Abhiroop Das
Co-created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, Adult Swim’s ‘Rick and Morty‘ revolves around the eponymous duo as they race through a new sci-fi comedy adventure every episode. Season 9 seems to be designed specifically to question what has grown to become Rick’s norm over the years, and one such trait is the control he exerts over every planet he teleports into. In episode 7 of this season, titled ‘The Last Rickforest,’ he and Morty enter one such planet with a sweeping desire to take what they want, and very little thought about the aftereffects. However, what follows is a journey that forces them to learn about the cycle of life and evolution, both on biological and philosophical terms. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Rick and Morty Respawn as Unicellular Organisms in the Race to Become Human
‘Rick and Morty’ season 9 episode 7 begins with the titular duo heading to space for yet another shenanigan, this time landing on an Earth-like planet. Their goal is to hack through the jungle and make their way to an old, gigantic tree known for its rich sap. However, as the duo begins collecting this precious ooze for themselves, the tree wakes up out of nowhere, revealing that it is not only conscious but also intelligent and deadly. Before Rick or Morty can react, the tree grabs them by its root, and promises to give it the worst of punishments, and it starts by burying them in the ground. However, the roots don’t stop protruding downwards, and before long, Rick and Morty’s bodies are disintegrated, stripping all layers of personhood to reveal a single glowing light, likely the soul.
In a most bizarre turn of events, the duo’s souls get reincarnated in the underground biosphere, not as their former selves, but as a single-celled, aquatic Rick and Morty. It also appears that they are not alone here, and are instead joined by hundreds and thousands of other single-celled organisms, all of whom likely came for the tree sap, but were forced into this prison. However, there is a sort of natural rhythm to this place, as killing and eating other creatures allows an organism to not just grow, but also rapidly evolve. Rick quickly realizes that this prison is supposed to simulate evolution, and by killing and eating enough, they can level up to regain their usual bodies.
Grandpa and Grandson Choose Wildly Different Ways to Wrestle With This World
After facing stiff competition from others who have understood the assignment, Rick and Morty slowly climb their way up the biological timeline, evolving into multicelled organisms, and then complex beings who are water-borne at first, but then learn to function on land. However, the journey to this point is fraught with hard resets and crushing defeats, and it isn’t until they advance to become apes that Rick finds a chance to take over the world. After developing this world’s first weapon out of a sharp stick, Rick becomes the leader of the apes, and thus, the leader of this animal kingdom, leaving behind Morty, as he dies in the attack and turns back into a unicellular organism. While Rick turns every other animal into either his soldier or his slave, Morty makes new friends underwater and decides on a different, less violent approach.
For Morty, it all starts with a far gentler approach, where organisms give up on fighting for evolution as a way out and focus on sustaining life. Be it fish that clean the oceans or worms that eat feces for plant nutrition, Morty takes all of the forms before realizing that the goal of this lifestyle is to make peace with prison. Fearful of giving in, but also reluctant to return to violence, he decides to reset and evolve into a fruit, eventually turning into a long, healthy tree that climbs up the skyline and eventually breaches the surface, reuniting with the old tree. However, contrary to what Morty believes, he hasn’t achieved the lesson, and the old tree simply crushes him back, resetting the process.
Rick and Morty Create a Self-Sustaining Ecosystem to Escape the Cycle
While Morty is left at his wits’ end, Rick seems to have captured it all from his binoculars. This entire time, he has been raising several generations of armies to take down the big old tree, either by scaling it, cutting its stem in half, or simply burning it with lava. However, on every occasion, the gigantic tree seems to simply regrow its lost parts, proving itself to be the apex species of this world. Just when Rick is about to be completely defeated, he finds a solution via Morty and chooses to kill himself and join his grandson in the ocean. There, the smartest man in the world reveals that the tree is actually feeding on the violence perpetuated in this world, and the dead matter that is usually left behind. The cage isn’t necessarily a form of punishment, but merely food for the ever-growing organism that lives above ground.
By that logic, the way to beat the grand old tree is to simply cut off its food supply. In a radical move, Rick, after regrowing to the form of prehistoric humans, asks the rest of the animal kingdom to completely give up on violence and de-evolve themselves to a herbivorous diet. Their new source of food is none other than Morty, who becomes a tree and takes over an isolated cave, where all the animals voluntarily trap themselves. As the animals eat from Morty’s body, their feces sustain his tree form. The old tree soon grows too weak to defend itself, and the animal kingdom emerges victorious. However, the others are still left in their animal self, with no choice but to eat each other in order to grow. Neither Rick nor Morty wants to concern themselves with that trouble, and thus they sneak their way back home, eating enough along the way to evolve back to their usual selves.
Read More: Rick and Morty Season 9: Is Evil Morty Gone For Good? Where is the Omega Device?
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