Warning! This article contains spoilers for Rick and Morty #4 It has been established that Rick and Morty are a package deal, and while an official explanation as to exactly why has already been given, there is another that actually makes a lot more sense–confirming once and for all why Rick really needs Morty.
In Rick and Morty season 1, episode 10 “Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind”, it is revealed that all Ricks across the multiverse need to have Mortys as their partners because Morty’s less intelligent brain waves mask the genius waves of Rick. This is why the episode showed a ‘Morty matrix’ facility where hundreds of Rick-less Mortys were strung-up and put in immense pain outside a large building. The more ‘Morty waves’ there are, the more hidden any given Rick (or genius Morty) becomes. This is why Rick goes on adventures with Morty. Not love or general companionship, but so they can stay hidden from their enemies. While Rick C-137 seems to be the exception, as he actually does care about his Morty, this is generally the rule when it comes to Ricks and their Mortys. At least, that’s what fans were led to believe, as the real reason is (in true Rick and Morty fashion) much more meta: Rick needs Morty so he can ‘yell jokes at him’.
Rick Needs Morty so the Series Rick and Morty Can Even Exist
In Rick and Morty #4 by Alex Firer and Marc Ellerby, Rick is freaking out because Morty has decided to run away and not go on adventures with Rick anymore. Morty made this decision because Rick basically left Morty’s new girlfriend Noelle to die in a hellish dimension last issue. After Rick gets no support from the rest of the Smith family (who all agree with Morty’s reaction), Rick barges out of the house, proclaiming, “Rick never needed a sidekick! Rick just needed someone to–to–yell jokes at”.
While this scene could be taken as Rick just lashing out at someone who he used to have complete control over, there seems to be a bit more to what he’s saying than what may be immediately apparent. Rick ‘yelling jokes at’ Morty isn’t as innocuous as it sounds, as it is their bare-bones dynamic on the show. Rick takes Morty on an adventure, he yells jokes at him for about twenty minutes, Morty reacts comically, and the credits roll. That’s the backbone of the series–that’s Rick and Morty. So, when Rick says he just needed Morty to yell jokes at him, he meant that literally. Rick and Morty is a comedy, a self-aware comedy, at that. Rick knows he’s a character in a fictional series, and he regularly addresses the audience. This means that he knows his series is called Rick and Morty, and that without Morty (ie, without someone to yell jokes at), there’d be no series, and if there was no series, Rick and Morty (and Rick and Morty) would cease to exist.
While Rick and Morty’s dynamic does essentially boil down to Rick ‘yelling jokes at’ Morty, it is also what has kept them alive all this time in the meta-sense. Sure, the series came up with an entire in-canon explanation for why Rick needs Morty, but truthfully, Rick only needs Morty because the series is called Rick and Morty, which is something that this latest comic issue subtly shines a light on.
Rick and Morty #4 by Oni Press is available now.
