Abhiroop Das
Co-created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, Adult Swim’s sci-fi comedy series ‘Rick and Morty‘ takes a cleverly introspective turn with its ninth season, dismantling the mythos that has been built around Rick all this time. While season 7 wraps up his arc as Rick the scientist, and season 8 tidies up his image as Rick the father, this installment questions whether he has truly improved, or if he’s on the cusp of repeating the mistakes that led some of his versions to be called the bad guys of this story. In the previous episode, Rick encounters a kung-fu master who reminds him of his worst traits, and together they make their first step towards self-improvement. However, over the course of this episode, titled ‘A Ricker Runs Through It,’ Rick seems to dwindle on his path yet, and Morty has to pick up the pieces, as always. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Rick Has a Secret Friend Named Reese
‘Rick and Morty’ season 9 episode 4 begins with Rick in a rather pitiable state, as he hopelessly chugs down bottle after bottle of liquor to quench the unquenchable thirst. It gets to a point that he forgets the password to his own lab and, in a fit of rage and confusion, puts it on auto lock. With the entire system now shielded away from him, Rick then tries to direct his anger towards Morty, and the two of them nearly get into a full-on fight before Rick gets a call that switches up his whole demeanor. On the other end of the phone is a man named Reese, who seems to be somewhat of a role for the grandpa-grandson duo. Thus, when Reese invites them for a fishing trip, they can hardly refuse, and patch up in no time.
Throughout the leisurely trip, Reese lives up to his description and essentially teaches Rick and Morty how to live life the correct way. Rejuvenated and fairly satisfied, Morty prepares to spend the night camping when Reese brings up that he has to get some urgent work done. Rick doesn’t seem to think twice about ending their golden trip just like that, and it soon becomes clear why. Once back home, Rick is able to log into his system like the good old days, and everything seems settled when a raccoon, seemingly picked up from the woods, sneaks into the lab. In a flash, Reese unleashes a pair of robotic arms and a laser beam that jets out of his mouth and scorches the raccoon to death. Reese is yet another robot created by Rick to serve yet another purpose, but Morty has had enough.
Morty Outsmarts Rick, For Perhaps the First Time in His Life
Seeing Reese turn into a machine in front of his eyes, Morty’s heart shatters into pieces. Frustrated with how Rick seems to have mechanized all the joy out of their life in a desperate urge for control, Morty wordlessly runs back to his room. As it turns out, Reese is effectively a two-step authentication device created by Rick for the moments when he gets too drunk to function in his lab. Reese’s sunny personality is just a way to stabilize Rick before he can get his password right and send his bot back home. However, with the truth now out, Rick decides to dismantle Reese and create a new bot, without even consulting. By this time, Morty is ready to make peace with his grandpa, but seeing Reese’s mechanical corpse getting dismantled, something clicks in his mind, and he chooses to wage war.
After pushing Rick back, Morty grabs Reese and jumps down into the lab’s basement, but not before dismantling the system and triggering it to go into lockdown yet again. Without a new two-factor authenticator, Rick now has no way to break the hatch open and has no choice but to contact an intergalactic locksmith that seems to exist in an amorphous blob. Meanwhile, Morty has a plan of his own, and it is to activate one of Rick’s prototype portal machines. However, in order to go that far, he has to rely on a rather gruesome process of doing self-harm, triggering Reese to go ballistic on the steel walls. Eventually, they make it to a planet full of scenic countryside, only to discover that it is home to a population of sentient alien pigs who received technology from Rick and have developed a civilization.
The Alien Pigs Wage War With the World’s Smartest Man
Meanwhile, the intergalactic locksmit accepts Rick’s offer, but needs a human host to function. Gerry unwittingly becomes the host for the alien, who is way too impressed by the human form to even bother with the actual lock that Rick needs to open. As the locksmith heads out to enjoy himself in Gerry’s garb, the alien pigs welcome Reese into their community, allowing Morty to breathe a sigh and make his way back. When he returns, he finds the locksmith almost done with the hatch. Rick’s annoyance only increases when he learns that Morty has sent Reese to live with an alien civilization, and before they can even begin the conversation, the complete system goes into lockdown yet again.
As it turns out, not all the pigs were reverent of Rick, and there exists a rebellion faction that has just gained access to Rick’s two-factor authenticator for the entire laboratory. Essentially in control of the entire home, as well as all of its machinery, the alien pigs launch a full offensive, forcing Rick, the intergalactic locksmith, and the rest of the Smith family to team up. In the end, the pigs send a corrupted version of Reese as their last charge, and though the bot nearly defeats Rick and Morty, he regains his consciousness in the last minute and chooses to kill his system entirely. Fortunately, Rick has the genius plan of letting the locksmith, who is in love with the human form, inhabit Reese’s body forever. With all matters settled, the grandpa-grandson duo reconciles, but not before Rick proclaims that Morty will inherit his woe and wit alike.
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