Rick and Morty season six is off to a roaring start and seems poised to live up to the lofty expectations set around the popular animated series. The first few episodes have been rife with all of the classic irreverent, meta humor and surprisingly sincere moral insights that fans have come to love.
The most recent episode, “Rick: A Mort Well Lived,” was a high-stakes, action-packed thrill ride that saw characters taking on a gang of alien terrorists in a familiar locale. As co-creator Justin Roiland explained in a recent interview, season six will likely have more canonical content than previous seasons, which have primarily relied on self-contained adventures. Though the setting and some plot points in episode two were familiar, its action had little to do with establishing broader storylines, which was refreshing after the relatively canon-heavy season premiere. What will the events of “Rick: A Mort Well Lived” mean moving forward?
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Blips and Chitz Will Likely Be a No-Go From Here On Out
“Rick: A Mort Well Lived” takes place at Blips and Chitz, an arcade-style establishment first introduced in the episode “Mortynight Run.” It features a wide variety of strange sci-fi games meant to provide entertainment for alien life from every corner of the galaxy.
Though Rick has been a long-time customer of Blips and Chitz, and his grandchildren have also come to love the establishment, it seems the arcade is officially off the list of potential destinations for future episodes. Alien terrorists destroyed the building, including many of the games. Rick probably won’t want to return to a location where he nearly lost his life, especially given that both of his grandchildren were also put in life-threatening situations. In all likelihood, it will be quite a long time before fans see Blips and Chitz featured in the show.
Morty Lost a Key Component of His Personality in the Form of NPC Marta
“Mortynight Run” also introduced fans to an arcade game called Roy: A Life Well Lived. In the game, users play as the titular Roy and live their whole life as the man while only a few moments pass in the real world. In “Rick: A Mort Well Lived,” Morty gets trapped in the game after the terrorist attack compromises the Blips and Chitz electrical mainframe. In order to save his grandson, Rick enters that game as Roy. He then attempts to convince the entire planet of NPC characters that they are all extensions of Morty’s subconscious so that everyone will board spaceships and fly out past the game’s boundaries, restoring Morty’s mind.
Though it takes some time and a lot of virtual calamities, Rick eventually succeeds in convincing the planet that they are all part of Morty. However, the NPC, who was his second in command in the simulated universe, a woman named Marta, stays behind, and Rick allows her to live out her life in the faulty Roy console. Marta was a massive part of convincing the planet to follow Rick’s plans, but she also fights tooth and nail against him, at one point starting a civil war to keep her fellow NPCs on Earth.
It stands to reason that Marta represented the small part of Morty that is willing to stand up to his obstinate grandfather. Fans have theorized that Marta staying behind will ultimately lead to Morty being more subservient in the future.
Summer Learned How to Do a Die Hard
Rick and Morty has always enjoyed a bit of referential humor. Early trailers for season six teased the parody that ultimately played out in “Rick: A Mort Well Lived” when Rick informed his granddaughter Summer that, to defeat a team of terrorists, she would have to “…do a Die Hard.” Unfortunately, Summer hadn’t seen Die Hard. However, this ends up working in her favor, as the alien terrorists expect her to act exactly like John McClane in the film and are surprised when she doesn’t.
Interestingly, the recent episode’s references to Die Hard are likely a reference to the show’s co-creator Dan Harmon and his obsession with the franchise. Harmon employs a strict storytelling formula in his screenwriting, drawing inspiration from Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey,” a theory that suggests all tales follow a similar set of steps. The Die Hard films are an excellent example of this archetype.
There is plenty more Rick and Morty madness yet to come in season six, and the showrunners have suggested that coming years will see the series churn out episodes at a rate that far exceeds the schedule of previous installments. If “Rick: A Mort Well Lived” is any indication, this new season could potentially be one of the best so far.
