At long last we’ve reached the end ofRick and MortySeason 4, and in trueRick and Mortyseason finale fashion, “Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri” is the episode that matters. Typically, the first and last episodes of the seasons have been the only ones that advance the overall “mythology” of theRick and Mortyuniverse. Specifically, this episode reveals that Rick did indeed make a clone of Beth at the end of the Season 3 episode “The ABCs of Beth”, and sent one of them into space. Except, we’re not sure which one is the real Beth, and which one is the clone. It’s a realParent Trap, but the one withLindsay Lohan.
After a string of episodes that dwelled too much on the angst of the show’s creators at the expense of its characters (in my opinion), “Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri” is an instant classic. It’s a familiar sci-fi premise (which Rick derides as “being tooStar Wars”), the jokes come at such a rapid clip that I didn’t even catch them all until after my third viewing, and it advances the overarching narrative of the series, as admittedly thin as it is. In addition to the return of characters like Tammy and Birdperson (now Birdphoenix), the episode features a nice cameo from Dr. Wong (Susan Sarandon). Dr. Wong originally appeared in “Pickle Rick”, which remains one of the best episodes of the series both in terms of irreverent silliness and impactful character development. And like “Pickle Rick”, this episode features a real emotional moment for Rick that actually punishes him for his terribleness, albeit clumsily. (More on that in a minute.)
First, I want to talk about Space Beth, arguably the most important development of the show’s four seasons. “The ABCs of Beth” introduced the idea that Beth might in fact be a clone (or one of many clones) of Rick’s actual daughter, and this episode confirms it. However, it never identifies which Beth is the “real” one – in another callback reference (this time to the Season 3 episode “Morty’s Mind Blowers”), Rick reveals that he had the memory of Beth’s cloning erased and stored in a vial, so not even he knows the truth. But when he sits down to play the stored memory for the whole family, not a single one of them wants to see it, not even the two Beths. So Rick sits there and watches it alone, but while Rick reabsorbs the memory, we as the audience don’t get to see the solution. Because it ultimately doesn’t matter – the Smith family is stoked on Space Beth because she’s fucking awesome, and the two Beths respect each other so much that they don’t care to know which one of them is the clone. I’m pretty excited to see how Space Beth will play into future seasons. (Hopefully she won’t just be immediately killed off in the Season 5 premiere, although historically that’s howRick and Mortyhas handled major plot developments.)
Let’s dive into that emotional ending for Rick. It’s very reminiscent of the Season 2 in which Rick realizes he is a burden on his family and decides to turn himself in to the Galactic Federation (only to immediately buy back that emotional breakthrough in the Season 3 premiere when he easily escapes and comes back to Earth, kicking Jerry out of the house in the process). When the entire family declines to watch his memory, it becomes clear that they are no longer seeking his approval – the Beths are boosting each other’s confidence, Summer and Morty are working together as a great team, and Jerry is hyped about having two wives that actually sort of kinda like him. (He manages to save the day by using his puppetry skills on Tammy’s dead body – I won’t spoil it further.) They don’t need Rick anymore. So he watches the memory by himself, which begins with the ending of “The ABCs of Beth”, when Beth debates allowing Rick to clone herMultiplicity-style so she can take off and do whatever she wants to do while a copy of her stays home to do the less glamorous job of being a suburban mom. However, whereas “The ABCs of Beth” cuts away before Beth makes her decision, “The Rickturn of the Jerri” reveals that her decision was to have Rick decide. Specifically, she wants him to decide whether he wants her to be a part of his life or not.
Rick is visibly distressed by her choice, so he clones her and does a shell game with the clones, randomly sending one into space and keeping the other at home on Earth. Rick never knew which Beth was the clone – the memory he erased was the memory of him making the choice not to know. He can’t decide whether he wants his daughter to be free of her need for his approval or not, so he betrayed her trust in order to not have to make that decision. It’s a familiar symptom of self-loathing – you may’t decide whether you hate yourself or the people who care about you. But as I’ve stressed in my coverage this season, Rick consistently chooses to harm both equally, making him the unequivocal villain of the series. (Although everything he does to Jerry is entirely excusable, because Jerry sucks forever after.)
“Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri” is a strong finish for the season, and it’s easily my favorite episode ofThe Other Five. However, Season 4 was definitely front-loaded – the five episodes that aired last winter were all 5-star offerings, whereas this second half has felt somewhat less inspired and more bitter towards its audience. That said,Rick and Mortyis still one of the best-written comedies on television, and I’m anxiously awaiting the next batch of episodes that hopefully won’t take three years to come out.
