Rick And Morty Season 6 Episode 1 Recap: A Rickturn To Continuity

Morty (or, more accurately, our Morty) originated in the universe he and Rick (C-137 Rick, that is) left after the events of "Rick Potion No. 9," wherein the entire population of Earth mutated into grotesque creatures reminiscent of a David Cronenberg film, so that's where he lands after the reset. It's still a hideous wasteland, and Morty finds that Jerry is now the only surviving member of the family. Feral Jerry, as we'll call him, is a changed man, less cowardly but also less empathetic, having at long last adopted Rick's selfish philosophy to survive his apocalyptic reality. At the first opportunity, he steals Morty's things and leaves. It's a dark reflection of the way Rick and Morty abandoned that version of their family in "Rick Potion No. 9" and sets up some of the thematic tension this episode wrestles with.

As a whole, "Solaricks" is about lost possibilities, the infinite versions of ourselves we leave behind with every decision. It's a theme "Rick and Morty" has successfully explored before, but here, it has the weight of five seasons behind it. These ideas are supported by the B-plot, in which Summer (Spencer Grammer), Beth, and Space Beth (one of the two is Beth's clone from Season 3) go to the now-destroyed Citadel of Ricks to help Rick navigate the multiverse without his portal gun.

With Summer seemingly preferring Space Beth, regular Beth chews Space Beth out for what she sees as an abnegation of responsibility, telling Summer, "She ran from our choices. I had to parent them." To Space Beth, she fumes, "I'm you with the patience to do laundry." Both versions of Beth resent the other because both believe their choice — regular Beth's decision to parent and Space Beth's to go on intergalactic adventures — was the correct one.