r/rickandmorty • u/BarnyardCruz • 18h ago
POST-EPISODE DISCUSSION THREAD - S9E2: Ricks Days, Seven Nights
S9E2: Ricks Days, Seven Nights
It's time for episode 2 of Season 9, Ricks Days, Seven Nights! Comment below with your thoughts, theories, and favorite bits throughout the episode, or join the conversation about this and all sorts of other shit on our Discord
For more "how & where do I watch" answers, refer to this post
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Episode Overview
- Directed by: Brian Kaufman
- Written by: Jess Lacher
- Guest Star(s): Ed Helms, Paul Lieberstein, Oscar Nunez, Rob Riggle, Amy Ryan
Brohnopsis: You try being Rick all the time, broh!
Synopsis: "No matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself." — John Muir (or popularly attributed)
Other Lil' Bits
Discussion Thoughts - (just to get you started)
- Favorite jokes?
- Best/Worst parts?
- What burning thoughts or questions do you have or want to share? Put them in the comments below!
While you're here, go check out "For Ages" by Ryan Elder and Wax//Wane!
AAAaaAaaaAaaand that was Episode 2, Ricks Days, Seven Nights! Keep creating your memes, comments, and thoughts, and we'll see you again, for sure, next week!
In the meantime, if you're the podcastin' type and want full coverage of every season of the show, tune into Interdimensional RSS: The Unofficial Rick and Morty Podcast!
To catch all of our Episode Discussion posts, click here!
Don't go on vacation, we still have 8 more episodes to go!
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u/Greeve3 18h ago
Man, that ending got me.
"It didn't work?"
"No, it did."
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u/YujiDomainExpansion 18h ago
I don’t think we saw a visible change because, after long enough, Ted eventually becomes Rick again naturally. He can’t escape himself. No matter how badly he wants to.
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u/MasterofPandas1 18h ago
That’s a good take. I love these episodes that comment on the existential human existence.
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u/pickles_onions 16h ago
That is basically what it is, Rick is what happens when you get everything you think you want: money, fame, sex, every appetite granted an endless supply of whatever impulse occurs, but ultimately it’s human connection that cannot be purchased, packaged, or commissioned that he aches for. Wiping his memory, debilitating himself, and each time he ends up seeking romance, with Marjorie, or the post-credit scene, way back he was torn up about Unity…Rick wants what he can’t simply take and that kills
him after spending a lifetime trying to overcome everything but subduing everything possible.23
u/d710905 15h ago
I feel like the only sign they gave was his voice. His tone and control to me immediately shifted. Unless it's just me.
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u/sheebleesly 15h ago
No I picked up on it too. His pupils also do a weird motion that I honestly don’t think we’ve ever seen on this show
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u/Cirenione 13h ago
Yep, Ted was absolutely wasted but for Rick thats regular consumption despite drinking a lot less than in earlier seasons. Felt like his brain reseted and Rick gained immediate focus again.
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u/CommanderCody2212 17h ago
Honestly? I almost want to say the button doesn’t even do anything to begin with. He just naturally slips back into Rick every single time and the button just exists so Rick can feel like him and Ted are separate
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u/JasonLeeDrake 17h ago
I mean it should at least restore his memories.
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u/United_Rent_753 15h ago
I definitely think they didn’t make the button do a noise/lights because the ambiguity is part of the art
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u/SalvadorZombie 14h ago
But also, there isn't really a necessary visible change. It's just changing his brain chemistry. Ted was miserable, and Rick's miserable. So no change.
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u/Undecided139 15h ago
when morty is telling ted about how smart rick is and how much better his life is it almost kinda felt like the ending of mice and men where george is about to kill lenny. great stuff and brutally tragic
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u/ArtsyApoidean 9h ago
Hit as hard as the suicide attempt in the Unity episode but without any musical cues to tee it up. Incredibly impressive sequence.
This is honestly the best the show has been since season 2.
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u/ActionFilmsFan1995 18h ago edited 18h ago
Season 9 is off to a crazy good start. This episode was awesome, and that ending hit like a gut punch.
Also, pool’s really sticking around. Wonder if it builds to something.
Edit:
Ok on further reflection it’s interesting this episode was basically a microcosm of the Rick Prime arc.
Ted has a great simple life. Then he discovers there are other worlds, but he’s happy with his simply life. A version of him eventually gets his love killed, and Ted is hellbent to track him down and kill him. When he finally does though, life feels meaningless without his love and he becomes a ragging alcoholic.
Ted thinks Rick had everything figured out because he was smarter, but the moment he got his memories back he realized he just repeated the same pattern as when Diane died. Even given a fresh start he goes down the same road of unhappiness. He will always cause himself that unhappiness.
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u/Galileo908 Peace Among Worlds 18h ago
Pool party episode, naturally.
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u/YujiDomainExpansion 18h ago edited 18h ago
Someone is gonna be dead and floating in it by the end of the season kinda like the build up to that one season of Breaking Bad
Edit: shoutout to the Waiting Around To Die cover, such a throwback to Breaking Bad too!
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u/MasterofPandas1 18h ago
Or Bojack Horseman’s intro
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u/GodspeakerVortka 16h ago
Archer did it, too.
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u/YahBoiChipsAhoy1234 Popéball 14h ago
Shit I’m pretty sure there was an American dad episode where Steve is face down in the pool at the beginning of the episode too 😂
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u/Unique-Apartment-543 13h ago
It was JELLO!!!! The whole time.. The whole time? THE WHOLE TIME?!?!?!?!
my adhd is kickin around
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u/No_Mark_125 10h ago
The music choices for this episode were great, I always love hearing Marty Robbins - everyone knows Big Iron but some of his lesser known tracks are incredible too. Doggone Cowboy and Strawberry Roan are two of my favorites.
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u/lowriderz00 17h ago
I wasn’t getting that he kept his memories from the vacation mode so that totally makes more sense now
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u/SupersonicSandshru05 18h ago
I love how rarely the failsafes actually work, and Morty & summer just have to collect Rick from somewhere.
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u/Cyan_Light 18h ago
Plus they're so casual about it. Morty ruining Ted's dramatic alien abduction scene with his "please don't lose the leg phone or I'll never hear the end of it" stuff was such a hilarious contrast, dude was going through it but to the kids it was just another day.
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u/Substantial-Crazy441 6h ago
I need the leg phone to make a dramatic comeback, my life will be incomplete if this show ends without the leg phone coming back
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u/KeyScratch2235 12h ago
I love how casually they do it, too; like, Morty and Summer even know the overrides for the garage, just in case they have to deal with Rick's shit.
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u/Low-Imagination2255 18h ago
Cool to see Rick and Morty’s take on the basic premise of Severance, super depressing ending though, with Rick basically realizing he can’t run from himself.
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u/RevolutionaryEmu9401 13h ago
Night family?
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u/bleachinmysoup 12h ago
Night family was like a speedrun of the logical fallout of a severance-for-work type scenario. I like how this one takes more of a psychological approach to the concept and lets us sit with the “Innie” for a while ultimately to show him evolve back into the same person in the end.
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u/Acceptable_Mind_5883 5h ago
It's Dogma, the Kevin Smith movie.
Rick calls himself a god and this is his mortal vacation that goes wrong.
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u/Buizie . wubba lubba . dub dub 18h ago
Once again, Rick is his own worst enemy, lmao.
The final scene felt like a brick wall, I wasn't expecting it to hit so hard. When you think the magic button will revert you to a better version of yourself, but you're still... you.
Despite everything, it's still you.
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u/bigshady880 17h ago
yeah, it kinda hurt that it ended there, on such a... heart wrenching note. really good episode
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u/bleachinmysoup 12h ago
Damn. This is probably one of the best uses of the undertale quote I’ve seen
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u/Jcsq6 18h ago
Damn, this was depressing.
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u/Dr_Middlefinger 18h ago
In the best ways.
This show constantly undermines your expectations and here?
The writers gave us an incredible story. Magnificent storytelling.
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u/bigshady880 17h ago
yeah the ending was so sad. it makes it seem like Rick really is just a broken person who can't ever be happy, even when he isn't himself.
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u/justking1414 17h ago
Rick s simply too smart. Nothing for him is a challenge when his tech lets him do absolutely anything. I’ve always said that Rick is jealous of Jerry because at least he’s happy with his simple world
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u/ephemeralstitch 14h ago
Not even his tech. We see that with the flat tyre. It doesn't matter what tech he has, what resources he has; Rick will always find any practical problem easy. There's quite literally nothing he can't solve. He can go from Stone Age to sci-fi tech in a matter of hours or days no matter where he is.
There isn't a single hobby he can take up that he won't master almost immediately, nothing he could lend his mind to that can present a challenge. Rick actually is that smart. The only things he struggles with are people and himself. Everything else in the universe is easy.
Reminds me of Saitama from One Punch Man. The central premise of the story there, like here, is that the main character actually is the most capable being in the universe and they have to deal with the consequences of that.
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u/Cirenione 13h ago
It was interesting how Teds friend went through the same arc immediately when they got their hands on Ricks tech. Suddenly everyone always hits strike without even trying. Then Rick/Ted finds the fishing hut where an automated laser just gets the fish and nobody is even around.
Rick has battled gods, created universes and absolutely nothing is a challenge. We have seen that he cares deeply about his family including Jerry but with Diana a large part of humanity died and the rest is just too easy for him.5
u/ephemeralstitch 13h ago
It’s an essential part of human psychology that we like to show and experience mastery, by which I mean that we like to do things and be good at them. That’s why we have hobbies and things. We intrinsically and psychologically need to be challenged and then to overcome those challenges.
Part of depression is everything being too difficult and being unmotivated and I have to think that those guys got depressed because they didn’t actually make any of that. Their lives were just instantly easier and any task was too simple and unchallenging.
Rick is the special case because his mastery is so complete that there just isn’t a challenge out there for him, especially since the completion of the Rick Prime arc. Hell, even when he does actually mess up irreversibly, he can just jump universes to one where there are no consequences for that action. He literally has an undo button. That would cause depression all by itself. Makes me think of Camus and absurdism as the alternative to nihilism.
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u/voodosnek98 17h ago
I just saw the episode and immediately came to discuss. Holy shit that was heavy.
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u/Acrobatic-Dark-4402 18h ago
We’ve got an upcoming Jerry being super insecure episode!
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u/disicking 14h ago
I'm kind of hoping it's a fake-out like Ricklantis Mixup was, but am fine if it isn't, because somehow Jerry episodes are always my favorite
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u/so-anonymouz 18h ago
Personally love the depressing episodes, imo one of the best in a long time
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u/CommanderCody2212 18h ago
Honestly I think this is the best execution of ricks depression so far, at the very least since the Unity episode. I find most of them delve into lore heavy stuff with diane and all but this one is just a pure no bullshit character study and it rocks
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u/Brawlerz16 12h ago
I actually don’t think so, because a lot of Rick depression episodes are TOP tier. His thing with Birdperson, the toilet episode, Unity, Pissmaster…
Like, I think recency bias is real but this is a great episode amongst others lol
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u/Loud_Chapter1423 18h ago
Might be an instant top 10 for me. The writing was phenomenal start to finish
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u/Brawlerz16 12h ago
I loved it but I can’t throw it into the top 10. This show has too many top 10 worthy episodes lol
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u/PlasmaDiffusion 18h ago
Very creative and original feeling R&M episode. So far so good this season.
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u/Brawlerz16 12h ago
Creative yes, but I’d argue it felt familiar. Which is good because it establishes the character we already know
We seen Rick vs his toxic self in S3
We seen the toilet episode and how he actually prefers simpler company
I think this is par for the course in terms of episodes they’ve done.
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u/Xbrand182x 2h ago
It felt familiar on purpose. That was the point of the episode. Rick basically relived his revenge arc into debauchery into giving up. Only to push a button that looked like nothing happened to show that he was already caught up to where our rick is. Still unhappy.
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u/Galileo908 Peace Among Worlds 18h ago
…just how many times has Vacation Rick done this?
There was a hologram for the event “Ted” jury rigged a rocket back to Earth.
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u/Kalse1229 18h ago
And it was after a long chain of holograms, where Rick got more and more drunk until he could barely stand or speak. Wonder how many contingencies Rick really does have in place.
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u/Undecided139 15h ago
great point thinking about the drunkenness of it he probably drinks more and more each time the vacation goes poorly and so the newer holograms get progressively drunker as he comes back from the vacation in ever increasing amounts of pain
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u/asherdado 2h ago
I took it more as Rick spent an entire day thinking of potential risks/failures, by the time he gets to the hologram for the 'Ted built a rocket to kill the original version of himself', hes been drinking and filming holograms for like 24 hours.
Maybe the funniest line of the episode for me, the barely coherent "If youre seeing this one, the holograms-- they arent working" and Ted immediately blows it up
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u/FUTURE10S [submissively farts] 15h ago
…just how many times has Vacation Rick done this?
I think this might have been the first time that this has actually happened. He does his thing for 2 weeks, leaves, and then Rick clicks back in. It's just that Rick started with the holograms because Morty pointed out "what if Ted finds out he's Rick", started accounting for more and more things, and then got drunk and made a contingency for basically every possible scenario, like the Saw thing in Vindicators.
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u/fsk 17h ago
They say in the story that Rick does it every year. Every time it ends in disaster. Near the beginning, on the ankle phone, Morty was hoping to get Rick back before Vacation Rick caused massive bloodshed.
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u/FUTURE10S [submissively farts] 16h ago
What? Vacation Rick didn't cause massive bloodshed, Morty was saying "please come back before Rick has to hunt you down"
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u/IKenDoThisAllDay 12h ago
He pleads with him not to go to war with himself.
Vacation Rick did in fact cause bloodshed by refusing to push the button. Morty knew it would eventually end with Ted becoming Rick again, so any fighting is pointless and leads to needless death, that's what he was trying to avoid.
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u/Fold0rDie 18h ago edited 18h ago
RIP Marjorie
She was a real one
( ﾟ,_ゝﾟ)
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u/Historical_Ad608 18h ago
she was such a cute love interest for rick ;-;
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u/Ok_Sky1515 14h ago
I love that she was a redhead too it felt fitting
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u/Brawlerz16 12h ago
Which is hilarious because Diane isn’t even a redhead
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u/GandalfsLeftNipple 8h ago
Maybe Diane is the “one” but not necessarily his type so to say. Nothings perfect and all that
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u/ConfusedJonSnow 18h ago
I liked how Ted's revenge arc parallels Rick's, with a smarter Rick introducing him to a new reality and killing his love interest.
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u/HotTakes4HotCakes 18h ago edited 7h ago
Rick, call your damn therapist.
If ever there was an episode that needed a Dr Wong appearance...
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u/PsyOpBunnyHop 16h ago
Just not with the leg phone.
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u/Different_Target_228 15h ago
Damn, nothing came of that actually. Lol.
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u/PsyOpBunnyHop 15h ago
Maybe there will be a later episode with a callback... but he won't get the call because he doesn't have his leg phone.
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u/Lilaclillylove 18h ago
Another amazing episode--how depressing that even like that, Rick still ends up back where he started and knows it.
Was really cool to see Rick as a more motivated/sciency character.
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u/Decent-Swordfish-436 18h ago
The animators are really showing off, huh?
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u/No-Name-Nobody94 7h ago
they definitely leveled up their animation again like I said in my comment I watched every episode from season 1 to 8 in the 3 days before the launch of the first episode and it immediately was noticeable that the quality has gone up again and the second episode only confirmed that
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u/TheBoneShackles 17h ago
Season 9 is shaping up to be one of the greats.
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u/Substantial-Crazy441 5h ago
To be honest I think it has become more fashionable to hate the newer rick and morty episode but since s7 (and some of s6) I think it's been pretty great for the most part.
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u/enricopallazo22 18h ago
It was great to see Rick go on a bender. get drunk and stutter. I needed that.
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u/Kalse1229 18h ago
I don't think we've seen him get drunk like this in a while. I mean drunk drunk.
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u/spectralconfetti 16h ago
he was basically season 1 rick because he didn't have the memories of his personal growth over the series
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u/RedVelcroRaptor 16h ago
Yea his mannerisms were similar to the pilot version of him, really cool.
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u/Chrispowers110 18h ago
Even with his memories gone, rick sooner or later reverts too his old self.
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u/Ygomaster07 personal space, bitch! 18h ago
I also thought it was cool that this episode was a mini The Office reunion. We got 5 people who were on The Office in this episode.
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u/OPTIMUSpine298 12h ago
Yeah I didn't recognize the voices but saw in end credits and rewatched and could kinda tell who is who. Pretty cool!!
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u/HotTakes4HotCakes 18h ago edited 11h ago
I wonder if all of this is the result of the bit at the end of the last episode where he seemed distressed about the "indefinite" number of seasons to go.
Evil Morty's in jail, the Omega device is destroyed, prime Rick is dead, the citadel is gone, the federation is barely a threat anymore, everything with the family is sorted...
He's got nothing left to do.
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u/Ashamed_Magpie 10h ago
We need a minor big bad to tide Rick over until EM breaks of prison.
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u/Haltopen 3h ago
Or an entire episode of him trying to recreate the Szechuan sauce in a desperate bid to find something from his past he can find joy in only for it to not be as good as he remembers. Really kick him while he’s in the gutter
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u/Heat519 18h ago
Less depressing knowing this happens frequently
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u/anth8725 18h ago
Actually it’s more depressing if it started after he erased Diane from his memory
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u/KonkeyDong44 15h ago
It's actually horrible to think about that he has no memories of her but only the love he had for her.
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u/Mystreanon 8h ago
dont think theres much overlap between honkai starrail and rick and morty, but it's kinda like with amphoreus
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u/Highnuck 18h ago
Just like some of the other “serious” episodes that have somber endings (Unity episode, Planetina episode, Rick Potion#9 episode, Hot Rick episode and Unmorticken episode)… This one really left the viewers with more to contemplate and chew on. We actually felt really bad for Rick. The slow deterioration that led back to Rick was definitely earned. He thought that shit was so bad that he didn’t even want to exist anymore and when he hits that button we realize that Rick feels the exact same way.
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u/Agi1203 18h ago
THIS WAS THE SADDEST EPISODE EVER. MY HEART CAN'T TAKE IT 😭😭😭😭
P.S. I watched this ep entirely high and it only made it worse, both emotionally and mentally.
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u/And_Im_Chien_Po 18h ago edited 6h ago
shout out to the writers, their ideas are always funny af. I was actually laughing so hard for the entire first 10 minutes of the episode just thinking about how hilarious this storyline was. This is also the first episode where I genuinely felt uncomfortable with Rick's drinking; him stumbling to the family at the dining table was such a tough watch. So many deep lessons and analogies can be made about Vacation Rick and ourselves. I love this show!
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u/AccelHunter 5h ago
I burst out laughing when the Beths were wondering if he was still Ted, until both realize he was nude in the pool.
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u/Ygomaster07 personal space, bitch! 18h ago
This was a depressing episode. Even when Rick tries to become someone else, to remove who he is from the equation, he always ends up making himself miserable. I think the ending summed it up perfectly: he became Rick again, and ruined his vacation. The one chance he got to not be himself.
I feel really bad for Rick. I'm hoping he can find some happiness.
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u/Historical_Ad608 18h ago
i was numbly staring at my screen at the end, hot damn. where is wong when you need her?
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u/Brawlerz16 12h ago
Well two things:
I think he doesn’t want Wong (rightfully so but still)
If Rick was healthy, we wouldn’t have a show lol. And the show must go on
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u/TheREALSideQuestGmr 17h ago
This is gonna be a legendary episode that'll be talked about years from now by R&M fans the same way Futurama fans talk about "Jurassic Bark" or "The Late Phillip J. Fry."
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u/bigshady880 13h ago
yeah, the show has really found its way lately.
honestly its super refreshing to see a show so long running be this good. its pretty rare and special
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u/RandomLqiuidWater 18h ago
The cold and upset "It did" with the slow realization that Rick didn't even need to hit a button to realize Teddy slowly became Rick like nothing happened fucking destroyed me. Easily one of the shows best hits in a while--comparable to Fear Hole.
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u/youcantkeeprunning 18h ago
great ending, captures how the end of a vacation hits you really well. also love that all of his friends became enamored with the tech he seeks to escape
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u/Kettle_Whistle_ 17h ago
And he realizes (not for the first time) that “they were better before me”
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u/pharcuri 17h ago
really loved the leg phone bit
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u/__Pendulum__ 14h ago
What was the ringtone for it! It's on the edge of my memory and driving me crazy trying to recall it
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u/thelongestusernameee 12h ago
It's from the get schwifty episode.
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u/__Pendulum__ 10h ago
I haven't watched that episode in maybe 2 or 3 years, it's crazy that that one random tune was buried in my subconscious like that!
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u/painheal 18h ago
knew this was the premise of this one when i saw the description a few days ago. damn.
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u/voodosnek98 17h ago
That is possibly the heaviest Rick and Morty episode ever. It ties into how Rick is the reason the people he loves die and how ultimately he is the reason he will never be happy.
“It didn’t work?”
“No, it did.”
Wow.
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u/throwawar4 18h ago
It’s like when the Doctor (Doctor who) hid his personality in a chameleon arc
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u/SalvadorZombie 14h ago
Yep, he pulled a John Smith.
In the two-parter Human Nature/Family of Blood, The Doctor removes his memories and changes himself to be literally a human being in order to avoid a conflict with this group called the Family of Blood (literally four beings who refer to themselves as Mother/Father/Sister/Brother). They hunt him by following his Gallifreyan "signature" so he becomes human and removes his memories to escape them.
As the two episodes go on you realize how happy he is as John Smith. He's very obviously been miserable throughout the run as the Tenth Doctor (the David Tennant version). Very much in the vein of Rick Sanchez (in fact I really believe this episode was patterned after these two Doctor Who episodes). At the end of the two-parter, he ends up being returned to his Gallifreyan self using a stopwatch that's actually a device that contains his memories and his genetic makeup (if I remember correctly). He then very quickly takes the Family of Blood down and punishes them in a truly horrific way - he wrapped Father in unbreakable chains forged in the heart of a dwarf star (it's implied that he just exists somewhere in the TARDIS now, which is The Doctor's infinite ship), sent Mother into the event horizon of a collapsing galaxy, trapped Sister in every mirror in existence (she's the thing/person you see just out of the corner of your eye, she lives there now forever), and places Brother on watch overlooking the boarding school where John Smith worked, timelocked forever as a scarecrow. Eternal punishment. And the implication is that he wasn't protecting himself from them, he was protecting them from him.
And, of course, it's the same as in this episode - he was tired. He hated being The Doctor. An immortal and invincible being (that gets into a personal theory of mine that The Doctor also has a never-mentioned ability that pretty much warps reality around him even without his awareness, it's always implied that he's the most powerful being in existence and later revealed that he's not even Gallifreyan, but the Timeless Child, a singular being of unknown species that Gallifrey experimented on to gain their abilities (that is actually canon). He is, like Rick, essentially God. And it makes him miserable. So he tried to give himself a life of peace that eventually fell apart and forced him back into his miserable life. Just like Rick.
(I really do think this episode was deliberately referencing the John Smith storyline, but instead of the Family of Blood, it's just Rick's Family.)
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u/HotOne9364 15h ago
Goddamn, I'm sorry Bojack, but Rick is easily the most miserable cartoon character of all time.
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u/bzosaur1 18h ago
This episode is for sure above half the series
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u/Brawlerz16 11h ago
Top 20 imo.
And before people get on me, there’s A LOT of great episodes. I want to see how this holds on rewatch
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u/spectralconfetti 18h ago
very encouraging to see them pull off an episode that stands toe to toe with season 2. this might be the best season in a while if they keep it up
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u/Charrbard 16h ago
Rough week, I was looking for something kind of weird and zany. Started off that way but then fell back to depressing.
I expected the vacation planet people to have some crazy quirk revealed at the end.
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u/shany94a 17h ago
If only that guy hadn't tried to hold up the liquor store ... Watching this one made me feel again that Rick is never truly fated to be happy, or at least not for very long. He has brief interstices of joy, something inevitably goes wrong, and he has to move on, seeking solace in alcohol (and nudity).
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u/frypanattack 12h ago
Rick repeated his entire life in a speedrun.
His lover died.
He had a cause that he persued with his friends, an enemy, and then eventually became disenfranchised with his friends and the cause.
He met his adult daughter again and her family, reuniting with them but ultimately a stranger in her house.
A series of meaningless flings. Depression. Alcoholism.
Then back to being the smartest nan in the universe. Minus a holiday .
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u/sabro113 17h ago
Amazing episode, so much to unfold! And it had some nice surprises like the Office guests and Big Iron playing! I also got some Big Lebowski and Twin Peaks vibes from the episode
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u/YahBoiChipsAhoy1234 Popéball 18h ago
Depressing but it was really good, felt short my most common complaint with modern Rick and Morty is the pacing can be strange, however I really enjoyed the concept they were going for. They are definitely 2/2 this season so far, if next weeks episode keeps this going I will be happy af
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u/DairyBastard 18h ago
Yeesh. I haven’t been this sad by an ending since the Unity episode in season 2! Just what was that? :(
Rick is still hurting and going through things it seems. Also I love all the snow and backgrounds this episode. Phenomenal art and animation.
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u/Novaothy 18h ago edited 17h ago
An early existence crisis. I was not expecting to have feels until at least three more episodes.
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u/Prinzlerr 18h ago
Anyone else catch the office reunion in the "special guests" credits? I didn't catch it until I saw it and went to rewatch immediately haha
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u/CommanderCody2212 18h ago
Season 9 is off to a really strong start because that was also very good, dare I even say the best of the episodes that tackles Rick’s depression. Episode honestly gave me Auto Erotic Assimilation vibes which is a very good thing
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u/fsk 17h ago
What I want to know is, how did Rick visit bowling planet on previous vacations without it ending in disaster?
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u/BarnyardCruz 17h ago
Probably didn't have anything nearly as threatening as the dude in the convenience store happen before
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u/pickles_onions 16h ago
This episode had echoes of when we first met Unity. Rick’s appeal as a character is his archetype as a tragic figure. He’s smart, he can have any*thing* that he wants, but despite his ability to infinitely source and provide what his temporal appetites might yearn for, they’re still only that…appetites, and those are both insatiable and incapable of providing lasting peace. Rick felt like mattering to someone else completed him, and when Unity wouldn’t have him, he almost took himself out, he is as susceptible to heartbreak as the rest of us “dumb” people. This episode expanded on that truth; being smart, wealthy, well-supplied on any level doesn’t bring a person peace. Rick realizes this and therefore he tries to remove these things from himself temporarily to seek out a slice of life of people who are dumber, poorer, lesser than him in most every conceivable way, but these people still tend to have something about them, something intangible, something he wants so badly. They matter, they matter to each other, they’re open and warm, they’re open. Rick asks “what do you really know about me? I’m just some guy who comes back every year” and he gets an answer he isn’t necessarily capable of breaking down and understanding on a quantifiable level, but he does on an emotional level…”something keep bringing you back”.
It sounds cheesy but despite “earning [my] way into the god business”, Rick still ends up doing what we all must do to “win” at life: follow your heart.
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u/CompetitiveLead2036 18h ago
Second episode in and some amazing fight sequences in both. Naturally the one with the most is probably the better. However, i love seeing a sloppy drunk rick just fucking destroying himself with drugs and alcohol.
The “No. It did”. Damn. Just damn. Good episode to develop ricks inevitable spiral into the chaos and how he might deal with that.
One things for sure. Were getting more noncanonical adventure based episodes this seasons with tbese first two framing the context
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u/lmandude 18h ago
Very good episode. I don’t find it as depressing as some people do. Sure, we are all who we are, but wishing to be someone else is folly. It won’t fix our problems, but Rick has been doing the work. Rick is in a better place than Ted was when he pressed the button. Escapism won’t fix our problems, but continued intentional work will help.
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u/SuperSayian4Nappa 17h ago
Well I'm bummed out. Also reminds that nothing has happened in 2 seasons of severance
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u/DrKielbasa006 17h ago
Anyone know the song that was playing during the credits?
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u/AdRepresentative8894 16h ago
the premise is giving me Severance vibes specifically with Mark's arc.
where both Rick and Mark go to a place where they can literally turn off their brain just to escape real life, but their 'Innie' starts rebelling because naturally it has a life of its own.
I would not be surprised if this inspired by Severance
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u/eP1C_GaMePLaY 16h ago
This episode is straight up the same premise as the Re:Zero episode (or rather, the arc) that aired this week, yet the characterization of the main characters is a very amazing parallel with each other. Just felt sharing.
Love the episode!
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u/procouchpotatohere 15h ago
Holy fuck, so used to the show taking the piss that when it's serious like this it hits x100 harder.
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u/Radical_Provides 14h ago
"Evil Morty off the board for good, huh? Nothing but green pastures in front of us!"
Yeah... About that
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u/XecoX 13h ago
I like how in episode one Rick mentioned he needs a vacation and cut to episode 2 with Rick taking said vacation.
I love this episode so much
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u/NokitaKaze 9h ago
How can you break Rick's cosmic egg with a car? This egg is for traveling in space, where there are meteorites and other such things.
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u/NokitaKaze 9h ago
Haha, I found an animation error. Rick's bandages disappear at 11:23. He's standing with bandages, and then from the other side — and he's already without them.
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u/Fossil_King25 8h ago
Season 9 is hitting hard, and going strong.
I don't think i've ever enjoyed Rick and Morty this much in a long time.
It's good to have you back. Banger after banger.
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u/bipolariseatingme 7h ago
I really loved the scene when Morty called the leg phone and the ring tone was the song from the Greeby Bobes in S2 E5 “Get Schwifty”!
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u/BooItsKyle 5h ago
Notice how Rick literally cannot be happy living a simple life as himself. The people he tries to connect with inevitably just use him as a vending machine for cool shit.
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u/Vernarr 16h ago
I really like how they showed that despite removing his memories Rick is still the smartest man in the multiverse
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u/defectives 18h ago
Another great episode for the season if a little less immediately joke heavy. I don't see any reason to think he isn't back to himself by the end. If you went on vacation and met some new friends, and some of them died, just getting back home wouldn't solve what that would do to you. It almost reads like an addiction metaphor to me in that way, especially with the post credits scene. You can imagine how traumatic this is but he goes right back to do it again, extracting the joy and leaving the pain for everyone else.
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u/astrowave_co 16h ago
are we simply doomed to never escape our pre-determined loops? No matter how much we try to outrun it, the inevitable always comes knocking…
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u/Arthradax 15h ago
The leg ringtone being the Arboles Mentirosos' song from Get Schwifty
Also, BIG IRON ON HIS HIP
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u/d710905 15h ago
This was a real thinker. I loved it. Hard hitting. I think the message of you can't escape your problems and feelings was really good. I know they hit on "rick is just depressed at his core and wants love/to be loved and/or be happy with his life" alot but I think hitting it occasionally but repeatedly is good. Especially after each major storyline shift for him. To kind of bring things back to where's he's at really. Despite everything he's done and accomplished, he's still missing something, not fully happy.
The slow but gradual shift into just being rick no matter how hard ted tries was immediately easy to spot, but they did it really well. Ted had no idea he was just rick at that point without the facade rick puts on.
I also think it's interesting, because when I watch this show, my thought process takes me to the conclusion that he will only actually be happy if loses his intelligence, tech, and every failsafe. By becoming what he started as, just a regular guy who cares about his family, is how he will be happy again.
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u/Head-Cherry-3841 18h ago
Damn. Great insight into Rick. Season 7 strips Rick of his nemesis and season 8 removes his memories of Diane. Who is Rick without these things? This episode answers the question. Exactly the same.