UntilRick & Morty season 5, Rick’s love interests have largely been only exes or flings, but the character’s recent arc seems to be setting up a more meaningful attachment for the antihero. Since the series began in 2013, Rick & Morty has not generally taken love interests too seriously. A glance back on Morty’s love interests from seasons 1—4 proves that Rick & Morty generally uses romantic subplots to drive the main story and motivate the title characters.
Rick Sanchez himself has thus far only been seen as the cold, commitment-phobic partner in any onscreen pairing he has been part of. Whether he is hooking up with an ex and then abandoning her via letter or finding out he’s a father after forgetting a fling, Rick is a character whose love interests have consistently been more interested in him than he is in them. However, Rick & Morty’s third season 5 outing changed this, which could bode well for fans interested in Rick’s backstory.
Taking stock of Rick’s love interests throughout Rick & Morty proves that the character has only ever been seen with either his exes or people he didn’t have that much of an interest in romantically. As such, the fact he is capable of being an overly emotional/attached romantic, as proven by his lovesick actions throughout the B-story of “A Rickconvenient Mort” (season 5, episode 3), is a surprise. The development could prove he is still affected by the loss of his wife and actually did love her. Despite how often Rick & Morty uses Rick’s lost love as a recurring gag and nothing more, this appearance from a more vulnerable, unguarded side of Rick proves that he is not fully over the idea of romance and thus potentially still not over his wife - meaning viewers can likely hope to learn more about her eventually.
Season 5’s premiere already mentioned Rick’s wife briefly, but the throwaway nod was a casual reference that fans could write off as a meta-joke. Until now, most mentions of Rick’s wife throughout Rick & Morty have been these sort of fourth-wall-breaking meta-jokes, like Rick’s “fake” memory of “Diane” in season 3. However, Rick’s relationship with Daphne, an alien who is using him to escape her planet’s apocalypse and doesn’t return his affections, is a first for Rick & Morty. This love interest is the first character Rick authentically fell for and the first one who didn’t fall for him, and this hitherto-unseen dynamic may be one mirrored by Rick and his unseen wife.
There are a lot more reveals waiting to be uncovered by Rick & Morty season 5, and the nature of Rick’s relationship with his missing wife could be among them. This one-off vision of Rick as a hopeless romantic who can’t see that his partner doesn’t share his enthusiasm may be a harbinger of bigger revelations about his dynamic with his ex-wife, and thus the original source of his misanthropic cynicism. That said, it may also be another Rick & Morty misdirect, and the story of Rick’s wife may well remain untold for seasons to come.