up morty and summer to see her mother? I really want to dissect why everyone in the family dislikes morty.

Jerry calls morty stupid multiple times, and always yells at him for not trying hard enough. I see this as projection, personally. Jerry projects his own insecurities onto his son because he cant be the Only one like this. Morty even says he’s just like his dad, when someone asks “is everyone in your family an idiot?” And morty says “well for sure me and my dad are” in the Pluto episode.

Rick dislikes morty early on because he is supposed to. He knows thats how Ricks are supposed to treat morty, but we clearly see that rick cares the most, especially in Close Encounters of the Rick Kind, where he cries watching memories of morty. Evil rick says that no rick cares about their morty, and from then on we see rick continuously overcompensate with insults towards morty. However, we see that rick truly cares in multiple episodes, to name a few; Meseeks and Destroy, Get Schwifty, Look who’s Purging Now, Rest and Ricklaxation. These are all episodes prior to season five, where rick realizes he is a bad partner and leaves. Something interesting is that in GoTron, Rick only abandons Morty when his ideas are not being backed, and are instead being backed by summer, who he says reminds him of Diane (in fear no mort). It’s interesting because we can assume that rick is looking for comfort and acceptance from Diane, and the closest person he can get it from is Summer. He also values summer in this episode because she has never really stood up to Rick on adventures, something Rick dislikes about Morty.

It’s also interesting to add to the mix that his Morty is Morty Prime, the grandson of the man who killed his family. Rick had no problem leaving the rest of the Prime dimension behind, but on some level i think he knew that he needed Morty Prime (before he had even really gotten attached). Rick values the one thing he has against Prime, but he knows that Prime is in Morty’s blood, and I think every time Morty stands up to Rick he sees a small flash of Prime in the kid’s personality, and it scares him to death. It’s a juxtaposition between one grandchild representing his dead wife, and the other representing his mortal enemy.

Finally, I want to talk about why Beth seems to dislike Morty so much, only really showing she cares when he’s in distress—and when she’s right. Beth obviously seeks Rick’s approval, and because of that she has a lot of the same traits. Again, Morty stands up to her, (i forget what the episode is called) but when Summer is turned giant, Morty tells Beth that she is just as arrogant and reckless as Rick, and that being like him isn’t going to make him like her more. Beth wants attention more than anything, and when she and Jerry are going through the divorce in season two, Summer immediately chooses her mother, refusing to talk to Jerry at all. Morty, however, talks to both of his parents. Beth values loyalty and trust over everything, and her abandonment issues are obvious when she appreciates people who stay more. In the Prime dimension, Beth Prime tells Jerry, “a real man stands by his woman,” and in the post credits scene they have this exchange:

Jerry: do you ever wonder what happened to rick and morty?

Beth: sometimes, but i hate to admit that now that they’re gone, im finally happy.

Beth knows that Rick would always abandon her, and on some level i think she believes that morty is betraying her by putting trust in rick, among her disappointment in a lot of Mortys actions in school and socially. This episode really shows that she values Jerry and Summer above Rick and Morty, because Jerry and Summer would always stay.

Beth and Summer both know that Beth had almost aborted Summer, and Beth wants to prove that she’s not like her father; that she wont suddenly abandon or betray her daughter. Choosing Summer over Morty in Morty’s Mind Blowers is Beth’s way of showing her devotion and loyalty to her daughter, saying that she wouldn’t leave. She’s better than Rick. Again, in the GoTron episode, Beth is willing to leave morty behind because she trusts Jerry, summer, and Rick more, because she knows they could leave, and she needs them to stay with her, because they have shown that they’ll stay with her. the only time Beth truly comforts and shows affection to Morty is in the Planetina episode, where she consoles him after the break up. In some way, this reminds me of something Rick would do, and has done. She and Rick had both at one point manipulated a loved ones relationship for their own benefit, or simply to hurt someone else. Rick sabotaged Beth and Jerry’s marriage multiple times, and Beth (even though she was right bc planetina was lowkey weird as hell) sabotaged Morty’s relationship—actually his happiness, and the first time he had felt valued—because she needed to feel valued more, the same way rick wanted to be valued over Jerry.

Idk if this makes sense im just kind of spitballing here but . I think everyone in the family has a distinct reason for disliking and excluding morty, and while they have their moments, i don’t really think they matter compared to the sheer amount of disrespect morty gets. I didn’t put summer here because they both have their own problems, and for the most part they value each other the same amount because they both want to break the cycle their family is stuck in.

If u read all of this thank u :) lmk what u think

#rick and morty #morty smith #rick n morty #morty #rnm #rick sanchez

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d33pwithinmys0ul · 4 months

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One Shot For Pondhue Rick Sanchez x Reader Fluff

I hope this doesn't format weird, but I've been doing one shot fanfic for art trades, this is my first finished one! If you're interested go ahead and dm me but I've got lots to tackle.

I love @pondhue's art, be sure to check them out, this is what they requested, enjoy :)

“Summer!” Morty yelled up the stairs in an exasperated voice. Both his hands are clenched on the straps of his backpack. “I-I’m gonna be late for math, Mom said we have to walk together this time.”

You were cross legged on the recliner as you watched her bound down the stairs with a pink zippered pouch in hand.

“Don’t act like you give a shit about your education Morty, it’s not a good look for you.” She rolls her eyes in his direction and hands you the pouch. “You can use anything but Funny Bunny and the glitters. See you tonight!” She was out the door before you could even say thank you.

“She’s fuckin’ killing me, y/n.” Morty gave a frustrated huff. The door slams shut and you stifle a laugh.

You almost slide off of the recliner in favor of the floor, then go through Summer’s nail stuff. The polish bottles all clink against one another gently.

It was empty and quiet. The Beths and Jerry had said something about a galactic honeymoon before being cut off by disgusted groans from Rick and the kids. It was an easy job to take.

You turn on the TV for some background noise, and decide to pick your favorite color.

House sitting seemed unnecessary for the Smiths, but it would be nice to be around Rick more in light of your recent “exclusivity.” Rick’s chosen word, not yours. It was kinda sweet, you supposed.

You start with your left hand, laying it flat on the coffee table. It was fun, and soothing.

Exclusive was a nice term, you think. Not too distant, or too territorial. He respected you.

You were starting another finger when you heard the familiar warp of a portal materializing in the kitchen.

God, Rick was noisy. Every box and bottle in the fridge resounded as if he were taking inventory, he hacked and coughed every few seconds. Was he aware that you were here? Was he trying to make a point, like you had to acknowledge his presence first?

You continue without a word. Maybe you could do your toes too? Should you match, or pick another color?

Your mouth twitched as you saw him from the corner of your eye. He plopped himself down on the couch, adjacent to your spot on the floor, with a drink in his hand. He burps and changes the channel.

There was a comfortable silence, only the noise of different shows and commercials, human looking humans, nothing you’d usually see on interdimensional cable with him.

Rick drapes his arm on the back of the couch. “Y-you gonna join me?”

“In a little bit, I’m almost done,” you said.

He grunts in reply.

Why was he being so quiet, almost shy?

You finished your last finger, waving them around a little to dry. You look back up at the TV, and literal shit is being spread on a bagel.

“Jesus,” you automatically cringe and turn to Rick, “Why?”

“Poop deli,” he shrugs and takes a big swig of beer.

“That.. Is not–romantic,” you said.

He snorts but changes the channel anyway. “I didn’t realize you needed wooing right now, sweetheart.” He rubs the back of his neck.

“Who said I needed it?” You say incredulously, flapping your hands to dry your nails faster. You know you looked silly and laughed a little as soon as you started.

“‘S a good color on you,” Rick almost mumbles, vaguely gesturing to the little set up of polish and remover, and all the other contents of Summer’s pouch on the coffee table.

“Thank you.” You slide the nail stuff across the table and sit on the carpet next to Rick’s foot. “Maybe you could join me?”

“On the floor?” Rick’s voice almost reflected your own earlier regarding ‘poop deli.’

“It won’t kill you,” you said. “I was hoping I could do your nails too?” You almost didn’t ask, but you were curious. Sure, Rick usually gave most things shit, but you’d like to think you were his soft spot.

“And what are you thinking, exactly?” He squints at you almost mockingly. He lowers himself smoothly onto the floor next to you.

“How about…” Your hand hovers over a few different bottles in Summers collection. “Lincoln Park After Park,” you said and handed him the bottle.

“I’m—eughhh–’m not wearing purple.” He said flatly. He places it on the table and takes another swig of beer.

“It’s basically black,” you scoffed. “I think it’s pretty. You’re lucky I don’t want to do the whole damn nail routine on you. I’m sure your cuticles are atrocious.”

Rick exhaled sharply through his nose, and rolled his eyes dramatically and splayed his large, bony hands out on the coffee table. “Before I change my mind.”

You smile with satisfaction and scoot closer to him, going from sitting to kneeling. Tall bastard. You almost get poked by his knee as he crouches in an almost frog-like position, you laugh at the look on his face as you untwist the bottle. You give him a quick kiss on the cheek right before he starts complaining.

“That is a purple tinge,” he insists, emphasizing the color.

“It’s black,” you set the bottle on the table and grab his hand. You start on his pinky finger, feeling the rough skin of his palm. “It’s not permanent, don’t be a child.”

“I’m aware of the properties of Earth nail polish,” he uses his free hand to take a swig of his beer, which almost spilled all over the carpet. “Forgive me for being a little more s–eughh-selective.”

“Earth nail polish?” You laugh. “So there’s alien versions, you mean?”

“Obviously. More durable and vibrant iterations of this shit. Think of that blackest black bullshit, but better. And it doesn’t stink. Just an obvious superiority of the wonders of the galaxy over puny mundane humanity.” His lab coat collar was wonky and he didn’t sound too serious about the last part.

“Mhm,” you said as you spaced his pinky away and moved onto his ring finger, careful not to smudge your own. “And how’d you get so familiar with galactic cosmetics?” He shrugged. “Old band days. I’ve told you about this before,” his eyebrow furrowed.

You could see a little bit of the purple tint as you finished another nail.

“Drunken rants barely count as telling me,” you said. “The Flesh Curtains,” you said with a flourishing stroke.

“Th-this, it’s the first time since then I’ve gotten my nails painted,” he said, a little surprised at himself. “Bit of bird DMT and common sense is m-euguhghh-more than enough to overcome, fuckin gender societal bullshit.” He was watching your hands, one painting, the other keeping his still. “If you paint it all over the fingertip it’ll come off in the shower. Don’t exactly shower much at Birding Man, though.”

“That’s where you guys met, right?” You asked.

“Mhm,” Rick said. “Thirty somethin’ and didn’t give much of a fuck to do shit else. Just shows and drugs and all the usual rockstar bullshit. I was young. BP gave me a guitar and we were too shitfaced to stop ourselves.”

“Bird Person doesn’t seem the musical type,” you say as you take his other hand and dip the brush into the bottle of polish. “That’s pretty cool.”

“He’s a fuckin’ genius.” He waves his free hand. “Bird planet stuff gave him a natural advantage, I think. Heavy into classical. Would’ve been a w–eughhh–waste, -i-if he never did anything with it.”

“So what kind of music did you make?” You asked, smiling. You were trying not to seem too enthusiastic. You didn’t think he’d be so willing to open up.

“Eughh–it was the eighties, I think, don’t fuckin’ remember too much. Rock, nu metal. For a bit we used an invention of mine with an algorithm that c-cal-calibrated the data from other successful rock acts across the known universe to write songs for us, bullshit like that. Didn’t work out. BP almost got us to do new-wave, n-eughh-not my cup of tea.” He takes his flask from his lab coat pocket.

“Squanchy didn’t want that either. Too hyperactive. We found him squanchin’ backstage by the drumkit when we wanted to crash the festival, so that role for him happened naturally. I don’t think you’ve met him. When we were on the road I’d have to sing him to sleep while I drove cuz BP would just pass out. If Squanchy didn’t get a goddamn lullaby he’d have to squanch to go to bed, and that was when I actually gave a shit if my ship was clean..”

“I advise you to restrain your speed. Breaking Blimmyjink highway laws will further delay our performance,” Bird Person said in his monotone voice.

“I swear to fucking god, I’ll eject you into the vast emptiness of space if you spill that goddamn beer!” Rick yelled over his shoulder while keeping his eyes on the road. He coughed and hacked before narrowly swerving around another vehicle.

They worked real hard to get a gig at the Celestes, and he wasn’t going to let shit ruin it. Rick growled a little as he forced himself to ease up on the gas pedal.

“I didn’t spill squanch!” Squanchy whined.

“Should’ve brought my damn portal gun, you stupid fucks,” he barked at the other members in the car. “U—eughh-unbelievable.” Rick had thought that a road trip-esque approach to a few of their gigs would create some type of positive relationship without too many drugs involved.

The galactic highway had too much traffic for a Thursday night, they had a shit time slot. He weaved in and out of lines of other ships and cars, speeding to get to the venue. His glass beer bottle nearly tipped over in the cup holder, before his bandmate caught it with a feathered hand.

“You’re in distress,” BP observed.

“You deserve a medal,” Rick muttered.

“What seems to be the issue?” Bird Person persisted.

“We need time t-to set up. No fuckin’ brainer. Even with the damn Band in a Box mechanism every .5 seconds counts in this GODDAMN TRAFFIC!” Rick yelled and honked his horn.

The driver in front of him extended a tentacle out of their window.

“Is he flipping me off?” Rick asked, glancing at his cat-like drummer in the back seat.

“Nah, he’s just giving you the squanch. Could be way worse, Rick.” Squanchy replied before chugging the rest of his drink, his feet kicked up on the drivers seat.

“Paws down asshole, you’ll sing yourself to sleep tonight,” Rick said through gritted teeth.

“Your voice is slightly hoarser than usual.” Bird Person said. “Perhaps your agitated state is creating strain on your physical health.”

“Only by 20.8%, which literally d-eughh-doesn’t matter,” Rick quipped. “This is a really important show, you know that.”

BP rifled through his satchel made of leaves and other stupid shit Rick didn’t see the point in before. He pulled out an unusually large acorn.

“It is infused with healing syrups and herbs from my home planet. I insist.” He handed it to him when they slowed to a stop at a light. “It may soothe you.”

“What-am-am I supposed to eat this like an apple?” Rick's eyebrow arched before glancing back at the road.

“If by apple you imply a hand sized, edible food source–”

“Whatever,” Rick grumbled and took the acorn begrudgingly.

“Thank you for giving me your trust,” his bandmate replied.

The show at the Celestes had been a hit. It helped them book other gigs–turns out there were some good connections to make on a random Thursday night. Rick wasn’t on vocals that show, but he felt a lot better. He got so drunk that he crowd surfed and shit his pants in a broom closet.

“We ended up having a p-pretty decent sized fan base on Blimmyjink even after we disbanded. Pers didn’t neutralize any of the tannins in that acorn, though,” Rick said with a laugh. “Tasted like shit.”

You were almost done with his second hand, almost wishing you could stall so he wouldn’t stop talking.

It was really nice of him to speak more about his past, considering Rick wasn’t very comfortable with his backstory, or a lot of what happened before he and Morty moved to this dimension. You could tell he was really trying.

“That seems really fun. It would be nice to meet Squanchy sometime.” You put away the polish and rubbed his shoulder. “I didn’t realize you and BP had been so close. He doesn’t seem like the type to paint his nails.”

Rick scoffs. “Yeah, no thanks to me. They wanted to be lame and go onstage as they were, like f-fuckin’ Weezer or something. It was fun styling everyone. I had pierced ears back then too, we were so fuckin’ drunk–shit was lopsided.”

He rolled his eyes and pressed a button on his watch, careful not to smudge his nail.

A little holo projection appeared of an old picture you’d seen before. Rick, Bird Person, and Squanchy on stage. Fire effects erupting by the drumset, Bird Person with his wings displayed powerfully behind him, Rick lost in thought as his face contorted while striking the strings of his instrument.

“Wow, yeah. You guys look amazing,” you try not to giggle a little at Rick’s get up. You hadn’t seen it in detail like this before— spiked leather bracelets, a skull on his belt buckle, the loosest, skinniest tank top that was as far away from his chest as possible, and a choker around his neck. Jesus Christ. What a choice, what a man.

“Clearly I was the o-eughh-only one that actually looked good,” Rick said with a wink. “But it was some good shit. We never made any money doing it. But we had some good memories.”

Rick's hands were both free as the nails dried, so he used them more as he talked. “That time in my life w-was a goddamn free for all. I trusted BP for no good reason when I’d been bitter and angry for years. We all almost wrote a whole album that night, after Birding Man, but Squanchy drunk pissed all over my equipment and we lost the files.”

“And drunk Rick didn’t waterproof his stuff back then?” You ask dubiously.

“I–eughh–I think I can say I was a lesser man back then.” He said with a shrug.

“Do you miss it?” You ask.

“Loose shirts, shittier tech, different mindset back then. I don’t regret it, but I was...just running from a lot of shit. It was escapism. Every musician is disturbed, art is mental illness, whatever bullshit you wanna . I-I think I needed it.” He said fondly. “I’m a little less likely to do donuts in a Blimmyjink parking lot these days.”

The TV hums quietly in the background and you take in the natural pause.

You take his hand cautiously, admiring the fit of yours with his, the new polish on your nails. “Thank you for giving me your trust.”

He brings his palm to your cheek and kisses your forehead.

#rick and morty #rick sanchez #rick sanchez x reader #oneshot #fluff #flesh curtains rick #trade #birdperson

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thesoftboiledegg · 7 months

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This whole Dan Harmon interview is worth reading, but here's a few essential quotes:

When the show scored its second season, Harmon was eager to staff up, filling out their ragtag cable team with Harvard-educated Community writers. If they were going to make a play for network primetime audiences, he reasoned, they’d need network primetime writers. “If I had felt like I was imposing something, I would have never done it,” he says, having played the whole thing back in his head countless times over the past decade. He can see now how Roiland must have felt that that transition was about making the show more Harmon’s than his, but he insists that was not his intent.

“If anything, what I wanted was for Justin and I both to be able to be increasingly lazy and not show up for work. That was the dream,” says Harmon. “We’d be these rich idea men. He could roll around and go, like, ‘What if a genie had a butt instead of a dick?’ And I could be like, ‘Yeah, and plus, we’re going to make people cry about it, and that’s going to make them freak out. It’s a story about a genie butt dick, but then we’d win an Emmy, and it’d be more ironic than ever.’ And then I’d come to find out later that it was like, ‘Oh, Harmon brought in his Harmon writers,’ and, man, that is not how I saw it.”

[...]

The last time he and Roiland spoke was over text in 2019, a conversation that left Harmon in tears. “He said things that he’d never said before about being unhappy, and I remember saying to him the last time we spoke in person, like, ‘I am worried about you, and I don’t know what to do about that except to give you all the string and also just say I’m scared that you’re not going to come back.’ But then this conversation became unprecedentedly confrontational.” Harmon stops himself there. “I think that’s as far as I get to take the story. At that point, we’re no longer both there for it, and it starts to become not only unfair for me to continue but totally uncomfortable because, from there, a friendship goes away, and I still don’t fully understand why.”

[...]

“The easiest thing for me to say about Justin has been nothing. Easy because he isolated so well and easy because I’m nobody’s first choice as a judge of anything or anyone. This is where I’d love to change the subject to myself, to what a piece of crap I’ve been my whole public life,” he says. “I would feel so safe and comfortable making this about me, but that trick is worthless here and dangerous to others. It’s other people’s safety and comfort that got damaged while I obsessed over a cartoon’s quality. Trust has now been violated between countless people and a show designed to please them. I’m frustrated, ashamed and heartbroken that a lot of hard work, joy and passion can be leveraged to exploit and harm strangers.”

---

I suggest reading the full article because it goes pretty in-depth into Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland's relationship and how their collaboration fell apart. The article also has some intriguing details about how the show operates behind the scenes.

#rick and morty #dan harmon #justin roiland

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citadelsanchez · 2 years

Note

If you'd like too, Rick with an s/o that collects cute things! Like they fawn over cute plush toys and threatens people that try to touch them without permission?

The cutest prompt! Sorry it's a bit short. This is also the first time I've put Rick in a real world setting but it felt fitting for this one. Hope you like!

(Also side note: 'bbs' plushes aren't real, I made em up lol)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It's not funny, Rick." You glare at the elder man, your eyes glowing in a burning fury.

His cheeks puff as he starts to snicker before he turns his body away from you to shake with laughter without being seen.

"I CAN LITERALLY HEAR YOU LAUGHING" you say, giving up and stalking out of the kitchen you were both standing in and back to your shared bedroom. Well, technically, your bedroom but Rick might as well have lived there too.

"Boooo, y-you're no fun at all" you hear him say, trailing behind you slowly.

Earlier, you had walked into the Smith's living room to find the absolute horror of Rick dangling two of your BBS plushes in his hands in front of Morty and Summer, giving them exaggerated voices. "I'm M-Mrs. Lumpy Fuckins and my owner Y/N won't brush my hairrrr." This was met with laughter by Summer and an uncomfortable "geeezz" from Morty.

You stood at the doorway with your mouth agape in shock before Rick made eye contact and immediately dropped them onto the couch. You had turned on your heel and locked yourself in his room for a while, giving him the silent treatment even after he portaled inside and prodded you to talk to him, with still no apology in sight in true Rick fashion. And he was clearly still amused from his inability to take you seriously.

"You're no fun for mocking something I love" you scoff, plopping onto the bed and turning away from him once more.

"D-don't be a sourpuss, I was just showing them your interests a-a-and being comedic in the process," Rick says, almost sounding remorseful before reverting back into his righteousness. He sits on the bed now, holding your gaze with a frustrated facial expression.

"Oooh yeah, so funny when I've TOLD you not to touch any of them. I have them arranged the way I want and you can't even respect me enough to leave it be. Don't you remember when Summer wandered in here like two weeks ago on accident and picked up Benji and Phoenix and I yelled at her without realizing?"

"B-because those are the m-most rare ones you have?" He asked and you were slightly surprised that he remembered. It symbolizes that at least on some level, he actually listened to you.

"Yes" you respond weakly, still feeling embarrassed about the entire situation but unwavering on your annoyed outlook.

"O-okay, come with me" Rick belches out, pulling his portal gun out to shoot a green swirl and unexpectedly dragging your hand with him through it.

You go to cuss him but stop when you realize that you're in a strange setting. Very familiar to you but not anything you were expecting from the portal gun. You were surrounded by neon lights on red walls and people pushing carts in all directions.

"Rick... why are we in Target?"

He sighed. "You'll s-see, just follow me."

You furrowed your brows in confusion but didn't hesitate to walk behind him. You know that he hates being in stores- especially ones like Target where there's an excess of ignorant human beings and overstimulating lights and noises. You could practically feel his skin crawling. And you'd hold his hand in comfort but you know that he's not a fan of PDA from previous experiences of your attempts at affection with him around others.

He leads you into the toy section and down an aisle when you see it. Pompa, the newest lion BBS plush that came out a few days ago, which you weren't aware of and only had dealing with Rick's antics constantly to blame.

Rick picked one off of the shelf and petted its head. "It is, uh, kinda c-cute I guess," he says before placing it in your arms instead. "I-I shouldn't have fucked with your plushes earlier, s-so have this as your reward for dEALLing with me," Rick burps out, standing a little sheepishly.

You reach up to engulf him in a hug. "How'd you know about this being released?"

"Just you know, a-ads and shit," he murmured.

You smiled warmly at the gesture and the kind hearted deep down Rick you know. "Apology accepted."

#rick sanchez #rick and morty #rick and morty season 6 #rick sanchez x reader #morty smith

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enlightenedrobot · 27 days

Text

So here’s a project I’ve not advertised at all. No Requests: Live! From the Tavern is an Adult focused Edutainment series focused on discussing Art, Music, and Media. Each episode is broken up into segments that work together in a playlist including various other videos on Youtube. This means Music Videos, short films, and other video essays, curated together with extra commentary from the host of the show, Tavern Barz.

That’s a weird and unnecessarily complicated format, why are you doing this?

It’s really easy in this day and age to use Youtube videos as a replacement for other content. I mean, why watch a two hour movie when you can watch a 20 minute recap?

This is a bad habit. Critique is important aspect to a good media diet, but a diet consisting solely of critique misses the point completely. In order to talk about media, we must also experience it.

This format means we don’t directly compete with the art featured. Rather, Tavern Barz acts as a museum curator, and the other media in the playlists serve as the actual art itself. The original videos will get their view, and… as a nice little bonus, I get to avoid the copyright bots.

Why are you using a cartoon?

I mean, I’m an animator. I don’t know what else to tell you. Why does the Chocolate guy use chocolate when clay will last longer?

But also, I don’t really have any desire to host the show as myself. There’s a hundred and ten other Youtubers who will get on camera to talk about stuff, and like, I don’t have the room for that.

Besides, Tavern is a character distinct from me. As a writer, I have full control over the narrative I want to tell, and placing myself in the center of that just feels weird. Tavern’s allowed to act and be weird and hypocritical. Tavern is allowed to grow as a character in ways you can’t really depict through the lens of literal documentary filmmaking.

So that Cyclops character isn’t just your rantsona vtuber avatar?

I mean, in a very literal sense, Tavern is a Vtuber. They are a virtual character serving as the host for a real show on Youtube.

But Tavern’s also an OC with lore and a planned Story Arc. The pilot is admittedly pretty bare bones with all this, but I intent to incorporate more story elements as the series goes on.

Alright, so what’s the lore then?

Tavern Barz is the Cycloptic owner of the Tavern Barz Tavern, a fifth dimensional divebar thar exists all across Time and Space. After several eternities of service, Tavern thinks they know it all.

This is not true.

Is this project family friendly?

Not really. The main character is a bartender, so there's a lot of alcohol focus. Plus, a lot of the featured videos will also contain plenty of adult themes.

The pilot is pretty mild. There's some swearing, but nothing too serious. But the non original videos might have adult themes. I have some later episodes planned, including one focused on The Male Gaze, and in those cases, I can't in good conscience recommend these videos to minors.

All in all, I like to call the tone of the project comfortably adult. I'm not going out of my way to be edgy, but I'm also not censoring myself. If this were an actual TV series, it's probably be TV-14. Edgier than the Simpsons, not as edgy as Rick and Morty, so about the level of Futurama.

When will this project release?

April, 2024. As of the time of this writing, the first episode is basically finished except for the credits, but I also need sometime to compile my sources, write descriptions, and make some thumbnails, as well as advertise the project.

Follow Me on this Account if you wanna keep up with the project. You can also see my other links at https://norequestslive.carrd.co/

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selfobsessed-godcomplexed · 2 years

Note

Hello!

So I absolutely LOVED your rick HCs (seriously, I read it several times and it's still good, I'm OBSESSED) I'm here to request more (can I..?)

So if it's OK, can I request some rick × a very cool but kinda shy, caring and romantic fem! S/O? She loves kisses and cuddles so much and at the same time she's so cool and she's up for anything he wants! an adventure on 3 AM? no problem! Having him drunk in her room? She'll gladly take care of it!

Thank you and hope you have a great time darling 💛

I'm so glad you liked it! I was lowkey worried it was too OOC/cringey. But I love writing Rick sm.

And request as much as you'd like! I love writing.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

-> Request type: Drabble/oneshot?

-> Warnings: Ooc Rick maybe?

-> Summary: Rick wakes you up at 3am to take you on an adventure without warning.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Rick Sanchez x Shy!Cool!Reader

You woke up to a familiar swish, bright green light shining in your eyes. You put your hand up trying to block as much of the light as you could. You sit up suddenly being yanked out of the bed and thrown into the dirty spaceship that reaked of sex and alcohol. Still in your pajamas you look over at the old blue haired man tiredly as the ship drives off to god knows where.

"What the fuck Rick? You could've at least let me get dressed! You didn't have to drag me out of bed at..." You look at your phone, the brightness hurting your eyes. "3am?!" You turn over to your lover. "What's so important that you had to throw me out of bed in such a hurry, why not Morty?" Rick didn't respond, eyes glued in front of him. You sigh. You didn't mind, you loved going on adventures with your boyfriend. But he wanted to know what was so important to warant the rush.

You hear him take a drink of his flask as you slowly drift off to sleep. Still a bit exhausted from your last 3am adventure with Rick. You went to a concert on some alien planet, you guys had gotten high and wasted & had fuck in a porta potty & the back of his spaceship after.

You woke from the ship suddenly jolting as it comes to a stop, landing on an unfamiliar planet. Your door opens and Rick grabs you by the arm, dragging you out. Holding you close to his side. The planet did have much besides some restaurant/entertainment type place. Rick grabs your hand and drags you inside, taking you to a booth at the back of the restaurant. He was taking on on a date? At 3am? Why? You guys finished whatever alien dish you guys have had.

You walk towards the ship only to be pulled in the other direction. He had stayed silent all night and you had no idea what was going on. He took you through what looked like a forest of purple and blue trees, out to and open, empty field. You and him sat in the middle of it on a rock. You look at him as he takes a drink of his flask. "What are we doing, Rick?" You asked only for him to hum, annoyed. "You'll see, stop asking already." It was the first thing he had said to you all night.

Had you done something wrong...?

You see a pinkish-purple light shine from in front of you. You look up to see a wave of almost a galaxy like substance. It was bright shining colours of blue, pink, purple, and reds. It lit up the whole planet. Rick snacks and arm around your shoulder hesitantly placing a kiss on your cheek. You giggle, turning to face him and placing a kiss on his lips, his breath reaking of vodka and whatever alien food tou had had earlier.

Rick wasn't good at romance but he'd try his best to show his love through all his adventures, nick nacks, and gadgets.

"They only have this once every 7 years." You hear Rick mumble. You smile, looking at the galaxy like wave pass by. You and Rick hadn't said a single work the rest of the night. Just comfortable silence. You rest your head against his.

It had lasted at least 5 hours now. You guys had flew home, falling asleep on the way back. He carries you back into your room, resting you in your bed as he takes the spot next to you. Wrapping his arms around your waist, burrying his head in your chest as he drifts off to sleep. You swear you could hear him mumble a quiet "I love you." You fall asleep with a smile on your face.

#rick sanchez x reader #rick sanchez #rick and morty #r&m

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zeep-xanflorp · 1 year

Text

a hill i'll die on: rick and morty is NOT about nihilism.

okay well it is, but not in the way most people think.

i was in the fandom in the height of the 'to be fair you need to have a very high IQ' era, but before it became ironic. i watched so many youtube video essays on how r+m was an enlightened commentary on the absence of meaning in life, and how finding any sort of purpose was a lie we tell ourselves so we don't give up.

people at this time loved to latch onto rick as an example of what they strive to be, but they failed to realise that the show is NOT praising rick. it's making fun of him, and people like him. it's pointing out his flaws.

at this point, i don't think this is news to anyone but, rick is a massive hypocrite. if he doesn't care about anything, then his actions would make no sense. he would find no value in his connection to morty, he wouldn't deal with the family treating him as they do. but despite his assertions and his best efforts, he is a sentimental old man. he is still ruled by his emotions even though he knows that they 'don't matter.'

he's an addict; someone so tortured by his past that he must numb himself. someone with incredibly low self-esteem (disguised by his artificial narcissism), someone who sees no value in his life and only persists out of spite. does that sound like the state of someone who is comfortable with the idea that nothing matters?

nihilism is a trap that so many people fall into. there is a lot of comfort you can get out of the idea that nothing matters. because yes, that means that you will be forgotten and that your life has no intrinsic value, but that also means your problems are not as big as they might seem. it gives you a certain freedom to live the way you choose and an excuse to not focus on the negatives.

rick is such a good example of where this worldview can lead. in a character like this, who should theoretically be free of any attachment, we can see that he is still miserable. and maybe the worst part is that he views any attachment as negative and irrational. he thinks it's holding him back from being the 'rickest rick' as he describes in s6's premiere. he both yearns for connection and rejects it, which leads to a vicious cycle of self destruction. ultimately, he feels that he doesn't deserve to find meaning in a universe stripped of purpose.

so what am i trying to say here? the show does not promote nihilism, but instead offers a solution: existentialism. the difference lies in the details. while nihilism rejects any sort of meaning, existentialism says that everything matters on a relative scale. that we create our own meaning in life. that if something matters to you, you should not reject that because the universe 'doesn't care' about humanity. instead, you latch onto it because the value you find in anything is real entirely because it's important to you. you have the authority to create your own purpose and there's nothing wrong with that.

it's an individual's responsibility to find purpose. and yes, that is terrifying, but it's doable. don't torture yourself for existing. hold on to what matters to you, and don't let go. regardless of how small it seems. if it works, then it works.

--if nothing matters, why would you help me? [...] --okay... you matter. to me.

#rick n morty #rick and morty #r&m #rnm #rick sanchez #rick c137 #nihilism #existentialism #i could go on about how this looks in s6 but i think i'll save it #rick

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loiswasadevil · 8 months

Note

I think you kinda jumped the shark with all the off grid stuff, brewing moonshine in your apartment that you don't have any form of ID to rent, stuff like that. The rest is borderline believeable, though, and it's all decent satire anyway.

I am not "brewing moonshine in my apartment" I made wine In a bottle and I used the same bottle i bought from the store It isn't hard You need Yeast and Sugar and you let it ferment And yeast is abundant Sometimes you don't even need to buy it. I am an intelligent woman I understand how alcohol is made, BECAUSE OF MY TIME OFF GRID. And i'm an adult who knows that distilling liquor without a license is a CRIME, so don't fucking accuse me of committing a crime when i said I was making WINE Which isn't illegal For an adult to do, And Fuck off in talking about my ID. I don't give a fuck what you think I need to survive in life but clearly i'm doing it fine on my own. I don't care what you think is "believable" This is my life. I have posted time and time again ASKING my followers to explain why my blog seems like a Satire Blog. Time and Time Again I Even use Serious Tone tags, I JUST BLOG ABOUT FAMILY GUY AND LOIS GRIFFIN. ADULT ANIMATION FANS GET HATE BECAUSE THEIR FAVORITE GENRE IS RIDICULED BECAUSE OF SHOWS LIKE SOUTH PARK, AND RICK AND MORTY, And if it werent for those shows I wouldn't be getting this hate, I wouldn't be getting this ask, And maybe there would be a lot more adult animation kin in this world who feel comfortable being themselves like i am, So sorry that You're so uncomfortable with yourself that you need to call my Life fake and hide behind anonymous asks, Off Grid isn't LORE, My LIFE ISNT SATIRE.

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the-awful-falafel · 2 years

Text

My problems with the Rick and Morty relationship as of the S5 finale [LONG POST]

This has bothered me for nearly a year and with Season 6 coming up I wrote an entire essay explaining / summarizing my thoughts on it, so here we go.

(TL;DR I’m overthinking the pickle man and poopy butthole show, also seriously this is long don’t click until you’re ready for a wall of text)

Like most adult comedies, Rick and Morty features main characters doing morally bankrupt things for our entertainment, and the behavior of Rick towards Morty is no different. Rick being abusive towards his fourteen year-old grandson should be obvious to most viewers and is a pretty fundamental part of the show’s black comedy– Rick drags Morty on surreal, life-threatening, and often traumatic adventures that only serve whatever particular whims or carelessness he’s engaging with that day, and Morty is the hapless naive everyman who has little choice in the matter and most of his attempts to question or resist Rick’s judgment backfire. It’s a very cynical sort of comedy, with just an occasional bit of heart sprinkled in to keep us invested.

However, while it’s often played for dark laughs, the series also tries to play Rick and Morty's character dynamic for more serious and dramatic purposes as time goes on. It’s similar to how the dysfunction of the Smith-Sanchez family overall starts to be taken more seriously as a plot point instead of just a vehicle for episodic hijinks, but this had the potential to be even more potent, as these are the two titular characters. Even with the occasional heartwarming moments, Rick’s abusive behavior and the recurring trauma of adventures start to affect Morty’s character, which in turn starts to affect his dynamic with Rick and increase the friction between the two of them as Morty becomes more jaded, more independent, and less willing to put up with Rick’s bullshit.

I’ll be upfront, I found this to be one of the most interesting slow-burn arcs of the show, even though the consistency of it on an episode-to-episode basis understandably varied. I was never really amused by the jokes about Rick constantly exploiting and belittling his grandson, especially since they kept dropping hints that you shouldn’t be entirely comfortable with what amounts to blatant child abuse, and the more we learned about their relationship and how much control Rick cultivated over Morty to guarantee he'd never leave or want to leave, the more disturbing it got, to put it lightly. But from an early stage they also foreshadowed that Morty wasn't going to be a hapless kid forever– the effects of the adventures started sinking in and affecting his worldview in interesting ways, like after they jumped universes and buried their dead selves, and the first Evil Morty episode both showed Morty gaining more confidence and foreshadowed what could happen if he got "cocky". The main Rick and Morty dynamic corrupting and deteriorating was something that was unappealing to a lot of fans, and I can see why, since it undermined some of the charm present in early seasons, but for me, it was exactly the kind of consequential character development I was looking for. The concept of it was dark and thrilling, like watching a train crash in slow motion, and I had high hopes for where they'd take it.

It's a shame, then, that they dropped the ball hard when it came to giving this arc a satisfactory conclusion in Season 5. In fact, the execution was so bad that I actually lost interest in the protagonists almost entirely going forward, because in just two episodes the writers have convinced me they don't understand their own characters or what unsettling implications they're laying down regarding their relationship anymore.

First, let's rewind a bit and explore how Rick and Morty's relationship was developed throughout the seasons, and how very little of it pointed towards the Season 5 two-parter's conclusion.

From the very beginning, Morty never had much agency or choice in his relationship with Rick. He was an average teenage kid before the start of the series, albeit one with no friends, a learning disability that affected his ability to do well in school, impulsive hormones and anxiety when it came to girls, and two neglectful parents who mostly just talked down to him and were more concerned with their marital issues than his well-being. After Rick arrived and took advantage of Beth's abandonment issues to stay in her house for free, he immediately took an interest in Morty and started dragging him along on often dangerous adventures, usually without asking or considering Morty's welfare, because Morty is vulnerable and isolated enough that he's basically perfect for fulfilling all of Rick's needs.

As a tagalong / sidekick, Morty fulfills Rick's desperate need for companionship (our Rick blatantly craves human connection and family despite how much he tries to hide it, and Morty is basically a best friend who won't / can't leave him easily like the others in Rick's life have), exploitation (free drug mule for smuggling illegal items, extra hands to shoot enemies, living brainwave shield, constantly available test subject, someone younger and more "unremarkable" to lord his superiority over), and enablement (Morty tends to implicitly accept or forgive a degree of Rick's toxic behavior, and even if he complains about it and tries to reign in the worst of it at times, he's still become an unwitting enabler whose attempts to mitigate Rick's damage are a losing battle). And keep these counterbalancing traits in mind for later, because we later on we learn this is not a coincidence at all.

There is some good in the relationship, like how Rick genuinely cares about Morty which has driven him to do protective and selfless things, how Morty finally has someone who actually is interested in spending time with him, and they do enjoy each others' company and banter like real friends when doing fun low-stakes activities like watching TV or blowing up an evil alien civilization together, but there being good moments sprinkled among the overwhelming bad just affirms further that there's a cycle of abuse going on. It's actually quite common for abusers to care about their victims, and Rick being a complex man with genuine affection for his grandson does not mitigate his recurring abusive treatment in any way– in fact, it actually strongly factors into it considering how unhealthily Rick's attachment is expressed over time, and how the good moments are often used as justification for Morty remaining trapped in the cycle. Morty being able to badger some favors out of Rick is less of an equalizer and more just an occasional grudging concession given to him to make him stop complaining. Rick is still largely the one in control of the relationship, and it's far, far more designed for his benefit than for Morty's.

Speaking of superficial equalizers, the show gives Morty key moments that almost seem to be an attempt at giving him meaningful agency in his relationship with Rick. By the end of the first season and well into the second, he's had the chance to call it quits or abandon Rick multiple times but instead he puts his faith in Rick and chooses to keep going on adventures. This supposed agency is undermined, however, when you remember the scenes where Birdperson guilts Morty into forgiving or enduring Rick's behavior because Rick is complex and suffering from his own traumas, the fact Morty has literally no other friends in his life besides Rick, the fact his family barely pays attention to him, and the fact Rick both cultivates and takes advantage of Morty's isolation / dependency for his own benefit, even expressing the red flag of intense jealousy at Morty finding anything fulfilling to do outside of hanging out with him. Therefore, I thought these key moments were intentional and realistic, showing the kind of traumatic bond Morty has formed with Rick through the cycle of abuse, and it explains Morty's conflicted feelings on Rick and why, early on, he hadn't yet learned to walk away from what's ultimately a deeply toxic and threatening situation for him.

You would think that the reasonable, foreshadowed way for this arc to progress is by having Rick steadily lose his control over Morty as the effects of the abuse, trauma, and moral corruption start compounding, and that's exactly what started happening from Season 3 onward as part of its deconstruction of Rick’s character. Instead of Rick being given central focus while Morty took a supportive role that empathized and supported him in spite of everything, for the first time Morty is given more attention as a jaded victim who is finally growing bitter about both his role, his family, and Rick as a person. Morty became more outspoken, seeking more ways of being independent from Rick, being quicker to resort to violence, and he started prioritizing protecting the rest of the family from Rick over his loyalty to Rick specifically. He even managed to manipulate Rick into taking Jerry on an adventure, just to get a break from it all.

Meanwhile, Rick's actions towards Morty just kept getting more possessive and controlling. First, Rick broke out of prison and took down the Galactic Federation to trigger the divorce of Morty's parents, earning Beth and Summer's adoration in the process, so he could (among other things) take Morty on adventures without question and without limitations, threatening Morty with turning his remaining family against him if Morty tried to reveal this manipulation. Rick and Beth both completely shut down Morty and Summer's uneasy hopes of getting an actual therapist after said therapist called Rick out for his corruptive influence on the family. Another episode revealed that Rick regularly wipes memories from Morty's brain not just to erase traumatizing events, but to maintain his power and cultivate how Morty perceives him, which basically sounds like advanced sci-fi gaslighting to me. There's also pretty much the entire Vindicators episode, where Rick was so jealous that Morty looked up to someone other than him that he got blackout drunk and engineered a gauntlet of traps to murder or expose all of Morty's heroes, and Morty shows just how jaded and experienced he is with dealing with Rick’s blackout stints that he defuses drunk-Rick’s poorly assembled bombs with ease.

There's a small setback in the Season 4 premiere, where Morty once again happily chooses to keep adventuring with Rick, which felt even weirder than the last few examples because Beth (newly emboldened to question Rick) somehow becomes convinced that her teenage son consenting to the dangerous adventures makes them okay instead of something she should employ actual parental intervention against, and this really only seems done to perpetuate the status quo. Still, it was easy to look past considering it could be easily read as the abusive cycle continuing, plus Morty's arc of growing less dependent and more defiant towards Rick was advanced in the same season… and Rick, who has been established by this point to be the far more codependent one in their dynamic, did not take well to it.

Rick takes his abuse to all new levels in Season 4, almost as if he's overcompensating for losing some of his control over the family in the Season 3 finale. In one episode, he destroys several inhabited planets and creates an overly elaborate heist scheme just to psychologically manipulate Morty into giving up on his dream of a Netflix movie deal, because it risked Morty becoming less interested in adventuring with him. Yeah, just in case you thought Morty's constant choosing of Rick was worth more than jack shit, Rick deliberately circumvents Beth's "Morty has to make decisions of his own free will" rule just to ruin his grandson's dreams and keep him entirely dependent on him and his adventures. This man is petty.

This pattern of terrifyingly controlling behavior culminates in probably the worst (and most intentionally cruel) thing Rick has ever done to Morty just to assert dominance over him, and that's the Vat of Acid Episode.

The Vat of Acid Episode is probably the main example to point to when explaining why the Season 5 finale doesn't work. Rick isn't portrayed as somehow oblivious or not having the empathy to understand Morty's perspective here– he not only perfectly understands and predicts Morty's behavior enough to manipulate a long-term revenge scheme against him, he's gleefully and intentionally cruel in how he tricks, tortures, and humiliates his own grandson for the crime of… talking back to him and insulting his acid vat gambit. Morty, meanwhile, is portrayed as "cocky" in how he aggressively talks back to Rick, and when given the time-looping remote he behaves rather independently and shows he’s capable of almost thriving on his own for months at a time, initially messing around via committing crimes and immoral experiments but eventually forming a healthy romance with a girl and surviving a gruesome disaster with her, all while not seeming to mind Rick being absent for nearly that entire period. He even apologizes the moment he thinks he really hurt Rick's feelings and tries to reach out to Rick in the same episode, and this is just part of how Rick faked weakness to emotionally manipulate Morty and take advantage of his misguided hope that their relationship can be fixed with honesty and communication. “The world will know when I try to hurt you”, indeed.

And yet, in spite of Rick ramping up his abuse to new levels, Morty's development still seemed to be sticking, at least in the long run. He was still acting more aggressive and pushing back against Rick, and despite him occasionally trying to reach out and mend things with Rick because he was hopeful things could improve, he repeatedly showed that he didn't really need Rick, at least not nearly as much as Rick needed him. It seemed like all Rick was doing was delaying– or perhaps accelerating– the inevitable moment when he lost control of Morty entirely and couldn't depend on his support anymore. Combined with the family's respect for Rick hitting rock bottom in the Season 4 finale, it seemed to be setting him up for a reckoning of sorts.

However, Season 5 started shaky with the writing seemingly ignoring the previous finale by not having Rick really have to work to regain the family's respect, or even having it acknowledged much at all aside from all the characters being more snarky towards him. But Morty still felt somewhat authentic at least (infamous and regressive horse sperm episode aside)– he was given badass, disturbingly Rick-like moments and independent subplots showing just how much he's corrupted and evolved as a character since early seasons, and combined with Rick acting a little nicer and more contemplative at times, I still had hope they were on track to bring the arc to a satisfactory climax.

And… well, they tried. But it really makes me question what kind of attitudes the writers even have towards abuse, based on how they portrayed it.

The first episode of the two-parter finale, the two crows episode, genuinely feels bizarre in how it decided to frame Rick and Morty's relationship. The argument between the two at the start of the episode that leads to them falling out with each other (or "breaking up" as the episode puts it, like it really wants to make this some sort of romantic allegory, which is gross and off-base for numerous reasons I shouldn’t have to explain) makes it seem like their core problem is them not trusting or communicating with each other. Like if Rick wasn't so quick to dismiss the concerns of Morty, and Morty wasn't so quick to assume the worst of Rick, everything would be much less toxic. Rick, at the end of the episode and having his mind opened by his two crow replacement sidekicks "teaching him empathy", acknowledges that he was abusive but also believes his problem was never treating Morty like a "real partner", once again bringing it back to that idea of the lack of mutual trust and respect being the cause.

The problem with that framing, aside from it blatantly misrepresenting the actual fundamental problems of their dynamic, is that… Morty is fourteen.

Because of how the show takes place along a floating timeline and refuses to age the characters– confirmed by fourth wall breaks and the creators in interviews, and Justin Roiland even said he considers Morty growing up to be jumping the shark– Morty will always remain fourteen, too. A fourteen year-old can be hardened and matured by trauma and complex experiences like everyone else, and they can also do incredibly shitty things, but simply from a developmental standpoint you cannot "both-sides" his relationship with Rick, an adult man who not only fully knows what he's been doing but has more power, agency, and capability to abuse it than Morty realistically ever will. By narratively treating Morty as an adult in his relationship with Rick, it glosses over a fundamental aspect of not only why the dynamic is as fucked up as it is, but how the relationship got to this breaking point in the first place. Rick's problem was never about him not trusting Morty or treating him as an equal partner. Rick's problem was about him not stepping up and being the grandfather Morty needed, and by abusing his power over Morty every step of the way so that he wouldn't have to deal with the consequences of his own terrible behavior or face his own humanity.

Rick and Morty were behaving in a very strange and out-of-character manner in the two crows episode, anyway, to the point I feel like I can just chalk it up to bad writing. Morty had exactly two moments this episode where I felt his character lined up with his previous development– him secretly taking the portal gun and cleaning up Rick's messes in the cold open, echoing Vindicators, and him managing to be aggressive and competent enough to kill Nick in self-defense. For the rest of the episode, Morty whines about Rick not trusting him while immediately trusting the random inmate in his hand-portal and breaking him out to be his substitute / "rebound" Rick, gets upset over Rick replacing him when he has barely shown any similar jealous inclinations since Season 2, and gets even more upset and heartbroken at Rick deciding to end their partnership and leave with the crows when he’s shown way less of a reaction to Rick leaving any time in the past. Rick, meanwhile, acts almost oblivious in his jerkassery as though his abrasive treatment of Morty was just not from understanding him properly, he somehow reaches his epiphany about his abuse of Morty not from losing control over him or the narrative giving Rick actual consequences for his behavior but by two random characterless crows taking him on a spiritual anime journey, and he gets to have the mature moral high ground at the end of the episode by talking to Morty about why they're bad for each other, making the choice to leave for Morty’s own good and to work on himself, supposedly. All of this is portrayed in a sincere and melodramatic manner (with an equally melodramatic song over the ending montage) that clearly wants you to be upset by their separation, but it just had me distracted by how badly the characters were being handled and how few reasons the series had given for me to want them to reunite.

And to undermine their poor attempt at a serious emotional episode even further, the writers just completely backtrack nearly all of that development not even five minutes into the next episode– but not before tossing even more of Morty's arc and characterization in the trash.

Morty falls apart almost completely with Rick gone, like he's having a codependency-fueled breakdown. He trails after Rick for weeks on his anime crow adventures, rather than using his farewell-gifted portal gun for literally anything else. It reaches the point where Morty decides to go to the Citadel, buy an aging serum, and emotionally blackmail Rick into coming home by pretending decades have passed in Rick’s absence. After the crows suddenly break up with Rick to end that subplot, he immediately throws away his supposed character growth and returns home to Morty, except now Morty is so overjoyed and relieved by Rick coming back that no reconciliation is needed and they're both immediately willing to go back on adventures. And to further cement the regression of both of their characters, Rick is only superficially nicer to Morty while still doing stuff like making him poison-test the presidential dinner on the Citadel, with Morty still eagerly supporting him. So much for “learning empathy.” It raises the question of what the two crows episode even was for.

On the Citadel, the writing tries to set up Rick and Morty facing a reckoning where they choose to be truly equal partners, with Morty forcing more concessions and communication out of Rick, but not only is that not significantly different than how their dynamic worked in the past (and as stated doesn’t actually deal with the core issues), in the context of seeing how needy and hopeless Morty was in Rick’s absence, it just feels completely hollow and almost laughable. Like, I’m convinced that if they wrote Morty as being largely unaffected and doing fun solo adventures in Rick’s absence, coming up with another reason for them to end up on the Citadel together for the plot, it’d solve half of the problems in the finale right there (even though the two crows episode would remain awful and pointless). Morty’s agency is shown to be way too compromised for any of his choices to mean anything, and it just reads to me like Rick is taking advantage (intentionally or otherwise) of the psychologically manipulative groundwork he’s laid for Morty throughout the series rather than actually forming a fresh start with him.

Look, in isolation, I could see it as vaguely realistic for an abuse victim in a codependent trauma bond to not know how to deal with their abuser suddenly apologizing and leaving, except Morty has never been characterized as this needy for Rick in the entire series. He dealt just fine with Rick leaving seemingly for good in the Season 2 finale (and was more disappointed with Rick abandoning Beth again than anything else), and if anything he tried multiple times to be his own independent person throughout the series and it was Rick who was horrifically clingy and emotional in Morty’s absence. The only explanation I have for why the writers decided to portray Morty as so pathetic is they wanted to either romanticize mutual codependency, skip past the part where Rick would have to earn Morty's forgiveness because quick and easy reconciliation allows them to move past this conflict as fast as possible and get back to wacky adventures, set up the "bred for forgiveness" plot point out of nowhere for later in the episode, or all three.

Oh yeah, "bred for forgiveness”. Have I mentioned that this same finale reveals Mortys are literally mass engineered and bred by Ricks to be their forgiving stooges? The detailed memories showing the Citadel’s gruesome industrialized cloning processes and Beth-Jerry manipulation were harvested straight from Rick C137's brain, too, so even if he wasn't directly involved in the creation of the "Morty Market" (something left ambiguous since he was a founding member of the Citadel in the first place), he was still fully aware of it the whole time while continuing to exploit Morty for his own benefit. Way to make the implicit abuse of power in the dynamic even worse, writers. Clearly, just communication and respect and Rick revealing his tragic backstory are needed to fix this. /sarcasm

You would think that the most satisfying narrative way for Rick to face consequences for engineering this coercive system and manipulating Morty throughout the series, all for the purpose of making Morty never able to leave or stop supporting him, would be for his efforts to finally fail and for Morty to break away seemingly for good-- requiring Rick to put in serious effort to examine his underlying trauma and truly work on himself before there was even a chance at reconciliation, no forgiveness necessary for him to change. However, the opposite happens in the finale’s climax, where in the big emotional moment, Morty reaffirms his position as Rick's partner, but this time it's his choice (... supposedly, as the writing asks us to forget the events before this point that have heavily shaped this kid’s choices, plus his unsettling codependent and Rick-pleasing behavior, which they literally just explained as being instilled into him by the person he's forgiving) so it's totally ok, really.

It may sound like I'm asking for Morty to just be Evil Morty here, and I'll admit I found the Season 5 finale’s portrayal of Evil Morty awesome and cathartic for the same reasons I initially found our Morty's arc to be compelling in the first place, but the most frustrating thing is that they totally could have written Rick and Morty reconciling enough to keep adventuring together in a way that didn't feel unearned and extremely uncomfortable in context of Morty’s abuse. I understand, at least on on a broad-strokes level, why the finale is like this– the show has five whole seasons left, they can’t separate the titular characters for that long, since their dynamic and the comedy thereof is practically the selling point. But they could have at least made it happen in a way that actually respected the character development up until that point and didn’t send weird implications that undermined whatever emotional moments they were trying to make.

Let’s talk about a hypothetical alternative two-parter finale. Have the crow episode still be about Rick and Morty having a falling out, but present it differently– have Morty, fed up with cleaning after Rick’s messes and more aware than ever about Rick’s controlling behavior, finally snap at Rick and decide to run away. Morty has no desire for a rebound adventuring partner, so he goes on a solo adventure, allowing him to figure himself out and unpack both his trauma at Rick’s hands and his own troubling behaviors he’s developed, learning in the process that he’s both highly relieved and mildly lonely in Rick’s absence, although not enough to want to go back. Meanwhile, have Rick’s plot be about him spiraling without Morty, trying to find substitutes and failing because the crows, while clever, don’t fill the same niche at all, and Rick is forced to truly confront himself and his unaddressed trauma without Morty around to be his living emotional crutch. Have the climax of the first episode be that they run into and/or rescue each other at a chance encounter, and they mutually conclude they need time apart but this time it’s established and firmly enforced by Morty, and agreed upon by Rick, showing his development via feeling genuine remorse for his abusive behavior and trying to respect Morty’s boundaries.

In the revised second episode, since it’s made far clearer that Morty doesn’t need Rick, have the Citadel conflict be them more working together out of necessity / familiarity / trusting the “devil-you-know” instead of the devil-you-don’t (Evil Morty). Perhaps Morty, while on a solo adventure, gets captured by Evil Morty to be held hostage as bait for Rick, justifying how the Citadel comes back since even in canon Evil Morty admitted he was planning to hunt down our Rick for his memories, and the rest of the episode and lore reveals play out somewhat similarly– except this time, Morty’s final choosing and “forgiveness” of Rick is explicitly conditional on Rick actually having shown noticeable improvements, and Morty makes it clear that he’s on thin fucking ice from here on out. It would have been more consistent with Morty’s arc, more believable as a healthier do-over without easy forgiveness or superficial empathy lessons, and been way more satisfying as the start of a Rick redemption and reconciliation arc that gives Morty real agency, in my opinion.

As it is, though, I don’t really have much hope for them improving this in future seasons without a serious retcon or two. It doesn’t really matter how much Rick improves and redeems himself from now on, or how much his relationship with Morty actually evolves to be one of mutual respect. As the Season 5 finale is currently written, Morty literally exists to service Rick's character arc at expense of his own, and in a finale that claims to be all about them rejecting the abusive elements of their dynamic and choosing to finally work as equals, that pretty much sours the entire plotline for me.

#rick and morty #character analysis #morty smith #rick sanchez #rnm critical #long post

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