(not a True Theory because it doesn’t involve eyepatch Morty)

This article was written right after Season 4 Episode 1 released and my prediction could be wrong.

Rick in the First Three Seasons

Seasons 1–3 are mostly about understanding Rick’s perspective. From the first few episodes onwards the audience gradually understands why Rick is so casual about pretty much everything. There’s infinite dimensions and possibilities, and Rick is free to be 98% id. He doesn’t care very strongly about anything except whatever’s on his mind at the time, and he’s justified in doing so — if something goes wrong he can just show up in another dimension and start over, so you eventually learn not to blame him for it.

Season 3 had many good parts but the message was already explained well by previous seasons. Rick is clearly able to do almost anything, leaving no room for development without making him unsympathetic.

In the final episode of season three, where he fights the president, he’s basically a god. Rick doesn’t really have much character development to do — what character development can you do with a god?

Explaining his backstory is pretty much the only direction they could possibly go, but it’s hack and in s3e1 the writers made it clear they think it’s hack.

Pretty much the only thing they can do to Rick is regress him to a very slightly more human version of himself who’s willing to be low status at times, as they do in the very end of the last episode (fly fishing Rick). After experimenting with getting Jerry and Beth divorced, ultimately Rick’s development ends where it began. He’s back to being a member of a non-broken home with a flat hierarchy, and despite his boredom he’s overall happy with it, just like in early season 1.

I think the thing tying the show down was Rick’s capacity for great lines and his monopoly on interesting actions. This led the show to being entirely about Rick, which led to the writers spinning their wheels trying to develop his character and him ending up the same place they started (although way less drunk than he was in the pilot.) It was fun to explore just how bizarre someone with unlimited power would be, but then what?

Rick in Season 4 Episode 1

This episode actually shows that Rick is even more godlike than previously shown, but does it with jokes instead of the seriousness of previous seasons.

I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure this is the first episode where Rick “really” dies — turns out when that happens he just wakes up in another universe.

Tense situations from all the previous seasons where it looks like Rick is “really” going to die are never going to return. The show is very internally consistent and i don’t think they will “just kind of forget” about this point.

The show is very internally consistent and i don’t think they will “just kind of forget” about this point. The worst thing that could happen to Rick would be permanent imprisonment or just lack of access to his portal gun, but that’s happened plenty of times now.

In previous seasons this would likely be a dramatic episode where you’re meant to fear for Rick, but in this one Morty doesn’t seem to care much and it gets resolved almost immediately. The audience forgets that Rick “actually” dying would have been handled very differently a season ago.

In this episode Rick’s status as “basically a god” is (arguably, and if true, very subtly) satirized by Rick himself when Jerry touches him and he says “your finger has AIDS now, not my fault.”

Rick’s version of being a god is most reminiscent of the kid you play-fought with in grade school who responds “no you didn’t shoot me, i have a bulletproof vest. it also deflects rockets!” This frankly came off as pretty immature after a while, especially in the season 3 premiere, the pickle Rick episode, and the Season 3 finale, all of which portrayed Rick as someone who somehow could escape from any peril, usually played as serious action and not as a joke. (If you insist on taking the show this seriously, the ‘death crystal’ plot in this episode can actually retroactively explain all of this!) The fanbase seemed to really like these moments but to me they always felt anticlimactic. Nullifying the interesting potential Season 3 arc set up by the Season 2 finale in one episode felt particularly egregious to me.

Morty in the First Three Seasons

There’s arguably 2 episodes before Season 4 that feature Morty as the protagonist: s1e3 (Anatomy Park) and s1e5 (Meeseeks and Destroy). The action of Anatomy Park is still primarily led by Rick, and the entire premise of Meeseeks and Destroy’s “A plot” is that Morty tries to lead his own adventure, and the childish fantasy world he wants to explore actually houses the most depraved character the show has portrayed yet.

Season 3 builds up Morty’s growing independence and his willingness to question Rick. See: Morty’s mind blowers, as well as the Vindicators episode, which ends with a setup and twist where Rick looks like he’s going to character-develop, stubbornly refuses, and Morty loses further respect for him.

Morty in Season 4 Episode 1

The “A plot” of the episode is starring and entirely driven by Morty (this has never happened before)

Rick dies and Morty doesn’t care all that much when it happens (somewhat Rick-like behavior)

Morty is given the chance to revive Rick and decides not to

Morty grabs a bunch of Rick’s gadgets and uses them for his own goals

Morty gets ahold of a pretty high level of power (this has probably happened before but i don’t really remember it)

Morty takes responsibility for his actions at the end

Rick is in a low status position for essentially the entire episode (also almost never happens)

This episode clearly shows a more empowered Morty, but it’s ultimately about Morty trying out the godlike powers that Rick is accustomed to and learning a lesson about handling them. Everything he uses to become powerful in this episode is something Rick uses, but Rick also has the experience to not be consumed by these tools and is there to reign him in at the end. Then Morty accepts responsibility when his parents blame Rick for the misadventure.

Rick concludes the battle sequence by saying “There’s a lesson here, but i’m not gonna be the one to figure it out.” This lands as a joke, but is also a pretty brilliant little line — it’s Morty who’s learning the lesson here, not Rick. I would assume this was a happy coincidence in most shows but not in this one. The message is repeated immediately afterwards; back at their house Morty apologizes to Rick and Rick retorts by cynically joking about the “I learned something today” trope parodied by South Park (Rick references Full House instead). This is a much more lighthearted way to deliver the same message of the Vindicators episode: Rick is older and not the kind of person who develops his character, but Morty is.

Upcoming Episodes

We know that Morty’s character develops. We know Rick’s doesn’t. And we know that Rick is the end state of someone who has a portal gun. I think the writers have done the math and realized that the best course of action for the next several seasons is to slowly make Morty more like Rick. I like the earlier seasons more, but Morty was a pretty weak character back then, basically an audience stand-in who seems to act like a nine year old, oohing and ahhing at the weird dimension setpieces around him, and devoid of rebellious teenage angst. Well, he still is an audience stand-in, but we (and Morty) have grown to understand Rick and want to step into his shoes without the baggage of his nihilism. Developing Morty makes the most sense — He’s young, still growing, so the perfect role to have lots of development. Morty slowly turning into some Rick-like figure could easily last for more seasons than Breaking Bad.

The vague summaries of the next four episodes include three nonspecific descriptions and one where it’s all about Morty (“Morty gets a dragon in this one broh. It’s a wild ride broh.”) And what do you know, it’s about Morty getting a dragon — so probably a similar arc in that episode as Season 4 Episode 1. None of the descriptions mention Rick (or anyone else). Of the five revealed episode titles, three of them have ‘Morty’ in them, which is more mentions than any single ten episode season so far. (OK, i might be going a little far with this one. But 6/10 episodes in Season 3 have Rick in the title.)

This direction is honestly a pretty big relief to me because I was worried that the writers would continue in the direction of Season 3, mostly keeping the show about Rick and getting darker and more existentially meaningless, and it didn’t seem like there was much more room for that. I think the citadel episode in Season 3 was a one-off attempt at taking the show in a primarily serious direction, similar to what happened to Bojack Horseman, which honestly feels like it’s wasting the writers’ incredible talents for comedy. Also, after the szechuan sauce PR disaster i think the team finally realized how big the show had become, and that they had to veer Rick away from turning into the weed smoking We Live In A Society joker if they wanted to stick around.

The dark sci-fi ideas of the show are a good thing to flirt with but by Season 3 the total nihilism approached an almost bitter, vindictive tone. (I imagine this was an extension of stresses in production which have been eased by a very generous contract with Adult Swim.) In Season 4 Episode 1, they finally strayed from the nihilism by making a handful of jokes and statements about current issues: fascism is bad (say what?!), corporations are too powerful, and my favorite line from the show so far: “gaslighting doesn’t exist, you made it up because you’re fucking crazy.” that’s topical satire good enough that it could work as a headline in The Onion without changing a word. Overall i’m really happy for the show to go in this direction, i didn’t realize that this was what i wanted for the show until i saw it.