Rick And Morty Fans Find Morty's Life Reset To Be Completely Heart-Wrenching
Most grandfathers are loving, caring, and doting when it comes to their grandchildren. That is, except for Rick Sanchez (Justin Roiland), who gets his grandson Morty Smith (Roiland) into countless life-or-death situations during their interdimensional adventures on Adult Swim's "Rick and Morty." While Morty does have fun sometimes, by Season 4, he's growing weary of always being placed in horrible predicaments. Remember when he was forced to bury his own dead body in the backyard because of a Rick plan gone wrong?
Morty's frustrations are released in Season 4, Episode 8 ("The Vat of Acid Episode"). He complains that Rick never considers his ideas, such as a video game-style play-saving device that lets the user try risky things in real life and then push a button to "reset" and return to their safe point. For once, Rick listens to Morty and has the gadget ready to go. Morty has a blast as he pulls down his teacher's pants, flirts with his crush Jessica (Kari Wahlgren), and taunts the police, clicking that button after every daring move. But after spontaneously deciding to hold the door open for a beautiful stranger, the device is put on the back burner for a while. He and this girl quickly fall for each other, and Morty has no need to reset.
Seems like Morty finally catches a break, right? Not exactly. The fact that Morty has it all — and it's all snatched from him – is the most heartbreaking storyline of the series, according to many fans.
Fans feel horrible that Morty's happiness is so short-lived
Morty books a couple's vacation, but their plane crashes, causing Morty to lose his device. They're stranded, frost-bitten and alone until Morty treks out to retrieve the device. He finds it — as well as his cellphone — and chooses to call 911 rather than reset things.
All is well until his father, Jerry Smith (Chris Parnell), clicks the reset button, thinking it's the TV remote. Not only is Morty unable to make this girl fall for him again (she pepper sprays him instead), he also learns that each time he reset things, it wasn't actually a "do-over." Rather, Rick fixed it so that a Morty in another dimension died, allowing the original one to take his place. He wants Morty to know that actions have consequences, even interdimensional ones.
Many fans felt horrible for Morty. On YouTube, @hankhall193 said, "This is by far the darkest part of 'Rick and Morty' for Morty. He loses so much, you can really tell Rick broke his spirit and he is never the same after." @Dino_In_A_Suit added, "This is definitely one of the saddest scenes in this show! I felt so bad for Morty when he was so happy and it was all ripped away from him so quickly."
Even the creative minds behind "Rick and Morty" agree that "The Vat of Acid Episode" boasts a different tone. In a behind-the-scenes interview on HBO Max, writer Jeff Loveness said, "It's one of the darker episodes we've ever done." In fact, director Jacob Hair drew inspiration from "Alive: The True Story of the Andes Survivors." He said, "I read that book ... in middle school and it may have traumatized me as a kid."