Chris Sheridan
The following recap contains spoilers for Rick and Morty S9E10 “Field of Dreams” (written by Heather Anne Campbell and directed by Eugene Huang).
What a finale. This one was pretty heavy (and brilliant).
Rick and Morty are dying, having…consumed chili that was too spicy? Both of their stomachs are exploded and their bottom halves separated with intestines spilling out. As they expire, portals open up and multiple Ricks and Mortys show up. It’s an estate sale! The Ricks and Mortys rapidly flood the house, slapping post-its on items they want to claim. Our Rick and Morty proceed to the garage, where Rick is thrilled to find a vehicle lift that rotates.
Morty wanders through the house as Mortys fight over the Smiths’ belongings, until he runs into a Morty with sunglasses (they’re actually just his eyes). Sunglass Eyes Morty introduces Morty to a Portal Gun Jr. and the concept of “funeral hopping,” involving portaling to different Morty funerals to hear the grieving Smiths say nice things about him. Rick, slowly rotating on his motorcycle in the garage, isn’t interested in anything Morty has to say, so Morty angrily portals away to a funeral.
Intrigued by his dead version actually treated like a human being, Morty starts funeral hopping, seeing some very strange dimensions, until he arrives at one in which everyone seems to be normal, mourning a version of him referred to as “Mort.” At the funeral, Mort’s Jerry delivers a tearful eulogy mourning his son. It seems genuinely passionate, a far cry from the dipshi*t that our Jerry always is. Mort’s Summer and Beth are likewise devastated, as is the entire congregation. Outside afterwards, Morty tries to watch Mort’s burial, but the family dog runs over to greet him and breaks his cover. Mort’s family is shocked, and bring him home.
At their home, Morty explains the multiverse, including the portal gun that brought him there. Mort’s Beth tells him that their Rick was ostracized from the family due to his alcoholism, surprising Morty that the same hasn’t been done with his own family. That night, he startles awake after falling asleep in Mort’s Beth’s arms. The rest of the family protests, besides Mort’s Jerry, who reminds them that Morty is not “theirs to keep” and gives Morty keys to the house in case he wants to return. Morty portals back to his own dimension, where Jerry and Summer are being stupid, Beth is passed out wine drunk and Rick is still screwing around with the lift. That night in bed, Morty portals back to Mort’s dimension to an enamored family.
Spending time with Mort’s family, Morty finds them to be genuinely loving. We get a heartwarming montage of him spending time with Mort’s Jerry, who is a far cry from our Jerry. In front of the fireplace, Mort’s Jerry tearfully recounts his Morty’s death. Morty makes a decision: he wants to stay with Mort’s family. He relays this to Mort’s Jerry, whose obsessive love immediately rises to the surface. The portal gun breaks and Morty flees in a panic with Mort’s Jerry in hot pursuit. He takes refuge in a makeshift tent he comes across, where he finds a duffel bag left behind by Mort containing a diary outlining his Jerry’s obsessive love and other items he had intended to use to run away.
Morty sets off with them, starting with a bus station to arrive at the college at which Mort’s Rick teaches. He asks Mort’s Rick to build the portal gun, but Rick sadly refuses, stating that previously attempting to do so “almost destroyed” him. This makes more sense when Morty accompanies him to an AA meeting, where he recounts his time with the Sanchez family and how his alcoholism fractured his bond, and how he wrecked his entire life with his drinking after Diane’s death before being kicked out by his family. After the meeting, Mort’s Rick takes Morty home, where Morty meets this Rick’s wife, Uti, an incredibly welcoming and loving woman. She insists on her husband helping Morty get home.
Mort’s Jerry arrives at the bus station, and threatens the attendant to give him Morty’s route. The Mort’s Sanchez family sets out. “I’m gonna love that little guy so hard,” Mort’s Jerry says, set to a thunderclap and flash of lightning. Morty wakes up in a panic, screaming that he’s going to be stuck here and subjected to Mort’s Jerry’s obsessive love. Rick runs into his bedroom and promises that he’ll help him.
Here is right around where things start to get sad. It’s not an abrupt shift, but we know where it’s going, and it hurts more and more as it proceeds. Mort’s Rick and Morty repeatedly attempt to build the portal gun, with the portals failing each time. As time goes on, and the experiments continue to fail, Mort’s Rick gets progressively angrier and more frustrated, eventually lashing out at his wife. In bed, Morty overhears Mort’s Rick arguing with Uti, who threatens him with leaving. Meanwhile, Mort’s family draws closer to finding Morty, arriving at the college.
And there it is: Mort’s Rick bursts into Morty’s room, completely trashed and insisting that he’s figured out portal travel. It’s usually darkly funny when Rick does this in the main dimension, but here, it’s heartbreaking. When Uti confronts him and angrily leaves him, he could care less. The next day, after raiding the university for supplies, Mort’s Rick has built a giant portal gun and it seems to work! The portal it shoots doesn’t collapse or explode, and it finally looks like Morty can go home. It’s even sadder when Mort’s Rick declares that Morty, as well as his flask, have saved him.
At that moment, Mort’s family pulls up to confront them. Mort’s Rick attempts to prove that the latest portal works, and to prove it, tosses in his cat, only for the portal to belch out its flayed corpse. Mort’s Jerry attacks, and when Mort’s Beth attempts to shoot their Rick, the bullet hits the portal and causes it to start sucking up everything in the garage. In the ensuing chaos, Mort’s Jerry shoots their Rick, who fires a portal at Jerry’s chest to kill him. Their Summer is bisected by the exploding portal, and their Beth slashes herself with a shard of glass, leaving just Morty alive as portals open for an estate sale. Our Rick pops in and grabs Morty to go home. There, Morty comes across his normal, weird family, but they’re his family. He goes upstairs to his room in a state of shock.
In the middle of the night, Rick drunkenly bursts into Morty’s room, dragging him to the rotating motorcycle lift before setting off into the sunrise. As they ride down the road, Rick demands that Morty take the handlebars from behind him, stretching out his arms and screaming that he’s Morty’s dad, and Morty reciprocating that he’s Rick’s son. He contentedly rests his head against Rick’s back and closes his eyes, and that’s where we end things.
A post-credits sequence features Mr. Poopybutthole strapped into device that’ll open up a multiverse so his wife can get her “real husband” back. It backfires and explodes almost immediately. Not much more to say here except that it’s Mr. Poopybutthole and it’s always a joy to see him.
What a f*cking season. Rick and Morty’s ninth season struck a fantastic tonal and creative balance, with plenty of the expected multiversal shenanigans, violent action and hilarious concepts, and some genuinely emotional beats, with this finale being the latter. It was a great bookend to the season, with the first half being heartwarming as Morty saw what a genuinely loving, functional family looks like, and gradually progressing to heartbreak to see the facade pulled back, and Mort’s Rick regressing into the alcoholic lunatic that we’ve always known. It was just excellent writing, and I hope that this tear continues into the next season, whenever we get it. I can be patient, but eager. Here’s to the eventual Season 10, baby!
