With Season 5 of Rick and Morty more than halfway over, there are only a few more weeks left to enjoy some classic Rick and Morty adventures. So far, this season has had it ups and downs, from the introduction to Rick's unexpected arch-nemesis Mr. Nimbus to the much less popular incest baby storyline. As we start to approach the ending to Season 5, I have compiled what I consider to be Rick's best and worst moments in the show so far.
Given Rick's genius level of intelligence, Rick has many more "best moments" than appear on this list. Given Rick's penchant for being an absolutely terrible person, he also has many more "worst moments" than appear on this list. Regardless, I've narrowed down Rick's 5 best moments and 5 worst moments so far. There are some genuinely touching, truly terrible, and ridiculously badass moments in the life of Rick Sanchez, so let's get rickety-rickety-wrecked, son and get to it.
Best: That Time He Cried Over a Morty
Season 1, Episode 10, "Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind" is an important Rick and Morty episode for a few reasons. It is the introduction to a recurring storyline about the Council of Ricks and the sinister Evil Morty (cue eerie Evil Morty theme song), one which left viewers eagerly anticipating the second installment, which unfortunately wouldn't arrive until Season 3. It also offered a deeper look into the dynamic between the Ricks and their Mortys, the latter of whom are typically deemed as easily replaceable. As Rick explains—and consequently shatters Morty's belief in what he thought was a special bond—Mortys are "a camouflage" whose brainwaves (or "Morty Waves") cancel out the Ricks' genius brainwaves, enabling them to hide more easily from enemies. In simpler terms, Mortys are so stupid they render Ricks' god-like intellect invisible. Despite all of this, we learn that our Rick and Morty from dimension C-137 actually do have a special bond. In a rare and touching moment at the end of the episode, Rick tears up as he watches his memories of Morty projected on Evil Rick's screen. There is even one of him scooping a baby Morty up into his arms. Evil Rick (unbeknownst to us at the time, an android being controlled by Evil Morty), scoffs, incredulous, "Are you crying? Over a Morty?" And shockingly, yes, he is. And consequently, so are we.
Worst: That Time He Tricked Morty Into His Own Disillusionment
Whether it's Morty's obsession with the Vindicators or his incessant demand for a dragon, Rick has no problem crushing Morty's stupid dreams to smithereens. One of the worst instances, however, is in Season 4, Episode 3, "One Crew over the Crewcoo's Morty" where Morty writes a heist screenplay that ultimately lands him a pitch meeting with Netflix. When Morty actually sits down to pitch his idea, he suddenly is overcome with disillusionment toward heists having just participated in the most obnoxiously complex, long-drawn-out heist of all time. The twist at the end of the episode reveals that Rick secretly orchestrated the whole convoluted heist so Morty could be tricked into his own disillusionment and therefore keep going on adventures with him. Talk about crushing your grandson's dreams.
Best: That Time He Turned Himself in to the Galactic Federation
Season 2 ends on a gutting cliffhanger that marked a pivotal moment in Rick's character arc. After killing several Galactic Federation agents in retribution for the death of his close friend Birdperson, Rick confesses to his family that like Birdperson, he is a rebel against the Federation. Now, none of them are safe on their Earth while the Federation is looking for him. He overhears Beth, Morty, and Summer adamantly shooting down Jerry's argument to turn Rick in because he doesn't understand why they should protect "someone that would never do anything for anyone but himself." They remind him that despite it all, they love Rick and that love is unconditional. In an uncharacteristically selfless move, Rick turns himself in to the government in exchange for his family's protection. As Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" poignantly plays in the background, we come to realize that Rick isn't as much of a selfish narcissist as we thought he was.
Worst: That Time He Made Morty Bury His Own Body
In Season 4, Episode 6, "Rick Potion #9," Rick accidentally turns all humans in their reality into Cronenbergs, grotesque humanoid blobs, after a love potion gone wrong makes everyone on Earth's entire population want to mate with Morty. In a last-ditch effort, Rick portals to another dimension with Morty mere seconds after that dimension's Rick and Morty die in a violent, bloody explosion in their garage. Rick, as one might expect, does not seem at all fazed as he hands Morty a shovel to bury their corpses so that they can inhabit their space in this new reality, seeing as how their old reality is now overrun by deformed blobs. Nonchalantly asking your grandson to bury his mangled corpse in the backyard probably takes you out of the running for grandfather of the year award, no?
Best: That Time He Was So Petty Over a Vat of Acid That It Was Almost a Stroke of Genius
Season 4, Episode 8, "The Vat of Acid Episode" is one of the strongest episodes of the season comedically as we watch Rick take his pettiness to a whole new level. It also offers further insight into Rick and Morty's complicated dynamic, with Morty insisting that Rick won't ever give up control and allow him to come up with ideas more often. Morty won't stop complaining that Rick's vat of acid was a stupid idea, and so, Rick decides it's time to teach Morty a lesson. Furious at Morty for not respecting the genius of his vat of acid, he grants Morty's wish to create a device that saves a point in time so that Morty can re-start scenarios and get "do-overs" without consequences. In a twist at the end of the episode, Rick reveals that all of those terrible things that Morty did actually really did happen because as he's said before, he doesn't believe in time travel. Instead, all of those Mortys he killed were actual Mortys from another dimension. Morty is horrified, and then hilariously resigned as Rick makes him escape into another vat of acid just to rub it in.
Worst: That Time He Used an Entire Universe to Power His Break Lights
In Season 2, Episode 6, "The Ricks Must Be Crazy," Rick shows off one of his proudest achievements. When his ship doesn't start, he and Morty go inside the engine's battery which, to Morty's surprise, happens to house a whole planet. According to Rick, he "put a spatially tessellated void inside a modified temporal field until a planet developed intelligent life." He then slapped on some antennae and heroically came bearing the gift of technology (as well as the universal sign for "Peace among worlds.") He taught the microverse to generate electricity on a global scale, so that its entire culture can...power his brake lights. In other words, Rick's brilliant invention is essentially "slavery with extra steps." Rick is often careless of others, but that is next-level cruel (and admittedly, hilarious).
Best: That Time Rick Outsmarted the Galactic Federation, Escaped from Space Prison, and Eliminated the Council of Ricks
With the nearly two-year hiatus between the cliffhanger at the end of Season 2 and the first episode of Season 3, "The Rickshank Rickdemption" was eagerly anticipated. Luckily, the episode did not disappoint. "The Rickshank Rickdemption" shows Rick at his most clever, creative, and calculated. Through sheer craftiness, Rick transfers from brain to brain until he has successfully escaped from space prison and annihilated the Council of Ricks. Then, he manages to dismantle the entire galactic government by reducing the worth of the Galactic Federation's currency to 0. Even when it seems like Rick really is trapped with no way out, he proves that he is somehow always one step ahead—even if his opponent is an entire galactic government and an army of power-hungry doppelgangers from other dimensions.
Worst: That Time He Drunkenly Declared Noob-Noob the Only One He Values
In Season 3, Episode 4, "Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender" Morty, to Rick's utter disgust, invokes his "Morty Adventure Card" (good once every ten Rick and Morty adventures) so that Rick is forced to answer "a literal call to adventure" from the Vindicators, a superhero team who serve as "the guardians of the unguarded" (Morty's words), or as "a bunch of drama queens" (Rick's words). After Rick gets blackout drunk and gets diarrhea all over their conference table, the Vindicators find themselves trapped in a Saw-like game orchestrated by none other than an extremely plastered Rick from the night before. Rick burps and coughs and slurs alarmingly vague and life-threatening instructions on a video recording. In Drunk Rick's final move, he claims the Vindicators actually do have one thing of value to him, and if they know what it is, to place it on the platform. Naturally, Morty believes Rick is talking about him, and steps onto the platform with a smug smile. He is strapped into a rocket-shaped ride where Drunk Rick appears on screen to express his love for (seemingly) Morty, whose eyes glisten with tears—until he realizes Rick's loving monologue is actually for Noob-Noob. Noob-Noob is the underappreciated intern/janitor for the Vindicators, and also the only member of the superhero team who actually laughs at Rick's jokes. He even stays behind to clean up after a drunken Rick gets diarrhea all over the Vindicator's conference table while Rick, Morty, and the rest of the team embark on their mission. As Rick drunkenly declares, "Everybody else had their heads so far up their ass. Even my own grandson . . . I mean, he's a moron, it's their demographic. But you're different, Noob-Noob." Ouch.
Worst: That Time He Created a Clone of His Own Daughter
Rick isn't known for being the best father, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that when Beth tells him that she doesn't know who she is or what to do next, he responds not with emotional support, but instead, an offer to clone her so she can go out and explore the universe. This happens in Season 3, Episode 9, "The ABC's of Beth" in which Beth is faced with a difficult choice of either letting her dad clone her so she can leave her family and go explore the cosmos, or stay with her family and learn how to make peace with the life she chose. Beth's decision is left unclear until Season 4, Episode 10, "Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri" introduces Space Beth, the self-proclaimed "most wanted person in the universe" (like father like daughter). Eventually, Jerry and the kids decide they don't care which Beth is the clone—both Beths are badasses. This is fortunate for them, since Rick mind-blew his own memory of who is who. He ultimately decides to watch the memory to find out the truth. In the memory, Beth asks Rick to make the choice for her because for once in her life, she wants him to decide: does he want her to stay and be a part of his life, or does he want her to leave? With sadness, but not surprise, we watch Rick make the clone, but then turn his back while a machine randomizes the Beths so that even he doesn't know who is who. In this moment, it's not only us as viewers who realize Rick is an even worse father than we thought. This time, Rick realizes it, too.
Best: And of Course, That Time He Turned Himself into a Pickle.
It was inevitable that "Pickle Rick'' would make an appearance on this list. "I'm Pickle Riiiiiiiick!" is instantly recognizable even to those who have never seen even one episode of Rick and Morty. In Rick's most elaborate and creative experiment, he turns himself into a pickle to avoid family therapy. He ultimately ends up having to fight for his life in the sewers because as it turns out, he doesn't know how to stop being a pickle without the anti-pickle serum that Beth pockets before leaving for therapy. As he battles gigantic rats and kills Russian agents John Wick style, all while somehow still being a pickle, it has never been more apparent that Rick can come out as the winner in nearly every situation, even when all the odds are stacked against him. His mind knows no bounds.
There are some who might (rightfully) argue that Rick's iconic pickle transformation is also one of his worst moments, since Rick goes to such great lengths to get out of going to family therapy and making a legitimate effort to emotionally connect with his family. That is 100 percent true, but...let's get real. He successfully turned himself into a pickle. What else is there to say?