Rick and Morty – The ABC’s of Beth Review

The ABC'S of Beth is perhaps one of the weirdest episodes of Rick and Morty that has come into the series, in this episode we get to see Rick and Beth's relationship! This episode also showcases all of Morty's skills that he learned while going on adventures with Rick all these years. As Morty and Summer try to survive a weekend with their father, Rick and Beth go on an adventure!

Rick and Morty - The ABC's of Beth Review

introduction 

The 3rd season of Rick and Morty has been one of the better seasons in my opinion, the show has a new darker edge to it that the previous seasons were lacking and that goes full throttle in this latest episode. The whole episode concept is about Beth, Ricks daughter who lost a friend in an imaginary world that Rick invented to keep his daughter safe. This episode also showcases Jerry smith, Beth’s ex-husband and how he is dealing with the divorce. Both Morty and Summer go to stay the weekend with their father who both despise.

Rick and Morty - The ABC's of Beth Review - Rick and Beth

Rick and beth plot 

The character development within this episode is truly amazing, you get to see how Rick and Beth act around each other for a long period of time, this episode is really a father daughter bonding experience. Rick developed whole imaginary world for Beth so that she could play in a world with no pain or trouble. Although the episode takes a dark turn when you find out Beth pushed one of her friends into a honey lake and left him in this imaginary world. Leading the viewer to find out that Beth was a sociopath as a child and wanted all these killing gadgets from her father.

Beth explains all the childhood weapons as her just wanting to spend time with her distant father. Leading Beth to go into the imaginary land known as Froopyland and talk to her old friend Tommy. Tommy asks for an apology but she refuses to apologize saying that she didn’t do anything wrong and an apology isn’t going to change anything. Leading Beth to notice how much alike her father she really is, as earlier in the episode Rick refuses to apologize for making Beth this imaginary world and sticking her in it. Beth then proceeds to kill many of the inhabitants of Froopyland and cut off a finger of Tommy’s so that Rick can clone him.

 After the heartwarming montage of Rick and Beth cloning Tommy ends, Beth asks Rick why the world is so shitty and essentially why she is depressed. Rick gives a speech about how the universe hates smart people and preys on that of weak-minds. Rick then offers Beth a way out of her depressed life by creating a clone that will love and care for her family and do everything Beth does but in a happy way, the scene ends by Beth looking at pictures of her kids saying, ‘I know what I must do’.

Rick and Morty - The ABC's of Beth Review - floopyland

Morty, summer and jerry plot 

This side of episode is also depressing, you see very distant kids and a father who is completely depressed without Beth. This plot begins when Rick forces the kids to go see their father by putting them in a bubble and floating them over to Jerry’s house. Jerry then introduces them to his new girlfriend who is a telekinetic alien who hunts down different species.

Jerry gets way to into the relationship to fast and almost does something called “soul bonding” which is described in the episode as something that is extremely serious.  The whole plot to this side of the episode is based around how Morty and Summer don’t approve of their father’s decisions and how they like their mom more. Jerry eventually gives in to their comments and admits to himself that he is sad and pathetic man. Leading to the next scene where Jerry is trying to save his kids because he told his now ex-alien-girlfriend that the reason they couldn’t be together was that his kids where racists and didn’t like her differences.

 Something that I picked up on this plot was during the final scene where they were getting chased, Jerry falls and looks to have broken or cut open his ankle and rather than Morty and Summer leaving him. Both stop and help him up, which is somewhat of a symbol of this plot. Morty and Summer save their father, they are the reason he tries to change and become something that he wasn’t.  Both Morty and Summer must constantly act as the adults in their family and care for their parents.  Now the ending to this plot shows Jerry finally stand up like a man and explain how he was the one who wanted to break up with his girlfriend and it wasn’t the kids fault. Jerry’s ex-girlfriend now lets them go and deals with her own boyfriend problems.

Rick and Morty - The ABC's of Beth Review - the two main characters

ending explained 

The ending of this episode leaves a lot up to debate and makes the next episode so much more exciting hoping that we will find out the absolute truth. To get more into it, the last scene we saw of Rick and Beth was when Rick offered to make her problems go away (read the top for a description) and Beth saying she knows what has to happen. Now the ending shows a full family (except Jerry) about to have dinner, Beth is seen smiling and being extremely happy throughout the entire final sequence of this episode, she offers to order pizza for the whole family.

Although the pizza place was closed, Rick travels to another dimension and takes the pizza from that specific pizza company (a world without daylight saving!). The reason this ending is so controversial is because it forces the viewer to believe that Beth took Ricks offer to explore the universe, although we cannot know for-sure. One big factor although is that everyone in this final sequence reached for a slice pizza even Rick did after he finished her final words of the episode, all while having Beth just stare and smile at Rick. Beth also exchanges and “I love you dad” with Rick and hugs him.

PROS  CONS
 + Great character depth  – Lack of classic Rick and Morty adventure
 + Rick and Beth “father and daughter time”
 + More of a character background for Beth!
 + Morty showcases his knowledge that Rick taught him
 + Rick is Rick (he’s depressed and funny and a genius)

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