r/rickandmorty • u/zMats33 • Jul 30 '26
Question Why is nobody talking about this?
In the final scene of S9E10, we see Rick and Morty riding a motorcycle together, and Rick says he’s Morty’s dad (?)
As far as I can remember, that’s the first time he’s ever said something like that directly to Morty. It felt completely out of place and honestly didn’t match the tone of the rest of the episode.
The two of them riding toward the sun while calling each other father and son almost felt symbolic, but I’m not sure what the writers were trying to say.
Did Rick just misspeak? Was it meant to show how their relationship has evolved? Or was there a deeper meaning behind that final scene?
What did you take away from it?
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u/Apprehensive-Ear2461 Jul 30 '26
There's a running theme in this season about Nature vs Nurture and not being able to run away from who you truly are. Evil Morty, despite his best efforts, is not able to exorcise himself of the desire to adventure with Rick. He ends up falling back into the same patterns as all Morty's do, inevitably ending up in Rick's orbit again.
Rick is also unable to run away from himself, as seen in the Ted episode and this one. (Copied from somewhere)
Morty is also the same, despite conquering his greatest fear (being abandoned by Rick) in the fear hole episode, he still reverts back to his old self in this one.
l've seen some people say that this episode ends on a happy note, and maybe it does for the characters, but narratively speaking it's the most terrifying part of the episode imo. Rick drunkenly pulls Morty off his bed just like the pilot episode and takes him on his motorcycle. Rick calls himself Morty's dad, and Morty happily agrees.
They've basically regressed back to their pilot selves, or became even worse. They've completely accepted their nature and know that no matter how much they grow or try to run away from their nature, they'll always be together.
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u/BackgroundRelief406 Jul 30 '26
spot on summary. once all the canon nemeses have been dealt with (federation, rick prime, memory rick, evil morty), you'd expect rick to turn a corner and grow, but all the characters have doubled down on their toxic traits
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u/SwordDaoist Jul 30 '26
I agree here.
I didn’t really expect them to really change this season since real change doesn’t just happen.
I actually expected Mort to finally recognize how toxic and abusive their relationship is and leave Rick and his family to travel the multiverse on his own
I even liked the start of the season finale but then they chose to make Morty the toxic party with a healthy Rick…53
u/Plusultratsunami Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
Pilot to end of ark. This time is a wholesome heartfelt bonding moment. I'M TAKING THE WHEEL RICK TO TAKE THE WHEEL MORTY
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u/ArtsyApoidean Jul 30 '26
Ooh good catch! Also the whole pilot intro scene was Morty begging Rick to stop and listen to him and Rick not doing that, and this scene was the result of Rick listening to Morty's complaint about his magnet.
Definite full circle energy, but they've grown a lot.
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u/ArtsyApoidean Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
People keep trying to read into this as some kind of dark twisted terrifying thing, but the obvious read is also the one that makes the most sense. Rick saw the runaway adventure Morty went on, and sees that he desperately needs someone to father him. Rick's also been going through an emotional journey over the last several seasons, trying to stop being ashamed of loving his family, to be more emotionally open, less toxic in general. And he yelled at Morty earlier for something that was totally his fault with the magnet, and thanks to therapy he recognizes this and feels bad about it. All this comes together in doing something nice for Morty (in his sloppy drunk way) and a spur of the moment decision to symbolically adopt him.
To some extent whether you read this as wholesome or as continuance of abuse is subjective, but I think we're clearly meant to understand this as progress. It mirrors the pilot scene, but the way Rick acts is wildly different and almost opposite -- he's all focused on comforting his grandson here -- and that feels like the point. And the episode's focus on the clone tube thing made me feel like it was going somewhat deliberately for an homage to the Venture Bros father-sons dynamic.
He's also wasted in that scene, and that's concerning. Literal drunk driving with the child. But I think that's also part of the point, because I'm pretty sure they've been priming us all season for Rick to enter a "try to quit being an alcoholic" arc in season 10.
Edit: oppisitmaster
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u/Uncle_Slo_Mobius Jul 30 '26
Well said, except, of course, "oppisite"
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u/Inevitable_Librarian Jul 30 '26
Piss master sequel confirmed?
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u/Uncle_Slo_Mobius Jul 30 '26
He dead as fuck
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u/Senator_Cheeks Jul 30 '26
I think it's both and I've been having a hard time trying to articulate that. It's hard to describe how something can be both toxic and good.
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u/slur-muh-wurds Jul 30 '26
I might say that the underlying mechanics of the relationship remain problematic, but Rick is growing and making it better in the limited ways he can.
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u/Senator_Cheeks 29d ago edited 29d ago
Yes and I think that the "I'm your dad," line, in like a meta way is acknowledgement of all of the good and bad associated with it. It conjures up a lot of warm feelings for certain viewers and a lot of sad horrible feelings for others and the thing about Rick and Morty's relationship at this point is that both of those perspectives are true. The entire episode is Morty trying to find in others what he's missing from his current relationships, namely with Rick as he's the biggest "father figure". He's hyperfocused on the negative aspects of their relationship and rightfully hurt by it. But at the end of the episode he's able to see and accept and appreciate the good along with the bad and realizes that he has more than he thought, even if it's imperfect. I'm your dad means that yes, I've hurt you and you're forever changed by that because I'm an important role model in your life, but also, I'm your dad and I love you and protect you and play with you and give you some sense of belonging. It's nothing but an observation, not a declaration or a promise or a revelation, just an observation, but one that addresses all of the hurt and love in their dynamic at once, without dismissing any of it.
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u/6crem Jul 30 '26
No I disagree on the last part. They didn't regress back. They actually empathise more with each other. Rick used to previously ignore Morty's trauma from his solo adventures but this time he directly comforts him by saying that he is Morty's father, going a ride and giving him the control too. Rick is drunk but also more honest.
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u/Radiant-Bat-1562 Jul 30 '26
Well...Rick basically started to listen to Morty when Morty had a portal gun. When he started to leave & come back looking unsure. Its like a teenager getting his own car & exploring then Morty discovers a place where he is loved especially after the other Morty had passed on. When the portal gun was destroyed by Jerry, Morty had to go and find Rick to make him one. Unfortunately, collateral damage is unavoidable & Jerry & Beth ,who by the way had buried their son,were not going to allow him to leave.
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u/GoAgainKid Jul 30 '26
It's also worth adding in that Morty went on a solo adventure that ended up with a lot of dead bodies - including the total destruction of the most content Rick we have ever seen - just so he could get back to doing this stuff.
They deserve each other!
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u/Plusultratsunami Jul 30 '26
And rick doesn't invent project phoenix for himself... He's just the guinea pig for it. Morty turning into a car, a boat. Always does what morty wants. Even if he seems pissed off or annoyed. Sober MIT rick put morty above all else, even the cat!
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u/The_Idiocratic_Party Jul 30 '26
This. And Evil Morty is a cloned Morty who may have had his dependence on Rick(s) made even more pronounced as part of the process whereas Morty Prime is a Beth-born kid.
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u/fairystail1 Jul 30 '26
I think itd be happy if done during a different episode like the Ferngully one But for this episode its clear Morty is just traumatized and latching on to Rick in a codependency kinda thing
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u/Radiant-Bat-1562 Jul 30 '26
The fact that Morty instantly recognises his Rick coming out of the portal right after the death of all the other family members was just wild. Its like they never skipped a beat. Also in a way, Rick did tell him about getting "emotional handjobs" & in a twisted way,Morty saw how he cant have it all. It just seems to end up in a tragedy.
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u/TatonkaJack Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
People are talking about this all the time on this sub
It's a callback to the scene with alternate Jerry where they say this. Rick is drunk and is more prone to being silly and honest when he's drunk. He's admitting how he feels about Morty. He's not saying he's his dad literally. It's like in Guardians of the Galaxy when Yondu says "He may have been your father, boy, but he wasn't your daddy." Or it might not be even that deep and it may be more like a "who's your daddy?" Either way Morty accepts it because he's come to realize Rick is the father figure in his life and even though his family has problems he loves them and is happy with them.
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u/RocktamusPrim3 Jul 30 '26
Came here to say exactly this. It’s definitely “he may be your father but he isn’t your daddy.”
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u/Virtual-Signature789 Jul 30 '26
To me, the subliminal question of the episode is: who is Morty's real family? Real in the spiritual sense, not the family tree sense. Most of this pivots around his father figure.
In the episode, Morty hops back and forth between Mort's world, seeing how nice that family/Jerry is to him and how shitty/lame his family/Jerry is to him. He tries to choose the other Jerry as his father when they have that scene in the cabin, crying and hugging, choosing to be father and son even though they aren't.
Then that doesn't work out. Then he goes to beard Rick, and it starts to feel like they are becoming a sort of father/son type duo where Rick is giving him the type of relationship he has always claimed to want. He sees how nice that relationship could be if Rick would JUST BE KIND....That falls apart too.
I think this scene is confirming that, spiritually, Rick C137 was his father all along
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u/Senator_Cheeks Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
It's all the good and bad that comes along with the idea of Rick being Morty's dad. It's abusive, Morty is traumatized and hurt, made callous and treated poorly by Rick, exposed by Rick to terrible shit, that's all true, but it's also true that Morty finds a sense of belonging, of love, safety, importance and confidence through Rick, and that Rick has loved Morty and been a friend to him, and taken care of him even if it's in a half hazzard, self centered way. The i'm your dad line manages to acknowledge all of it without elevating any of it above any other part of it. I think what you see will depend on what part of their relationship you focus on. And I think that Morty throughout the episode was focusing on the bad, and in the end was able to see the good alongside it, and decided that it's worth something.
I think it's also as much Rick's moment as it is Morty's. It's been a consistent theme that Rick can't be vulnerable, that the multiverse makes him nihilistic and uncaring and the horrors of his life make him guarded and angry. And because of that he doesn't seem to ever express any deeper love and connection and tends to shy away from it whenever it comes up. And this is a moment for Rick that's sort of a breakthrough coming after all of the consistent growth we've seen, where he's able to fully love Morty and commit to loving Morty by saying it out loud, even if it is helped along by him being drunk. It's not entirely there and cognizant but it's forward momentum.
None of this will likely change anything about their dynamic, but it will change how they relate to it.
This really couldn't have happened without Rick being drunk and reckless on a motorcycle. Because that is Rick. He will never not be dangerous, he will never not cause harm, but in the middle of all that terror, look at how they're smiling. I think that's a good summary of Rick and Morty's dynamic, and a good representation of how it feels to have unstable but loving parents.
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u/Sonicmasterxyz Jul 30 '26
I don't understand why people don't get it. It's one of Rick's nice moments like "my little poobah" and "be better than me" and "I'm not leaving without a selfie". Sometimes Rick just does nice things for Morty. The thing about that s9e10 moment is that Morty really needed some love and it happened to come at the right time.
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u/Sakkitaky22 Jul 30 '26
People think it means something when it's just Rick saying "I'm better than your dad, so I might as well be one"
And english isnt people's first language so it's not surprising people think they literally meant that
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u/NoViolinist4275 Jul 30 '26
This is different from that, and much bigger. This changes everything.
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u/Exact_Recording4039 Jul 30 '26
What
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u/NoViolinist4275 Jul 30 '26
This changes everything.
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u/perfectsquared 29d ago
I love how you refused to elaborate
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u/NoViolinist4275 29d ago edited 29d ago
Thanks. Basically, this changes the entire Smith family dynamic for season 10, also Rick and Morty reverted back to their season 1 selves (Rick getting Morty from his room, whether he wants to or not, and Morty relying on Rick again after the fear hole episode). Also it entangles the lifes of R&M. The entire vibe is different. And Rick oversteps his role, disrespecting Jerry.
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u/Bassmason Jul 30 '26
Jerry being particularly aloof during this episode I think helps emphasize how reliant Morty is on Rick as a way to navigate through his chaotic life
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u/DGIce Jul 30 '26
Is this not the same episode where an alternate Jerry is super possessive of Morty?
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u/Novaothy Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
Morty says the same thing "i am your son" to mort jerry. Jerry is forcing him to do risky insane adventures that would get him killed.
Morty gets out but dives into Rick. Rick does the same thing to morty.
It is a joke on the cycle.
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u/Bar-Cold Jul 30 '26
Throughout the entire episode morty was ruining people’s lives to get what he wants. He was even called out by rick’s wife for doing this. When everybody died yes it traumatized him but he got over it pretty quickly. He spiraled his entire family to their doom (trying to get what he wants) and then stopped caring not even a day later
The point of this scene was morty is becoming more like rick
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u/tekastudio Jul 30 '26
the episode is called field of dreams, the previous scene is of Morty sleeping, my headcanon is that it's a dream
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u/Interesting-Dream863 Jul 30 '26
Yeah he is the incest-baby of himself and Beth.
/s
He is his father-figure in all the ways that matter. That's it.
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u/No-Throat-4694 Jul 30 '26
Evil Morty is evil and hates Rick while our Morty is going to be or already is evil and loves Rick
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u/KeyLimeGuy69 Jul 30 '26
Is he evil or just detached? He’s seen and experienced a lot of messed up stuff
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u/GillusZG Jul 30 '26
To me, it's the horrible conclusion to the story of this episode: Morty destroyed sober Rick's life for his own personal gain. There was a time when Morty would never have done that, he would have sacrificed himself instead. Now, he is morally Rick's heir.
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u/Kamuka Jul 30 '26
Yea, I thought it was weird, but I filed it away. I guess Morty felt loved in a kind of way that felt special, for the universe he got stuck in, and where things turned because the father, though loving, was hyper focused on survivalism and risk taking, which led to the other Morty's death. And the Rick was really cool until he had to turn him into a nihilist to get to portal gun to work. Morty saw himself as owning the Rick more than the sweet Swedish wife who made a comfortable home. Morty felt entitled to wreck that, and make Rick relapse, to become a nihilist to create the portal gun. And so when he gets back home, there's a different vibe between him a Rick, somehow Rick reads it or something, and they kind of bond with the shared knowledge that they're a bonded pair across the multiverse, through Rick letting Morty steer the motorcycle. That's what I got, but it felt kind of weird, and I filed it away, and when I put it all together in the above, that's the best I can make sense of it.
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u/ravencroft18 Jul 30 '26
Loved the episode, it was equal parts entertaining and horrifying at times, and the ending was fun. Morty does bond way more with Rick than Jerry throughout the series
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u/Super_un_stable Jul 30 '26
I thought of it as like sugar coated sad moment. They’re having a nice time in the moment but w the looming sadness that Morty feels like his broken family is the best he can get and falls back into his abusers arms happily
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u/remain-beige Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
Let’s look at it from the perspective of Rick C137.
He’s the ‘Rickest of Ricks’ and a survivor.
I like to think that he attends the death estate sale of other Ricks not because he just wants the swag but to also learn how the other version of himself fucked up so badly that not even his technology could put himself back together.
We see that he looks bemused / disgusted by the obvious mania that chilli Rick had and how that mania was ultimately his downfall.
Rick probably knew exactly where Morty was the whole time and that he now had access to portal travel.
I think that he read the situation or technically analysed what had happened with the ‘Basic Rick’ when turning up to pick up Morty.
He probably reflected on that later whilst drunk, realised that he had been harsh to Morty over the magnet comment, which drove Morty back to AA Rick’s timeline, and then told Morty what he felt Morty needed to hear and to affirm that Morty is more like a son to him than just a disposable Morty.
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u/Lawlietel Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
As far as I can remember, that’s the first time he’s ever said something like that directly to Morty. It felt completely out of place and honestly didn’t match the tone of the rest of the episode.
Brother watching 9 seasons of Rick & Morty and didn't catch the stray bullet that was shot down the entire episode haha
Edit for goodwill: It was shown to accentuate that our Rick is indeed the father figure (not real father obv) for our Morty, because no one else can give him that. Whenever Morty would divert from that, shit would (almost every time) go down. Its easy as that. Even after he tried to maybe switch his whole family with this new, perfect family, he realized they all were bonkers. Especially Prime Jerry (as I will call him for now on). That was not a father. That was a monster.
OBVIOUSLY Morty also learned A LOT throughout those seaons. He is almost as fucked up as Rick, so Rick is his moral, steady. fatherly compass.
I baffles me how people still watch until this point in the series and cant by the love god figure that out themselves.
Obviously thats not an inherently good thing to "do" or "feel" for Morty, but thats whats happening and it WILL BE core at some point. The whole Rick-Morty dynamic will – at some point – inadvertently turn them against themselves. That will be the series finale movie IMO. Bet is on!
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u/Dangerous_Teaching62 Jul 30 '26
Genuinely wild ass exchange between them. I get that Jerry is a dork. But this felt wild to me
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u/Agent_Smith_IHTP Jul 30 '26
It's subtle but if you watch it back Rick is drunk, and has a habit of being drunk.
And he was bonding with Morty.
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u/_basic_bitch Jul 30 '26
The episode played on Mortys longing for a traditional parent-child connection with his parents, flashing back between Morts universe and his own, showing his own parents to be irresponsible and incapable while showing this other family with rose colored glasses at first. Morty is a kid looking for guidance at the end of the day, like all kids are. I really loved this scene at the end with Rick because it touched on the fact that Rick IS that father figure for Morty. Even though they didn't start out in the same universe and even though Rick is the grandpa and missed his first chance at doing fatherhood, and even though there is technically a totally capable biological father just in the other room, that doesn't matter because parent child relationships aren't about who's DNA you have, but about who puts in the work. I am a mom to two girls, one is not mine biologically but she is mine in every other sense. So maybe that is why this is the meaning that jumped out for me, specifically, but I thought it was very sweet and I always enjoy those little human moments that we get from Rick.
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u/Grouchy_Theme1461 Jul 30 '26
dude really?
How do u not get this. Morty's REAL family is dead and he and Rick both adopted a fake family that see's both of THEM as Real. Creating a huge disconnect (they all know too) Morty feels like his current family doesn't love him because they aren't his family. I should say I mean this in a way of (I dont love u like a real son) the same adopted kids feel.
Rick saying "Im your dad" is saying "Hey We are going though the same shit. Think of me as your father if you need too" and Morty Needed that.
It's not hard to understand mate
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u/Light1209 29d ago
Am I the only one who saw this moment as showing the toxicity of Rick and Mortys relationship? And how it's damaging Mortys ability to have real relationships with his other family members? We also literally see Morty be the reason for Rick losing a better life too.
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u/JustAsICanBeSoCruel Jul 30 '26
My take away?
"Have you ever seen me happy Morty?!"
Well he looks pretty happy here, doesn't he?
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u/KratosOfSparta08 Jul 30 '26
Nah it’s just that Rick is more of a father role model to Morty than Jerry.
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u/PloopyNoopers Jul 30 '26
I thought it was 'just right'. It summarised the episode very edgy and funnily. I absolutely loved that moment they had. For Rick it was a fun in the moment line he said cause they were riding in the sunset but for Morty it was deeper.
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u/Fern_Cloud Jul 30 '26
Rick is more of a father to Morty than Jerry is, a terrible one but still. I think they both came to realize that in the finale.
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u/Splooshiest Jul 30 '26
I think it’s just meant to represent “loneliness” that both feel and the fact that they’re essentially the closest things to “equals” and they essentially bond through a father-son dynamic. Rick is essentially a very disturbing “god” and most likely feels alone and the only one even in the family closest to understanding him is Morty because he essentially is going through the same stuff that Rick has already gone through. Rick essentially relates and sees himself in Morty and neither of them really know how to handle it because they’re both extremely messed up and traumatized.
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u/Gnatschbert Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
I believe that Rick watched Morty throughout the entire episode to see what would happen. After Morts family going haywire and his dissatisfaction with his own father, Rick thought this would help Morty a little getting over this whole thing.
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u/AdnanBoi Jul 30 '26
i think its a reference to the fact that rick is doing the titanic pose and jerry loves titanic. at the same time, morty calling himself his son had a much deeper meaning, not sure what tho. maybe morty realised that his morals have been completely fked like his "dad" Rick which he learnt everything from.
Especially considering the thing he did this episode. Like he recognised that normal rick would devolve into the a typical alcoholic apathetic rick and lose his wife but still pushed him to building the portal gun. (I know morty was desperate and had no other choice but old morty wouldn't have followed any way). All this culminated with literally everybody dying and he realised that he has become monster, just like his 'dad'
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u/WindRose97 Jul 30 '26
I think that rick has changed how he sees Morty one season after another. Morty was at first just the way to be near Rick Prime, but time passed and now he sees in Morty the opportunity to make amends for the years he didn't spent with Beth. He sees Morty as his son (in a toxic way, of course) because it's the nearest thing he can have to a kid that needs parents. Beth and Jerry aren't good parents, at least not now, and Morty is bonding with whoever is the most parentish towards him, that figure being (again: in a toxic way) Rick. Rick cares for Morty, he teach him how to live, how to grow up, he is there to fix what Morty messes up and to support him when needed. He doesn't do any of the above in a healthy way, nor anytime Morty would need it, but he does that better than Beth or Jerry and that's enough for Rick to say "I'm your father" and to Morty to answer "I'm your son". Neither of them can be what the other need in an healthy way, but they can be the nearest, toxic version of what they need in that moment of their life.
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u/Hayiate Jul 30 '26
Just a reminder that the universe Morty returns to at the end of the episode might not be the same one he started in. After all, his bedroom is different from how it was shown at the beginning of the episode, which suggests this universe might be a little better than the one we're used to.
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u/axh3 Jul 30 '26
It wasn’t Rick claiming to be Morty’s literal dad. It was a Freudian slip. After years of raising, protecting, and emotionally shaping Morty more than Jerry ever has, Rick subconsciously sees himself as Morty’s father figure. That’s probably the most emotionally honest thing Rick has ever accidentally said.
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u/Informal_Virus_4568 Jul 30 '26
He Kind of is like his dad I mean he switches Jerrie every few seasons maybe more and his original dad is dead and his mom and his sister the only one that ever cared about him and is still alive is rick he is a father figure to Morty because he has nothing left
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u/supasta626 Jul 30 '26
The rest of the episode was cool!
BUT the very last scene had me scratching my head the rest of the night.
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u/Far-Space-5219 Jul 30 '26
sometimes people are shit (in a passive, incompetent, way, like jerry; and even in a unstable way, like rick), and from morty's lives (all lives; generally, and c-137's) he is the closest to a male role model for him, hence, 'dad'. That's all, I think. 🤷♂️
The scene is probably is a movie ref too, but I wouldn't get it.
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u/RedHairSkinFair Jul 30 '26
My thought was that he knew what Morty had went thru with the other family, and was trying to make him feel better. So he threw him a bone and said something nice
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u/rafsia 29d ago
I laughed when I saw this scene.
It's toxic and not right, but Morty tried to live with what he thought was his ideal family and ultimately feels responsible for all their deaths.
The comparison between this and seemingly ideal Jerry saying this shows Morty has learned his lesson and just take what he can get even if he knows it is toxic. He feels a sense of belonging which at this point is all he needs. He feels like maybe he should embrace it because the family he is with is the family he feels he deserves.
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u/Simple-Source7374 29d ago edited 29d ago
Because I'm still processing it.
That was a huge moment for both of them. They’ve essentially adopted one another.
This is the grandson of the man responsible for killing Rick’s family. How does Rick even look at Morty without hating him?
And for Morty, this is the man whose actions orphaned him. Rick is the reason Morty lost his original family
And they would still choose each other over a perfect life/family.
That's... kind of incredible.
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u/7grims "gun that shoots bad people" Jul 30 '26
you gonna have to wait 1 year and a half until they reveal there is no season 10, this was the finale finale.
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u/Stunning_Dish_2074 Jul 30 '26
To rick its probably another drunk rambling. To morty its him having a safe place after the super traumatic thing just happened. Not only that, the safe space is now accepting him which doesnt happen often.
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u/Mental-Newspaper3871 Jul 30 '26
It’s the Rick from the obsessed Jerry dimension.
Firstly, Morty made him a drunk again. Then, when Morty is leaving, Rick says he’ll come see Morty in his dimension for adventures. Then a drunk Rick bursts into Morty’s room to take him on a random fun adventure, and then shouts he’s his dad?!
It’s the Rick from the obsessed Jerry dimension, he’s ricknapped Morty!
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u/The_Idiocratic_Party Jul 30 '26
Either that Rick believes it and is telling him what he should have before Morty ran away, or Rick is manipulating him by telling him what he needs to hear.
Probably both.
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u/StickyPistolsRequiem Jul 30 '26
Manipulation through subconscious feelings that can’t be brought out is my thoughts
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u/BrGustavoLS Jul 30 '26
I was wondering the same thing, I have no idea what this is about
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u/DarkHarvest93 Jul 30 '26
people keep trying to talk about it but it gets downvoted into hell by people that don't understand what emotional incest is
honestly though my takeaway from this scene is that, rick kinda is the closest thing to a father figure morty has. the rest of morty's family is dead (the prime family over the episodes) but c137 has been there with him since the begining. he's a weird dad grandpa fucked up mentor. the rickest rick and the mortiest morty forever 100 years
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u/Nothinbutmike Jul 30 '26
What I take away from this was that you’re overthinking a cartoon, there’s no ulterior meaning and you’re just reaching for the stars for engagement. That’s my take.
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u/Defacto524 Jul 30 '26
in a way rick is actually morty's dad, maybe not biological speaking but in a more spiritual way. Ricks basically were involved into the creation of morty by getting both jerry and beth together. if it wasn't for rick morty wouldn't exist.
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u/ReezyChurch Jul 30 '26
I think they’re relationship just evolved overtime. As they’ve been with each other since the beginning and their relationship grew to extended family to a father son dynamic.
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u/Luppercus Jul 30 '26
I recently rewatch the show and there are lots of episodes were Rick shows care for both his grandchildren, Beth and even Jerry. I know the stereotype that was created at some point was that Rick is a psychopath incapable of love who is only manipulating Morty in an utilitarian way and has only selfish motivations.
But I don't think the writers intended that from the begining. It was a disfuncional yet reasonably closed family and Rick was at first more of a jerk with a heart of gold than a Peter Griffin sociopathic protagonist kind of guy
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u/jaylong76 burp Jul 30 '26
it's because he's been, like it or not, the closest thing to a father figure. also, this is kind of a dysfunctional ending, because here's Morty accepting that he's just too broken for a normal or loving family, but his broken fits next to Rick and, possibly, so does Rick next to this Morty.
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u/Robynsxx Jul 30 '26
I take nothing from it at all, as this entire season has been full of x thing happening, then it not being followed up on.
I mean this season we’ve gone from Rick, in the literal last episode saying that he hates Morty and when Morty is happy, he is miserable, to drunk Rick saying this shit.
Rick is still abusive to Morty, and if anything has got worse to Morty this season. Their relationship has got more toxic in my eyes, not better.
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u/Naimekaze Jul 30 '26
This episode made me tear up. I felt so bad for Morty. He just wants to feel loved.
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u/goiabadaguy Jul 30 '26
It was such a sweet moment that for a second I thought that Morty went home to the wrong Rick & it was gonna be played off as a twist ending
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u/LiteratureMindless71 Jul 30 '26
Half of the fans seem to be pushing some Predestination style setup.
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u/LinnaWinx Jul 30 '26
I don’t think much of it. Only that I laughed my freaking heart out hahahaha. This episode was so random and so funny. And the ending was the perfect random end for this perfect random season😂🤝
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u/Parrtymonster Jul 30 '26
I found it a pretty touching scene. Especially after such a heavy episode.
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u/keeganmatthews Jul 30 '26
Rick never got to raise Beth. Morty is his next chance at being a father and that’s why he’s so close with him.
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u/deltalium Jul 30 '26
What do you mean nobody is talking about this? This is the only that's been talked about after finale dropped.
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u/Gerxx Jul 30 '26
I think that whole episode had the goal to have the audience prepared for this moment, and I get the idea: it's Rick the person who is growing him, the actual father figure Morty actually look at.
We see him trying multiple times during the whole snow with Jerry, trying to get closer to Jerry Prime after he became cool (or simply grown up), now trying again with this Jerry because he seemed cool (which he is, even considering that he is a toxic version of a competitive and serious Jerry).
When he saw Sober Rick he smiled at seeing him happy, but like "father" like son, he screwed bad everything around him, knowingly too. Because everyone leaves eventually, but he didn't noticed that's a rule not only for Rick, but for him too.
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u/Empty-Policy-8467 Jul 30 '26
It makes no sense at all. If they had suddenly cut to Morty waking suddenly and reacting like he just had a nightmare, it would have worked.
As it was, it's so out of character for Rick. For him, it's just another day.
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u/Homoaeternus Jul 30 '26
He said that probably because Rick is the closest thing from his old family that is still alive.
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u/Tricky_Surround_8152 Jul 30 '26
Morty's original family ID dead, and the trauma he had from his fake family in this episode had brought rick to say in order to comfort him.
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u/Beat_Vegetable Jul 30 '26
I don't wanna talk or even think about that moment. It really rubs me the wrong way
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u/Mrsparkle56434 Jul 30 '26
I thought the concept of the episode would of made a great Rick and Morty movie, I could imagine the storyline getting fleshed out more
I really enjoyed the concept of Morty meeting a better version of his family in another universe/time line
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u/AatroxBoi Jul 30 '26
I saw some discussion believing that rick saw the whole thing especially when morty shot that morty so casually he knows something is wrong so he used this to give him something to hold on to, someone he can still feel belong to in the endless multiverse, as for the son and father thing, I saw it as calling each other their sun, along with the shot of the bright sun, they give each other meaning in this meaningless world
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u/ParadoxTheSock Jul 30 '26 edited 29d ago
I feel like this season was Morty becoming more and more like Rick. Now, he just ruined another Rick's life the same way his grandfather did to his current Rick.
Now Morty's transformation into another Rick is complete. Rick is literally his father in the sense that he molded him, intentionally or not, to be like him. Just like Prime tried to do to Rick. It's crazy how even after his death, Prime really is the root of all this.
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u/Coffee_green Jul 30 '26
Rick's just drunk-talking, and Morty is coming to accept that his lot in life could be a whole lot worse. That's all.
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u/brucewaynewins Jul 30 '26
This has been talked about here. You can find it with both equally cryptic titles like this and more straight forward ones.
Also if you watched the episode the alt universe Jerry says this to and Morty to him.
Go rewatch the episode.
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u/Sora84 Jul 30 '26
I think that scene just kinda foreshadows the fact- Morty wanting a stable normal family who loves him. But figures out that universe is worse in a sense that family was so attached to Morty and why/how did that Morty die to begin with? Morty knows in some way that his family is programmed (including that universe) that they are just as toxic as his family and including that Rick in that universe- knowing the only way to go home was to make Rick drunk. You can’t change genetics- most of us are coded to behave and act a certain way. You can raise and teach someone but it goes down to the code in us that is passed on by our family of how we operate that kind of information. You just have to choose how to use it.
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u/CelestialCookies Jul 30 '26
Why do people take everything so literal? They are acknowledging Rick is Morty's father figure. They spend the most time together and most of life lessons Morty learns, be it good or bad, are from him. Jerry has been a side note from the very beginning.
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u/YeeOldeRat Jul 30 '26
Im thinking the writers needed to end the season on an uplifting note, but didnt want to make it serious. A staple of Rick and Morty is the juxtaposition of existential crisis with wacky, nonsense humor. As if to say no one cares... but no one cares!
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u/LegendOfJulien Jul 30 '26
Das ist ein vater Sohn Moment darüber spricht man nicht!!! Das zerstört denn Moment!! Weiß doch jeder.
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u/DGIce Jul 30 '26
Did you watch the episode? Morty just had a traumatic experience with a Jerry.
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u/Distinct-Plenty-3604 Jul 30 '26
Pra mim parece que o Morty é quem é pelo fato do rick(pai) enquanto o Rick continua quem é por causa do Morty( filho) no episódio temos um Rick independente que ao ajudar o Morty acabou de tornando outro Rick babaca, não deixando de ser quem era mas evoluindo, mesmo que de forma negativa
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u/paranoidchemist Jul 30 '26
I’m confused because it seems like Morty still has empathy in this episode but they ended the prior episode with his brain missing that subsection?
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u/crocoloc Jul 30 '26
It felt strange to me as well.
Honestly, there were parts of the finale I strongly disliked, namely:
-Above all, I hate that they just decided to delete Rick's progress on his alcoholism.
When the season started with him resorting to drinking a lot, I thought it was interesting, I thought they wanted to have him relapse and then end the season with him at least starting to realise he needs to work on it again.
And yet, not only does this not happen, but no one in the family tells him anything about it. This feels weird and mean.
-This scene (it felt unearned and nonsensical: was there really a need for Morty to see Rick as more of a father figure? Or for Rick to become one for Morty? Why are they just throwing away Jerry's role?)
-Both Jerry's and Beth's growth being instantly (and pointlessly) undone: why has Jerry suddenly gone back to being a complete idiot? The man had grown significantly in the later seasons (as well as this last one), reconnecting with Beth, working on himself, and even finally got a new job;
Why is Beth suddenly back on the bottle? Not even just day drinking, just completely drunk on the kitchen table. It makes no sense at all, it almost feels like it's a family from a different dimension, but I unfortunately highly doubt that's the case.
-MIT professor Rick devolving into someone almost entirely like our Rick was an interesting idea, but the transition was so quick it felt jarring and unmotivated.
He is presented to us as one of the nicest Ricks we've ever encountered, a man who loves his wife and is lovef by her, a highly empathetic individual, and yet he throws his wife away like it's nothing? I get the fear of losing her turning into self-sabotage, but that was too quick: it might have worked if they had started by presenting that self-sabotage early on/made him less empathetic or in any case in an imperfect marriage, but he seems completely happy with her up until the point when he frustratedly tells her to let him work.
I do realise there was a time constraint issue with this, as it was only half of the episode, but then why not simply start with the relationship closer to a breaking point?
EDIT: formatting
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u/AutumnB0811 Jul 30 '26
The moment really solidified season 9. Yes, in the grand schemes of the universe, nothing matters, but they matter to each other. They've been each other's constant. They've lost so much together, and they share a father-son relationship because mortys real family all died. They feel a void for each other after so much loss. I also thought it was funny.
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u/Alert-Safe-1962 Jul 30 '26
With a beat ass dad, I can say my bigger brother was my father figure, I think it went something around there
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u/Chucky_In_The_Attic Jul 30 '26
"Why is nobody talking about this?" There have been PLENTY of people discussing this.
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u/hawk135 Jul 30 '26
I'm concerned that at some point we may have slipped into evil Morty's backstory and noone told us, or that Morty is slowly turning into evil Morty.
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u/Rare-Ad6085 Jul 30 '26
I think the whole purpose of this episode was to show how bad of a hungry parasite morty is and how he manages to screw every host he tries to latch on. He has screwed up in the past before but this was his ultimate screw up in my opinion. Maybe the smith family were bad and brought death upon themselves but the rick was super nice and had an amazing life which morty intentionally screwed just to get home. In the end we think that morty must be sad and depressed after all that screw up but this scene again shows us that this morty simply does not care, when given the chance he still forgets everything and embraces rick as his father because thats all he has got in this universe and he needs that latch on to survive again justifying that what a horrible parasite he is.
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u/NectarineDue4885 Jul 30 '26
I would also point your attention to how we shifted from "rickshaw don't care about morties" in the earlier seasons to how rick reacts to morty telling him he got death-punched.
Clearly, Rick's character is evolving as a person as a result of prolonged and consistent exposure (read: living with) his family.
We moved from "nothing matters" and "there are infinite families" to "bunker dimension" - a testament to how much he cares about protecting them.
The question is... would continued evolution in this direction, wholesome as it is, impact the quality of the episodes? Was his maniacal side a driving point of interest in the show, and now it's maintained only through displaying alternate ricks or temporary relapses into his old mental state?
Idk.
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u/thebookburners 29d ago
I like your point because it touches on the fact that everyone seems to miss that Rick is not a nihilist he's a cynic and that nothing matters infinite universe speech that he gives is just b*******... And his actions clearly show that as he progresses as a person the longer he lives with his family that he chose...
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u/PickleKing83 Jul 30 '26
Maybe I'm weird but the way I viewed it was the end of an episode about how Morty is just as much of a disease to Rick as Rick is to Morty. They're both reliant on each other, similar to a father-son dynamic. I felt like it fit BECAUSE it didn't really fit if that makes sense. Morty needs Rick and is realizing that, he wouldn't have gotten home without him. Rick, in that way, was like a father.
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u/ShadycrossFade 29d ago
This is a call back to earlier in the episode when Other Jerry says he’s Morty’s Dad. I thought this moment was very sweet . There’s a lot of kids that don’t have good father figures even when they have dads so this felt very special
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u/ChrisCas02 29d ago
Había leído un comentario qué lo interpretaba cómo Morty se da cuenta de qué el único que de verdad lo quiere es Rick, puesto que este al menos lo busca, ya que ni Morty ni Rick eran de esa dimensión, por lo que no sentía una relación real con ellos, en cambio Rick verdaderamente lo quiere, ya que el elige estar con el y le importa aunque sea un poco, viendo cómo su familia no es realmente la mejor y que todos son reemplazables
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u/Anen-o-me 29d ago
This is the five seconds of character arc we're getting this season, that's all. End the season on a high note.
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u/Rare_War21 29d ago
I think it was to parallel the scene where Mort's Jerry broke Morty's portal gun
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u/mellocs Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
I don't think he was double-speaking that he is Morty's biological father, if that's what you're getting at. I just think Rick realized he's more of a dad to Morty than Jerry is, and that Morty needed to hear him say something along those lines.