Getting Shwifty in Here: The Rick and Morty Thread

It says Stanford! Like from Gravity Falls. Since Alex Hirsch and Dan Harmon are friends who've put references between GF and RaM before, it's just a little injoke.

 

Oh man, and given the fact that both Rick and Ford have a penchant for interdimensional travel...that's pretty clever!

 

it says "STANFORD"
edit: fuck, didn't see there was another page. i wasn't even ninja'd i was just beaten to the punch about 6 hours ago

 

Spoiler: Morty's Mind Blowers

JESUS this last episode keeps hitting me so hard. Every time I think about it. Morty...

Like, the episode premise already implied that we'd be seeing the kid suffer at least a little this week, so I was already feeling kind of anxious about it on his behalf. But like...the reveal that Rick's been taking not only memories Morty asked to have removed, but also like, a bunch of unrelated memories that happen to cast Rick in a light he doesn't like? That make him look even remotely fallible? All those times Morty seemed like he was so close to standing up for himself, to forcing some sort of change in his relationship with Rick, and meanwhile Rick both could and apparently would remove that inclination from his head to return things to status quo?

It's weird, 'cuz I don't think I've actually ever had this strong a reaction to a "character A has tampered with character B's memories" reveal before, and ultimately I'm reacting to Morty being deprived of his experience winning checkers. But the thought that nothing can change for Morty or the rest of the Smith family unless Rick is willing to allow it is sobering. Maybe I've become too attached to these characters too quickly.

Also, those memories were only erased from Morty's mind, right? Not the minds of the other people involved in the memory in question? Like, does Summer ever look at Morty and remember the time their mom was 100% Ready to let him die for her? Must be weird.

On a side note, Rick and Morty has officially become the impetus I needed to start watching Gravity Falls, somehow. I think I already know most of the Big Plot Spoilers through osmosis at this point, but I'm still looking forward to seeing them put into context, and also to getting let down by some more old dudes, probably (?). But man, I've been sitting on that one for years...

 

Spoiler

Also like... for all that Rick calls him stupid, Morty (And Summer to some extent) has proven to be pretty capable more than once - just in s3 Morty knows how to defuse a neutrino bomb, he works out the morphizer, and he learns the stock market well enough to be really great at it in a few weeks. When he fucks up it's mostly due to naivety or teenage priorities, right?

So... considering how much Rick rags on him for being stupid, how much of that is Rick's own fault for erasing experiences, Morty's own memories of learning stuff, and also the side effects of having his mind wiped for petty stupid reasons? Especially if Rick does it any time Morty shows him up...

Also man I kinda want to do an analysis of this vs total rickall- just on a superficial level they're stories with a lot of flashbacks, one about happy fake ones being inserted and one about bad real ones being removed.

 

Spoiler: The ABC of Beth

there's something to say here about alcoholic parents trying to make up for being absent and emotionally unavailable via over-the-top presents. i'm reminded of some meta about Rose Lalonde and her mom.

Beth picks up on Rick's theory REALLY fast, huh. she is his daughter
...and she might have the same murder instinct

did froopy-land not have any food in it.

'you're not my daughter' OKAY

holy shit

oh my god

beth you could have asked for non murder things.

so that guy then... is going to be unfairly electrocuted.

summer ilu. and i love summer and morty helping each other through their terrible family

so beth is going to murder everyone right

beth being like rick isn't good

oh god. rick. seriously.

 

sidenote -

Spoiler

rick built Froopyland with inhabitants capable of interspecies reproduction that results in kids instantly but NOT easily acquirable food?

 

Spoiler: the abcs of beth

Is it weird that I’m proud of Beth for becoming a worse person? Whether or not she did end up taking off at the end. You go, Beth. Get that negative character development. Thoroughly overturn the Sitcom Wife Trope you kind of were at the beginning of the show. Become the piece of shit you were always meant to be!

I love this terrible family and all the terrible people in it.

 

Spoiler: abcs of beth

I just like that she's actively doing something for herself for once. Also that she's bonding with her dad. I mean it's fucked up and it's worse than who she was before but dammit. She's a person.

 

Well he needed them to be able to replicate back up to sustainable levels quickly after Beth got bored and went on a stabbing spree.

At least I'm assuming that's what she used the talking switchblade for.

 

...What does it say about me that the thought that she used it on non-humans didn't cross my mind until just now?

 

Spoiler: RICKCHURIAN MORTYDATE SPOILERS INCOMING it's time for OVERALL FINALE THOUGHTS

...So, that wasn't the finale I was expecting, maybe, but I still really wanna try to get my thoughts down.

Okay, so first of all: I think it helped that I read this interview with Dan Harmon a few days before watching this episode. Specifically the part about:

This totally threw me off when I first read it; I don't really have much experience with episodic-plot media, and my lifelong relationship with fandom in general has not prepared me at all to view things through that lens. (Harmon's implied smirk-y "no one ever really changes" reads super cynical from my perspective, also, but I expect that from him.) But then I had some time to come to terms with it, say to myself "okay, this is the kind of story Harmon wants to tell, this is the story he's bringing to the table", and with that context I feel like I totally understand and am on-board with where the finale went with the Smith family.

Like, in a way the family's returned to exactly where it was in Season 1, before even the Season 2 finale happened. Jerry and Beth's divorce, the overarching plot point of Season 3, has apparently reversed itself. But also it's super not exactly where it was in Season 1, because all of Season 2 and 3 still happened, and Beth and Jerry and Summer and Morty have all had time to definitively look at Rick and his life choices and philosophy and be like: "nah, fuck that". And that in itself is very satisfying for me, especially after my vague feeling of anxiety about Rick's level of power over Morty in Morty's Mind Blowers. Like, I'm just happy to see him taken down a peg. Facing a conflict that he doesn't immediately sidestep. And who knows, maybe the family might go back to therapy now? Get some sort of support???

On the other hand, it feels kind of...sudden? That This Episode is the one where Morty finally reallly takes a stand? Like, he starts the episode playing Minecraft with his grandpa and twenty minutes later This is where he's at with the dude. Like...even if as a viewer I feel like I was prepped for this by Morty's Mind Blowers, Morty himself doesn't actually remember anything from that episode, so the last time he's had a really major (on-screen, remembered) conflict with Rick was...geez, it feels like maybe the Vindicators episode...? I don't remember the order the episodes happened in, so maybe I only think that because I rewatched the Vindicators episode relatively recently.

But then,

On the other other hand,

I'm glad that it turned out this way, that the final straw for Morty wasn't some sort of Big Thing, because it means that...there's no one memory Rick can erase from any of their minds to bring their relationship with him back to where it was before -- again, leftover Morty's Mind Blowers paranoia...

And like, I was expecting some sort of cliffhanger, some sort of Citadel-related plot hook from this episode, but I think it's actually way better for my sanity that this is how the season ended instead. Like, I won't be seeing the Smiths again for a long time, so it's nice that I've had the chance to leave them on a hopeful note for once. Like, I've spent all season worrying about these fictional characters, and for once I'm not worried, and I can continue to not be worried for the rest of the hiatus. Until canon comes back to mess up their lives again I can rest easy feeling like they're happy and have found a path forward and are not in any immediate danger.

...Oh, also I was pleasantly surprised that they addressed the Beth-clone plot point from last episode, because TBH I was totally expecting them to leave it hanging in ambiguity for the rest of time.

......ALSO I'm not sure if any of this is coherent or not. I've had this continuous monotonous whistle in my house for two days now and have Not Slept At All. I'll definitely need to rewatch the episode later.

Also, as a side note: finished Gravity Falls, am now on Season 2 of Star vs. the Forces of Evil. I've officially done it, the Modern Cartoons About Interdimensional Travel hat trick.

EDIT: I can't do title capitalization consistently and it bugs the hell out of me, AND ALSO I JUST REMEMBERED THE ONE OTHER THING I WANTED TO SAY ABOUT THE FINALE:

Spoiler: more Rickchurian Mortydate spoilers

paraphrased because I can't actually find anywhere to rewatch the episode to get an exact quote but

"is this game popular with autistic people or something?"
"gee rick, why would you say something like that?"
"cuz i'm starting to REALLY GET INTO IT"

#c o n f i r m e d

 

Spoiler: re: spoiler

IIRC, Dan Harmon is actually autistic himself! So that'd actually make a LOT of sense...

(also i loved that line tbh)

 

Szechuan sauce!!! Is back!!! Today only!!! Not everywhere though just participating mcdonalds

 

How do we find out if any given McDonald’s is participating?

 

You can plug your info into find participating mcds nearest you here:

https://buttermilkcrispytenders.com

 

They don’t have it at ours. >:/

 

Yeah its not at ours either and im not about to drive an hour for something they may be out of already -_- still, its a fun little promotion!

 

I don’t get why they couldn’t just make it a chain-wide thing tbh...

 

...I was thinking of going out to my local participating McDonald's for the promotion, but then I remembered that I've eaten the same two meals every day for the past several years and would probably die if I ate a McNugget. Also...since there was only one participating McDonald's in my entire city, I figured the demand would probably outstrip the supply pretty quickly. Generally I didn't want to spend energy on what would likely be a disappointing outing.

But apparently they only had twenty packets of the sauce per location to begin with, which is absolutely wild to me?? I'm torn between feeling kind of entertained by all the tweets in the #szechuansauce and #SzechuanGate hashtags right now and feeling bad for like...the general situation, but for the poor employees who had to deal with this mess especially.

(It'll be fun to see how much the little boxes'll sell for on eBay in the next few days, though.)

(...But really, twenty????)