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Rick and Morty season 5 finale explains Rick’s backstory

Rick has a tragic history, and Morty finally gets to hear it

Rick and Morty season 5 finale

Rick and Morty season five has ended, and the finale had some revelations for the animated TV series. In the two-part conclusion, we get another look at Rick’s backstory, and the universe-shaking carnage that spawns from it. Warning: spoilers ahead.

In part one, Rick leaves Morty after recognising they’ve a completely toxic relationship. As is typical for the sci-fi series, this decision is eventually reversed and shrugged off, but an aging formula Morty used to try  guilt Rick requires a trip to the citadel to find a cure. While there, something seems off, and the two sit down with president Morty. Their dinner goes sideways, and the sitting president reveals himself to be evil Morty, finally making his return.

Our Rick and Morty dedicate themselves to stopping Morty’s plan, which involves trapping thousands of Ricks and Mortys and harvesting their energy to escape continuity – thus escaping Rick once and for all. Everything all comes down to just trying to come of Rick’s despondent shadow. In their effort to stop this from happening, Morty shows Rick some of his memories, and it’s not a pleasant sight.

We already knew our Rick’s original wife and daughter died because of another Rick inventing the portal gun, but what we didn’t see is the direct aftermath. Rick declares war on himself, and starts clearing out alternate Ricks, like John Wick just tearing through time. But such rage is exhausting, and eventually, a council of Ricks agree on a truce, and start building the Citadel.

But, as evil Morty points out, even that became a way of massaging Rick’s ego. The Ricks decide to barricade themselves away from the universes where Rick isn’t the smartest being, to make sure only the best Ricks are around to remind each other just how great they are. Evil Morty saw all of this, and decided to hatch a long-term scheme to break free, because being part of Rick’s eternal pissing contest was too much.

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Rick and Morty co-creators Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon tend to skew away from established canon, and this season was full of jibes about one-off adventures, even if we also had some heavy flashbacks. But Evil Morty was one of the bigger overhanging questions of the show, and they picked a strong moment to bring him back.

When will Rick and Morty return? We don’t know, but we do have a better idea of the depths of Rick’s fragile ego, and that’s plenty to think about for the minute. Here’s the best TV series on Netflix.