The Big Beth Reveal That Has Rick And Morty Fans Buzzing
"Rick and Morty" Season 5 has gotten off to a rocky start, but the latest episode is earning much more praise from fans compared to earlier episodes. Episode 8's title "Rickternal Friendshine of the Spotless Mort" is a reference to the 2004 science-fiction romantic dramedy "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet. The popular movie featured a couple who undergo a medical procedure to erase memories of each other after they break up, and it definitely seems to have inspired some of the plot in Episode 8.
In "Rickternal Friendshine of the Spotless Mort," Rick (Justin Roiland) is left home alone when the rest of the Smith family goes on a cruise. As soon as they leave, Rick heads to the garage and starts trying to bring the half-dead Birdperson (Dan Harmon) back to life. Unfortunately, Rick finds that Birdperson's consciousness is hiding within his own mind, so Rick embarks on a mission to convince Birdperson to return to his mind so Rick can bring him back to life.
The episode is an interesting look at the inner workings of the mind, but one particular reveal has fans buzzing on social media.
The original Beth is dead
Not long into Episode 8, Rick comes across Birdperson's memory of Rick, who appears as a younger, more eager version of the brusque Rick we've come to know and love. At one point, Rick explains the premise of "Shrek" and its sequels to Memory Rick and mentions that Morty (also voiced by Justin Roiland) loves the films. Since Memory Rick never met Morty, Rick explains that he's the son of their daughter Beth (Sarah Chalke), and Memory Rick immediately hits him with a suspicious glare.
Memory Rick asserts "You're one of those creeps who moves in with abandoned adult Beths," seemingly referring to the several alternate reality versions of Rick and his family that exist. Rick defends himself by insisting it's complicated before Memory Rick drops the revelation that has fans shocked: "You live with a version of our dead daughter."
This must mean the original Beth — from the main dimension C-137 where the show began — died sometime before Morty and possibly Summer (Spencer Grammer) were ever born. And on a "Rick and Morty" post-episode discussion thread for Season 5, Episode 8, a user named u/amarant_05 wrote that they realized "Ricks' original Beth is dead," kicking off a lively discussion.
Fans are shocked at the Beth reveal
On the aforementioned Reddit thread, another user named u/LowGravitasWarning replied, "Huge reveal, and from that we can infer Rick doesn't have an original Morty. If memory Rick is 35 and his Beth is already dead then she couldn't have been old enough to have Morty when she died."
Tons of fans also agree on a theory behind the true origin story. User u/OrionJC wrote, "Not just dead, but killed by other Ricks. Basically the garage scene from S3 opener was accurate." A user named u/Mustard_Castle added "This episode just strengthens that idea, especially the scene where Rick and BP are fighting other Ricks and one says 'killing us won't bring her back.' They also have a somewhat similar aesthetic to the Rick from the fake origin story," which makes the theory even more plausible.
Another user named u/Herne-The-Hunter focused more on the meaning behind the reveal than the reveal itself. They wrote that since Memory Rick knew Beth died by the time he was 35, the original Rick must not have abandoned Beth and her mother as originally thought.
They continued by writing, "They were killed, which probably means the Shoney's backstory isn't as fake as we thought. Because memories of Rick c-137 are fighting a group of alternate Ricks. It looks like Rick lost his family because of the actions of alternate Ricks ... and he went on a multiversal bender to cope. Then when he's old and tired of running away, he finds a version of his family that never died, most likely because their version of Rick took the offer to join the other Ricks and abandoned them."
Hopefully, we'll get to learn more about Beth's fate in an upcoming "Rick and Morty" episode.