My heart is full: how R&M s8 ended
Okay I'l try to calm myself a sec by listening to minecraft ost and adding a little something before getting into the first-watch review (so we all can avoid spoilers).
By re-watching Morty Daddy before the finale, my thoughts stayed the same, BUT(T), now that I'm no longer in the heat of the moment, being personally triggered, I can see the episode most probably had good intentions and some nice themes, even if there was sooo much bad stuff... But this is material for another post.
*Morty Daddy looking at me like this*
...yeah, that's from Barbie.
!Here be Spoilers my dudes!
________My take (I’m part of the R&M cult, so, impartiality)_______
I cannot even put my thoughts in some kind of order, what the fuck can I say about this masterpiece? I cried, I laughed, I feared for the characters, I was sad, I was happy, I wish I was in love, a love that can outlive the universe itself, and it was all in, what, 25 minutes?💀
The episode started as Hot as Memory Rick, basically by mentioning the Omega Device, boom just like that, in your face, first 2 sec of the episode.
It's ironical how Rick could have fixed the Memory Rick thing just by talking to him, instead, he shoved him in a Windows 7 wallpaper and left, totally Rick style. But anyway...
Beth with an healthy childhood isn't a psychopath, actually, she is whole again.
Even if the influence of Memory Rick messed up with her mind in the end, the way Beth grew up by having a loving father truly speaks volumes about how deeply her father bailing on her scarred her for life. With Memory Rick, Beth learns to fight even better than Space Beth, but she has a good heart that maybe not even Domestic Beth has. She values her family, like Domestic Beth does, and her childhood wasn't a bloody mess, but instead, it was nice training time spent with her dad.
I don't think it's a case that she almost kills her clone in fact: even if this is a distorted version of a healthy Beth, I think that scene wasn't just for shock value, but rather a metaphor to show that a Beth with a healthy childhood didn't need a clone anymore. Another reference to this is the final song of the episode, the same playing at the end of Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri, "Don't look back" by Kotomi & Ryan Elder. Too bad that "healthy childhood" was fabricated so instead of not "needing a clone anymore", she snapped her neck 💀 Btw if you wanna cry this is the Diane version of the song 🤙
I like how Rick and Morty always stays realistic, which is a paradox: you have a world where aliens, multiverse and time travel exist, and yet you have a realistic evolution of the brain. In R&M we never see the fairy tale of "let's just talk, trauma will go away just like that" in R&M you literally rewire your brain to change and shape your attitude towards life and others. And that gives the actual weight of how complex human mind is, how real and alive these characters are... that's what almost never breaks the suspension of disbelief to me.
Fabricated memories vs real ones.
As always, Rick triggered a terrible chain reaction out of pettiness: Memory Rick in fact was only having a good influence on Jerry's mind, as long as he was just spending time with the family, without trying to accomplish anything in particular.
So, was this "fake" memory really dangerous? And was it really fake? Didn't Memory Rick lived those experiences with Memory Jerry after all?
It's not an easy theme, and personally I think it's connected with how we experience memories when it comes to toxic people:
This is the classic confusion that u feel when you're dealing with narcissistic abuse, as always, the pulsing core of this show and the main protagonist of generational trauma: you feel like you hate that person and yet you feel guilty for hating them, because they are so good, you love them so much, right? Ur mind elaborates positive memories of the events, cutting out all the bad parts. It's a surviving mechanism, that allows us to protect ourselves, especially during childhood. It isn't a case if they say that Memory Rick gaslit Beth (even if the dynamic was different from how gaslighting usually takes place).
And even if there are differences between the situation in the show and real life, we can say that the main question stays the same: are those memory real? How could we feel those deep affection and connection and now everything... changed? we opened our eyes and everything seems to be new, nothing from the past seems to match with what we feel now, with what we know now. Our reality is shattered. We feel crazy. We are scared.
Rick saying "That's just being called being alive, sweetie" is sadly true: is very common to experience this during our life. But it doesn't need to be like this every time. It doesn't need to be like this for future generations.
This, simply, isn't life.
Memory Rick has more in common with Morty than Rick (apparently that explains why they're both hotter than the climate change).
Mechanical skills, mechanical skills everywhere.
The fact that Rick was so crafty in his youth (BP remembers how good he was at crafting), gives me the feeling that Rick grew more and more tired of inventions as years passed. He had this passion to fix, to create, MacGyvering his way out of adversities, than he leveled up so much than he started to lose interest into creating and got more passionate about destroying.
Does your skills matter if nothing you craft can help you with the only purpose of your life, getting your revenge?
Does the thrill of conquering a new solution can even make you happy when nothing matters to you anymore?
That healthy and positive force that Morty and Memory Rick have, that unshakable hope, is what Rick lost decades ago, overwhelmed by helplessness and silent hatred.
As if Matrix Morty wasn't enough, now Memory Morty is my new obsession, great 👍
Rick's radical acceptance and grief.
It's sad that Rick didn't tell the family about Memory Rick and Diane. But I feel like sooner or later he will tell them: it's just a though one for Rick.
He realizes that the best part of himself, a part that was possible only in BP mind in fact, had Rick Prime under his nose, and let him go without hesitation, because all he ever wanted was Diane...was to be a present parent, a cool grandpa.
The best, impossible part of himself, in the end, got Diane back.
While, instead, Rick was so obsessed with his own revenge, with his frail ego, to force Prime's hand to the point of no return, to erase Diane forever.
This episode was the moment where Rick accepted he fucked up. He accepted that because of that, his Diane was gone forever.
He closed that chapter of his life for good.
It wasn't a moment of simple acceptance of a loss, it was the radical acceptance of that whole chapter of his life, ugly truths included.
He was mature enough to allow the happy ending that Memory Rick and Diane deserved.
Rick is grieving, but this is not only grieving the death of his family, is the grief that comes from the loss of an entire narrative, this is coming to terms with your life choices. And deeply understanding you cannot change the consequences.
To Rick, that's the end of a cycle.
And he needs time before sharing this with his family.
So, I get it.
I hated him so much aaaaa how he simply doesn't care at all, she's even talking to him, like, the cutest kid in the world is confused and scared and you are actually gonna leave her, and u just don't care aargh I hate this guy, but I also loved how much on point this portrait of some type of narc. parent was. He simply doesn't care. He knows what's he's doing is wrong and evil, and he just tries to avoid the situation, to leave asap only bcs this is making him unconformable... Beth's well being is not even in his radar 💀 I swear I though about this scene happening so many times in my mind, thinking "was Beth awake when he left? Did she saw him leave her or just found an empty house?" I always thought this was the most probable option.
Interesting to think that this wasn't actually Rick Prime, but a Rick Prime, because this is not Beth Prime.
Rick's relationships
Our baby boy needs to find some decent person (cough cough Unity ehm ehm Unity! cough cough), bcs more often than not his partners uses him or has 0 regards for his feelings and safety.
Nimbus was just a click bait 😭😭 but this only means it happened in the past, and we already knew he was Rick's ex so... I'm not 100% sad
In conclusion.
This is the best finale I've ever seen in Rick and Morty: not only because is a well deserved happy ending for one of my fav characters, but also because this finale gives a real closure, a peaceful closure to many chaotic seasons.
Rick completed his change with acceptance of himself.
I need more Rick and Morty of course, but my heart isn't heavy:
I'm satisfied with what we got, and happy to wait for more.
Like spending a lovely holiday with a dear friend, knowing that next Summer you'll do it again.
Needless to say that after this episode my idea of love is now split between
- hot rogue with golden heart hacking the world to eternally fuck in space
- hot space rebel pirate asking you to jump through the Infinite with them after they literally nuked capitalism
There's no in between.
Thank u Dan Harmon &Co for raising my relationship bar to unrealistic standards, life was already so easy 👍👍
______________Ep. Main themes in a nutshell_________________
Go make some memories that aren't fabricated.
this is definitely a recurring theme this season: we are discovering more about what mind parasites are (I don't think the reference to poopy butthole in the end was a coincidence), how impactful these memories can be (Matrix episode) and how different characters feel abt them: Rick doesn't accept them, Morty and Summer give them importance. In the end, even Arcade Morty's implanted memories brought him and Homesteader Rick together, sharing a bond that never existed, if not in memories and in that very first adventure together. I still do not understand what the final take about memories will be, I guess we will see more in future seasons.
Acceptance.
Rick has finally accepted his past and is ready to move on, to be more emotionally opened. I think we saw the same theme with Morty Jr. accepting himself and his family, even if in that case it was poorly written (from my point of view).
Idk about Beth: this season was really intense for her, but I think there is a lot more that she needs to accept before changing. She didn't get over her childhood trauma yet, even if she's accepting more and more abt it. Her bond with Space Beth is also improving.
Be simple Rick.
There is one huge message here and is: people matter, love matters. Live a simple life, eat a hot dog, fight the world to save your wife, spend time with your psycho children, protect your family from Hollywood, and the list goes on 💛
________________Sus stuff/interesting details_________________
Meta energy again!
That's apparently the same core of Summer: do the hero and things will eventually work out, somehow. I don't thing it's a coincidence that her outfit is magenta.
Young Beth having a similar haircut to Matrix Summer is so sweet 💛
Deaths are a choice.
I know this is a little bit obvious, but I think this episode showed us that permadeaths are a choice. If any character dies, we know that is a precise choice, not just shock value or "given this situation it was impossible for Tony Stark to bhla blah blah", there is always the possibility to res someone unless is vital for the character to cease to exist.
This line just an episode ago... and know we know, Rick wasn't there for any Morty's birth.
That child in Rick's hands wasn't Morty Prime, nor any other Morty born from any Beth.
Personally, by the way he holds the baby in his hands, showing him to BP like a trophy, it always gave me the idea that Rick created or retrieved that Morty baby, like a clone or something.
Very in character for Rick to go like: "u know what, every other Rick has a Morty, I want one but I'm going to do it myself!" and that would explain why so many time in the tv show Rick is labeled, even by his own admission, as a terrible father: like, he wasn't a terrible father to Beth, his Beth literally exploded, and with this other Beths he tried his best.
And I'm not telling Evil Morty was Rick's first Morty (I'm telling it, season 9, season 9 listen to me), anyway enough this is another post's stuff. Yes my dudes, I'll keep posting until season 9 of course 💛
The Omega Device Explained.
Finally we get the official explanation abt the omega device, why Diane looks so insignificant in Beth's and Rick's memories. She is a vague and almost shallow version of Diane, her personality is just hinted and almost faded because of the Omega Device.
Lol, can you imagine if the Memory Rick-Diane capsule bonks into E.Morty stuff while going adrift and he's just so done with Rick's garbage floating in space 💀💀💀💀
Thank you so much for reading my stuff and for posting funny stuff while watching Rick and Morty "with me", all around the world.
Luv u all 💛💛
izzy806
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