The Wild Rick And Morty Theory That Explains Everything About Jerry
When the Season 5 finale of "Rick and Morty" dropped back in September, it was perhaps the most story-heavy episode the series has ever gotten, and was something the series desperately needed. Fans have often criticized the series for the lack of continuity in its overarching storyline, and not without good reason.
What began as an absurd parody of Marty McFly and Dr. Emmett Brown from "Back to the Future" has blossomed into a massive story arc that spans multiple universes and features dozens of complex characters, all while maintaining a ridiculous (and at times existential) kind of humor never seen on television before.
It's enough to make any writer's head spin, and while the Season 5 finale did its best to tie up most of the loose threads the show has left untended throughout the years, there are still a few questions left unanswered. One such question concerns the purpose of Jerry Smith, Morty's father and Rick's son-in-law, whom Rick utterly despises and seems to be nothing more than comic relief.
However, with what we learned about the Central Finite Curve in the Season 5 finale (i.e., every universe in the curve was hand-picked by Rick, and each of those universes features a Morty, and therefore a Jerry), it would appear that Jerry is an integral part of almost every universe. But why is this the case?
Natural camouflage
As revealed in the Season 1 episode "Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind," the reason Rick keeps Morty around as a sidekick is not because he is helpful in any way, but because Morty's brainwaves naturally act as a camouflage for Rick. Essentially, this means Morty is so dumb that he is able to counter-balance the brainwaves made from Rick's hyper-intelligence.
According to a theory from Redditor u/eskadaaaaa, Jerry's role in the story is similar to Morty's — except his brain waves are meant to conceal Beth's instead. Beth Sanchez is Morty's mother and Ricks's daughter, and she has proven more than once to be just as much of a genius as he is. The general consensus in the show is that she's only stuck with Jerry because he got her pregnant in high school.
However, according to this theory, Jerry's role in Beth's life is no accident. "Most Rick's set up their Beths with Jerrys because his stupidity serves to hide Beth's potential genius in the same way Morty does for him," the Redditor noted. "Rick intended for Jerry to be camouflage while he wasn't around to protect [Beth], but I don't think he expected them to want Jerry around still when he came back."
The theory would not only explain why Jerry is present in almost every universe we've come across in the series so far, but it would also explain why Rick's loathing of Jerry never seems to go away — because he was never meant to be permanent.