Spoilers for Rick and Morty Season 7 Episode 4 and many prior episodes below:
I’ve gone a long time treating Rick and Morty as a guilty pleasure, due to its simple nihilism and the controversies surrounding it. But it’s a great comfort show when you’re feeling depressed, and now Justin “false imprisonment” Roiland is off the show, and it’s been getting more and more overtly socialist for a couple of seasons with better, more progressive writing. So let’s Riggedy write a Rick and Morty analysis!
Yesterday’s episode is VERY Rick and Morty, with a plot about people committing suicide and turning into ethically questionable spaghetti. It’s absolute classic R&M, with Morty horrified by a discovery of the horribleness of the universe and Rick displaying his classic jaded chaotic neutral alignment. But more importantly, it’s anticapitalist! The gordian knot of ethical complexity that is suicide cannibalism is handily sundered by the cold truth that capitalism will surely drive people into depression in order to increase profits. This follows on the heels of last season’s dinosaur episode, which had perfect ascended beings bring socialism to Earth, because fucking obviously.
Rick’s character development is also taking a huge leap forward here. I was really excited during season 6 when Rick went to therapy, and really disappointed when the finale said Rick was at his worst yet and hadn’t improved. I’m really glad season 7 is ignoring that plot thread and progressing Rick’s therapy and interpersonal skills. This episode pushes it further, because while Morty discovering the horror of the universe and fucking up about it through compassion is absolutely classic, Rick’s emotional reaction to this is way more toned down! He’s actually supportive, as much as he can be at this stage in his healing.
In the past, Morty would typically use normal people skills to try and fail at something, and then Rick would step in with technology to fix it. But this episode is the second time we’ve seen Rick and Morty doing real actual science! The first time was the fortune cookie episode. This time, Rick doesn’t come in with a pre-solved science solution, he gives Morty access to his tech and lets Morty try a bunch of different solutions to see what works. That’s science! Hypothesis, experiment, conclusion! Morty is actually learning how science really works this time, with the help of Rick’s tech but not being handed the answers. Analyse Piss was some great character development for Rick, but I believe this episode is the single most profound and positive development of R&M’s interpersonal relationship. Morty is actually fucking learning science. It’s about time!
And what did Morty learn from all his experiments? The same thing Rick has been saying (but not always demonstrating) all show: Some problems don’t have simple solutions. Sometimes things… just suck. You can’t have everything, even with godlike power over the laws of reality.
But Rick has learned something from therapy, and it’s something he taught Morty too. What doesn’t have a material solution CAN have an emotional solution. Our emotions, our empathy, and our reason can be our strongest weapons, stronger than any space laser, clone, or cybernetic implant. Rick solves the episode’s problem by giving people some empathy. He promises material science, and he delivers emotional science.
This is the kind of shit soulists have been saying for years. Material science cannot save us. It cannot solve capitalism. Or patriarchy, or white supremacy, or neuronormativism for that matter. Material science can make our lives better, but it cannot fix the fundamental issues of the human condition.
Cognitive science can.
We need to change our perceptions to change our worlds. We need to have empathy, and patience, and wisdom. These simple skills can do what the technological might of a self-identified god cannot.
Rick and Morty isn’t the sort of show to explore the occult in a serious manner, and get into the heart of the praxis soulists are doing right now. But it just showed us some actual genuine science, and it brushed up on soulist theory. The conclusions of a true scientific method are emotional, and passionate, and personally meaningful. And indeed introspection, wisdom, and mental health are the keys to unlocking this next level of scientific investigation.
That’s how you actually solve problems with science.
