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The latest episode of Rick and Morty, and also the season finale, “The Rickchurian Mortydate”, is a trick of a name and a troll of a title. The novel and movie The Manchurian Candidate is the obvious reference, all about a Communist plot to brainwash the son of a US politician, but the book itself plagiarized an older book called I, Claudius, a historical novel about the Roman Emperor Claudius.
There is one brainwashing reference in the episode, and it is Beth. She is in an existential quandary after the last episode, wondering if she’s a clone. Falling into an internal paradox about being happy: If she’s a clone, doesn’t that mean she’s happy with her life by Rick’s promise, but if she knows she might be a clone, how can she be happy?
It’s the hidden oddness that creeps up until the final moments, the sneaky “finale” addition that wasn’t always there. There are two plots here, one that wraps up the season, and one that wraps up one adventure. That second of course, is the madcap, zany Rick vs The President (ably voiced as before by the legendary Keith David) adventure.
This nonsensical back and forth escalation is where the silly comedy of the episode comes from, hiding the nihilistic existentialist horror underneath. Starting from Rick and Morty being bored helping get rid of a monster hardly worth their effort, then moving to playing Minecraft (Rick evolves from deriding it to making his own version of it, a metaphor for the whole thing), and then to getting captured.
One of the delightful moments of the episode was seeing Rick grin at Morty’s insults to the President, but this is also a trick. Rick knows that there are infinite Beths and Mortys and Summers and even Jerrys. But this Morty he’s experienced so much with. This Beth he’s admitted to that he loves her. This Summer he’s entrusted with knowing memory erasure protocols. And this Jerry beat him.
So it’s pointless but not pointless. Rick is unhappy but makes the move that’s the least awful. Instead of fleeing again, like he did so long ago, he stays. Stays with the family he knows. Whether or not Beth is a clone (and the evidence points against it), she’s still Beth. Beth believes she’s a clone because Jerry’s stupid romantic story moves her.
But the idea that Jerry wins over her is too ironic, too easy, to mean that she’s a clone. The possibility of becoming a clone, that’s enough to change her forever. This episode hides clues and secrets, continuity jokes and callbacks. It’s hiding the truth while not knowing the truth either. Rick and Morty doesn’t always seem to know where it’s going, any more than Rick really does.
When you look at this astonishingly strong season of Rick and Morty, this finale may seem like a letdown, a reference to “being like the first season, only streamlined,” a jab at the audience. But the person who broke the fourth wall there was Beth, and she’s back with Jerry, which means that she’s wrong. Summer has broken the fourth wall this season, and Rick did it this episode with his reference to South Park.
The reality of Rick and Morty has always been flimsy, but the characters are deep and complex. Everyone is in pain, but Morty’s decision makes sense too. He’s seen enough horror for a long time. He wants Rick to be with them, but he accepts he might not want to stay.
After the credits roll and our old friend Mr. Poopy Butthole appear, we are reminded again of the flimsy nature of reality. Mr. P showed up as a trick, a red herring to make us think we knew where the episode was going, but he was real, realer than Morty’s memory. Again he jabs at us about not having any idea about when the next season will be, but he tells us something simple and powerful, draped and hidden in his ridiculous voice: Don’t waste your life.
Amongst all the nihilistic nonsense and pablum of this show and what the characters say, this is a message they’ve come back to again and again. Even if nothing matters in the cosmic scale, that doesn’t you should live in the scale of you.
What did you think of the season finale? Sound off in the comments below!
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