After a whirlwind season that took us through exhilarating highs and devastating lows, peeled Rick's character down to the root, gave Evil Morty a bombastic reintroduction, and reminded us, over and over again, that Morty's a broken child trapped in an abusive home, it all came down to this. We knew from the previews that Morty would run away in "Field Of Dreams," but we didn't know how it would play out.
Would Morty finally get fed up and march out of his family's lives, leaving season nine on a cliffhanger? Would he beat Rick's ass and tell him that he's not coming back until he gets his act together? Would he break down in tears and finally force the Smiths/Sanchezes to confront how much they've hurt him?
Well...not exactly. This is still Rick and Morty, and an explosive breakdown would've been too predictable. Instead, the writers went in the opposite direction, which challenged the way I think about the characters and their relationship--and it challenged Morty's perception, too, in ways that will probably stay with him for the rest of his life.
At the start, we learn that whenever a Rick or Morty dies, a bunch of Ricks and Mortys from other universes immediately show up to take his stuff. During one particular visit, C-137 Morty runs into a suave, laid-back Morty who has his own portal gun. He gives C-137 the idea to start watching other Mortys' funerals--which, for an abused child, seems like the perfect way to see how much his family really loves him.
Most of the funerals are a little goofy until he finally reaches a universe where Jerry gives an impassioned speech about how much he loves his son. As always, Chris Parnell nails the voice acting, displaying an impressive range of emotions without losing Jerry's distinct tone. Morty's clearly impressed, too. He even follows the family to a graveyard and watches behind a tree until a friendly dog blows his cover, forcing him to confront the Smiths.
I expected C-137 to pretend to be Mort resurrected so that he could stay in this universe forever. Instead, he surprised me by telling them the truth about his existence. These loving versions of Beth, Summer and Jerry don't quite know how to react, but they get attached to C-137 and invite him to visit whenever he wants. Morty also learns that this universe's Rick took off so that they wouldn't have to deal with his alcoholism, which seems like another bonus.
Despite everything, C-137 does love the family he has at home, so he decides to go back--until he has to deal with their bullshit, and then he runs right back to the happy household. The Smiths greet him with hugs and take him to a nice restaurant, where he shocks them with tales of his own deaths and resurrections. He's so used to Rick's sci-fi hijinks that he doesn't even realize how disturbing they are to outsiders.
After C-137 Morty bonds with Jerry in the garage, the two of them decide to spend the weekend in Jerry's log cabin. It's safe to assume that C-137 Jerry has never done anything like this (when's the last time he even had a plot with Morty?), and Morty's about to learn what a good father is like for the first time. Or so he thinks.
This is the part that didn't surprise me at all: turns out, this version of the Smiths isn't as great as they seem. A sudden argument leads to the reveal that Jerry basically played Rick's role, dragging Mort on wild outdoor adventures and forcing him to become strong in the hopes of making him immortal. We met the Rickest Morty at the start of season nine, and we concluded with the Rickest Jerry.
In fact, the whole family seems like a bunch of Ricks. When C-137 Morty escapes, we learn that this household is smart, obsessive, resourceful and violent, stopping at nothing to recover their surrogate son. Morty running away from the Smiths isn't shocking, but who would've guessed that he'd have alternate versions of them on his tail?
Luckily, C-137 Morty is smart and resourceful, too. He reconnects with their Rick, who kicked the alcohol habit and works as a university professor. Unlike his extended family, this Rick seems to be genuinely good. He's not perfect, but he's attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, holding down a steady job at MIT and enjoying life with his Swedish wife, Uli. He even agrees to help Morty get back to his universe without expecting anything in return.
Sounds great, right? We know that the Smiths are going to confront Morty at some point, but it seems safe to assume that this Rick will hold them off and let Morty escape. Maybe he'll die tragically in the encounter, but he'll die as a decent man.
It's no secret that C-137 Rick is a bad influence on Morty. In fact, nearly every adult in his life has harmed or neglected him to some degree. However, this episode brings up a point that I'd never considered: maybe Rick and Morty's dynamic is toxic for Rick, too. And, maybe, Morty just can't help but feed into it.
I'm not blaming Morty for C-137 Rick's behavior--he's a child trapped in an impossible situation, and it's Rick's responsibility to get help--but as MIT Rick starts to change, Morty's character takes a surprising turn. He watches Rick become increasingly violent and angry, but he doesn't urge him to back down for his own sake. Instead, he encourages Rick to keep going as his obsession with inventing portal travel starts to erode his marriage and his sanity--and eventually destroys everything around him.
C-137 Rick is a hot mess. And yet, Morty still smiles when he sees MIT Rick for the first time because he misses his grandpa. And when Uli asks Morty how he became so manipulative, Morty says, "He belongs more to me than to you." And he reaches out in panic when he thinks Rick's going to die back in "Rick Fu Hustle." And he hates Evil Morty for trying to take his Rick away from him because Rick belongs to him, and nobody else.
When MIT thinks he's finally cracked portal travel--after losing his job, his wife, his empathy and his sobriety--the Smiths barge in, ready to take Morty away. This leads to a violent confrontation where Jerry kills Rick, Rick kills Jerry, Summer ends up dead and Beth commits suicide in front of Morty while screaming in agony. Morty's all alone...until a few seconds later, when Estate Sale Rick barges in and a bunch of Ricks and Mortys arrive to start looting the joint.
C-137 Rick shows up, too. He has no idea what happened (or maybe he does; who the hell knows with him) and takes Morty back to the house. After all that, he and Prime Rick are still the only two Ricks who successfully invented portal travel. He might be the only Rick who loves his Jerry, too, even if he'll never say it to his face.
Morty might have changed from this experience, but he learns pretty quickly that his family hasn't: Beth and Summer are still distant, Jerry's still self-involved, and nobody comments on his blood-streaked MIT shirt. Rick even drunkenly barges into Morty's bedroom at night, a callback to a recurring joke that's been around since the pilot.
However, Rick doesn't have destruction in mind this time. Instead, he invites Morty to go on a nighttime ride on his motorcycle. He gives Morty a helmet, then encourages him to take the wheel while he triumphantly shouts, "I'm your dad, Morty! I'm your fucking dad!"
I didn't expect that to be the final takeaway from this episode, but...honestly, he's not wrong. I've been saying for a while that Morty and Summer are basically his kids, and Morty smiles and agrees. Who's the one who spends the most time with him? Who else loves that kid more than anything, despite his trauma and addiction?
After the emotional turmoil in this season, I expected a brutal conclusion, but the writers wisely chose to end season nine on a gentler note. I learned a lot about the characters while these episodes aired--and, if you've been following along with this blog, I learned a lot about myself, too. It was a wild ride--but, ultimately, the show didn't lose sight of what really matters.
Sometimes, it's easy to get caught up in the chaos surrounding this series. But when you strip away the controversies, toilet humor, sci-fi craziness, twist endings, emotional pitfalls and graphic violence, you realize that none of that noise really makes the show great. It's not about shocking the audience. At its core, it's just about Rick...and the 14-year-old boy who loves him.
