Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Rick and Morty season 6!Rick and Morty season 6 may have changed Morty forever, using a small moment to make a big impact. Besides episode 1, Rick and Morty season 6 has mostly focused on self-contained stories, depicting wacky one-off adventures when compared to the show's more continuity-focused arcs. However, a big Morty change may have occurred in one of these seemingly unimportant Rick and Morty episodes: season 6, episode 2, "Rick: A Mort Well Lived."
"Rick: A Mort Well Lived" is Rick and Morty's Die Hard parody episode, following Summer as she attempts to take down a Hans Gruber-like villain in an arcade. While she is doing this, Rick is attempting to rescue Morty from the fictional video game "Roy: A Life Well Lived," which has previously appeared in the series. Morty was playing the game when the aliens attacked the Blips and Chitz arcade, damaging the game cabinet and causing Morty's consciousness to be spread amongst every NPC in the game. In order to rescue him, Rick enters the game as Roy and tries to convince the NPCs that they are all Morty and that they must fly into space, outside the bounds of the game, to escape. In typical Rick and Morty fashion, things don't go according to Rick's plan, with the NPCs starting a religious cult, the beginning of a holy war, and an NPC standing in Rick's way: Marta.
Although Marta initially agrees to help Rick, convincing 92% of the Mortys to leave, she soon becomes his biggest opposition after Rick hesitates to say that he loves them. Although most of the Mortys eventually leave, Marta decides to stay in the game, with the loss causing a massive Morty change. In recent seasons, Morty has started going against Rick, even hating his grandfather at points due to his selfishness, bad decisions, and lack of love for his family. However, this aspect of Morty is missing in season 6, episodes 3 and 4, with Morty returning to his blind admiration of Rick which can be seen in earlier seasons of Rick and Morty. In episode 3, Morty simply wants to play video games with Rick, and in episode 4 he spends most of the time admiring the abs Rick's invention gives him. The acknowledgment of the toxic relationship between Morty and Rick seems to have mostly disappeared - and it's probably because of Marta's absence. As such, season 6 could have delivered the biggest change to Morty's personality yet.
Why Losing Marta Would Change Morty Forever (Even If He Got Her Back)
Even if Morty gets Marta back, he will still never be the same simply because it was Rick's fault. Morty's disdain for Rick has come about from Rick's constant abuse of Morty, and if he finds out that Rick killed the part of himself that recognizes this, it would only reinforce Morty's hatred. The duo's relationship was strained before Rick and Morty season 6, and although Marta's death has changed Morty's outlook on Rick, discovering that Rick failed to save her could cause their relationship to be damaged beyond repair.
Marta is the part of Morty that sees Rick's toxicity, and with that gone, Morty is a completely different person. While this isn't explicitly stated, small details in Rick and Morty often change the story in a big way, meaning Marta's death wouldn't be the first time this has happened. Marta's death has permanently changed Morty, creating a tragic character and potentially reinvigorating the toxic relationship that has been apparent since Rick and Morty season 1.
New episodes of Rick and Morty season 6 release Sundays on Adult Swim.