It’s been five years since Pickle Rick — the self-made god once mistaken by foreign intelligence for a vengeful creature from Russian folklore (who just so happens to actually be a mad scientist disguised as a pickle because he’s avoiding his adult daughter in family therapy) — was born.
Created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon [sci-fi sting], “Rick and Morty” premiered in 2013 as a foul-mouthed “Back to the Future” homage about a genius grandfather and his hapless grandson’s intergalactic misadventures. The two-time Emmy-winning series has undergone near countless reinventions since, multiplying the possibilities of alternate realities, clones, and sitcom resets to deliver 51 consistently smart episodes across five seasons.
Through it all, the titular Rick and Morty have grown (and regressed…and grown…and regressed) in their understandings of themselves and each other at a dizzying rate. So too has the concept of the “Rickest Rick” and the “Mortiest Morty.”
On the one hand: If the various versions of Rick and Morty that exist (“Hey, look! A cowboy version of me!”) were to be averaged, the result would theoretically represent the baseline Rick and Morty.
On the other hand: One could argue that a character’s most extreme behaviors (“This seems like a good time for a drink and a cold calculated speech with sinister overtones…”) more accurately reflects their innermost motivations and hard-grained tendencies.
Or, on the third hand (y’know aliens), the Rickest Rick is really synonymous with the most evil Rick and the Mortiest Morty is synonymous with the most pure-hearted Morty, and all bets are off because Rick C-137 could, in fact, be the Mortiest Rick and Evil Morty is the Rickest Morty and…
Therein lies the rub when rounding up the most quintessential Rick Sanchez moments. What makes the Rickest Rick the Rickest Rick is, to some extent, in the eye of the beholder. When Roiland and Harmon eventually wrap the series a cool 50 or so episodes from now, they’ll almost certainly leave viewers with a final verdict on Rick’s slippery sense of morality and Morty’s aimless devotion.
But in the meantime, it’s up to fans in C-1-Whatever-This-Dimension-Is to consider the messy multitudes of the man, famous for putting “Wubba lubba dub dub!” on the map (among other things), exactly as presented.
With that caveat-laden preamble out of the way: In honor of Pickle Rick’s fifth birthday, here are 13 “Rick and Morty” moments that feel the most Rick.
Following his imprisonment by the Galactic Federation in Season 2, Rick kicks off Season 3 with “The Rickshank Redemption.” Locked in a mental battle of wills with interrogator Cornvelious Daniel, Rick distracts his captors (and the audience) with a story about his past, before revealing that his misdirecting mind prison is still a good ol’ Shoney’s.
Season 3’s “Morty’s Mindblowers” is explicitly described as clips-episode format replacing the incomparable “Intergalactic Cable” and its sequel “Intergalactic Cable II” from the first two seasons. But it also reveals a dark truth: Rick has been systematically deleting Morty’s worst memories, and only a fraction of them at Morty’s request. How much does simply not wanting to be embarassed fuel Rick’s constant manipulation of those around him?
Rick and Morty’s triumphant appearance on the apocalyptically entertaining “Planet Music” seems like a goofy one-off at first. It’s not until audiences went nosing around Birdperson’s memories in Season 5’s “Rickternal Friendshine of the Spotless Mort” that we learned to really appreciate the musical talents first displayed in “Get Schwifty.” Would you expect anything less from the lead singer of The Flesh Curtains?
The Season 5 finale episode “Rickmurai Jack” sees Evil Morty break out of the “Rick and Morty” universe as we know it, entering a realm where Rick is no longer the smartest man alive. The world-shifting development reveals that Rick had previously kept such places at bay with tech called the Central Finite Curve, which, let’s be real, is precisely the sort of idea a man vying for smartest being in existence would have.
Not only did the vampire-centric “Rick Problem in Little Sanchez” give audiences the first glimpse of Rick’s Operation Phoenix protocol, but it introduced the moody majesty of Tiny Rick: a teenage Rick clone with a knack for dancing, playing the guitar, and taking Elliott Smith really seriously. It almost goes without saying: Rick’s reluctance to return to his adult form is very Rick.
When an alien spa treatment removes Rick and Morty’s toxins, the sentient goo that results attempts to take revenge on their self-improved counterparts. Rick’s revelation that the machine subtracts toxins exclusively “by the individual’s own definition of toxicity” confirmed what we already knew: Rick views his affection for Morty as a liability. But his decision to merge with the toxins again remains an intriguing thread.
Season 2’s “Mortynight Run” is mainly a Morty episode, tracing his well-intentioned rescue mission of a gaseous being named Fart to its calamitous conclusion. Rick’s most notable moment comes at the end. When picking up Jerry from Jerryboree — a daycare just for Jerrys — Morty misplaces his claim ticket. So two Ricks haphazardly swap Jerrys, underlining Rick’s hilariously callous indifference to his son-in-law.
Only Rick Sanchez could use the raw emotion of himself from another timeline — and then the agonizing pain of a different version of himself from a different timeline — to fuel a massively successful wafer factory. The snake-eating-its-tail nature of this subplot from Season 3’s “The Ricklantis Mixup” is not only darkly funny, but provides unique insight into Rick’s continued self-abuse.
Beth should probably think long and hard about letting her self-centered father make anymore of her cloning decisions. When Rick tells Beth he can create a version of her to stay home with Morty and Summer while the “real” Beth goes adventuring in space, the disillusioned daughter tells her dad to decide for her. Rick doesn’t oblige that request, instead making two Beths and then scrambling them up so not even he knows the difference. You can see this as an attempt to let his daughter have it all, or a cowardly way for Rick to protect himself.
“The ABCs of Beth” come to roost in “Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri.” When Space Beth and Earth Beth join forces against the Galactic Federation in the Season 4 finale, their collective victory cements Rick’s status as a fugitive has-been. His epic fight with Phoenixperson (his best friend Birdperson as hijacked by the Galactic Federation) stands in stark contrast to the good ol’ days, and gets the perfect melancholic button when Rick tries to revive his cyborg friend only to be rejected at the end. The pair finally reunite in Season 5’s “Rickternal Friendshine of the Spotless Mort.”
“The Wedding Squanchers” taught viewers a lot about Rick’s backstory, finishing out Season 2 with a shocking twist, tragic character death, and Rick’s stunning decision to sacrifice himself to the Galactic Federation. It’s one of the few moves Rick seems to make purely out of love, knowing he can keep running successfully but also accepting that doing so would keep his family from a normal life. Oh, and throwing Jerry under the bus? That’s the Rickest thing about it.
No one was surprised to learn Rick Sanchez’s love life was fraught. (See Gaia and Rick’s not-kids in Season 4’s “Childrick of Mort.”) Still, his pained reaction to being rejected by hivemind Unity in Season 2’s “Auto Erotic Assimilation” sticks out as his most emotional response to any event in the series. Rick attempts to die by suicide at the episode’s end, believing himself unworthy of love and a burden to his family.
Season 3’s “Pickle Rick” begins with a classic bit about Rick going to extreme lengths to avoid his family. What it sets up is an epic solo adventure for the smartest man-turned-pickle in the galaxy that tests Rick’s mettle, shows of his unparalleled capactiy for hijinks, and ultimately gives him the opportunity to admit that maybe — just maybe — talking to Beth doesn’t have to be so hard.
