While Rick and Morty’s season 6 finale featured a dark twist in its closing scene, this sequence was also an ironic mirror of the pilot’s cold open. Rick and Morty has changed a lot since the show’s 2013 debut. Rick and Morty season 1, episode 1, “Pilot,” features cruder humor and broader, sillier versions of the main characters. The cast of Rick and Morty wasn't fleshed out until later episodes and viewers wouldn’t get a glimpse into Rick’s internal life until season 2, while they would have to wait until Rick and Morty season 4 for any lasting character development.However, the more things change in the chaotic world of Rick and Morty, the more they stay the same. Rick’s apparent character development in season 6 turned out to be a ruse in the finale, which revealed that he was more unhinged and obsessive than ever before. Although Rick and Morty season 6 seemingly saw Rick move away from his selfish and self-destructive side, the closing scenes of Rick and Morty season 6, episode 10, “Ricktional Mortpoon's Rickmas Mortcation,” proved that this was a red herring. In doing so, Rick and Morty also recreated a pivotal scene from the show’s pilot.
Why Rick and Morty’s Season 6 Finale Recreated The Pilot
In both the opening scene of “Pilot” and the final scene of “Ricktional Mortpoon's Rickmas Mortcation,” a deranged Rick insists to Morty that he needs to assist him with a mysterious, potentially lethal mission, and an overwhelmed Morty is left with no choice but to play along. The scene is a brutal twist after Rick and Morty season 6, episode 9, “A Rick in King Mortur's Mort,” seemingly saw Rick improve massively as a mentor. Instead, the closing scene of “Ricktional Mortpoon's Rickmas Mortcation,” allows Rick and Morty to underline that Rick has not really changed or grown at all and, if anything, might be worse than ever before.
In both scenes, Rick proposes a plan that could kill himself and Morty, and many others (dropping a neutron bomb on humanity and hunting down Rick Prime, respectively). In both scenes, Morty tries to talk his grandfather out of this manic rant but is soon silenced by Rick’s ardor. However, it is only in the season 6 finale that Morty eventually accepts that his grandfather is going ahead with his plan and begrudgingly tries to help. In setting up Rick and Morty season 7, the season 6 finale also underlined just how much the intervening years have disempowered Morty.
Why Rick & Morty's Season 6 Finale Scene Is Darker Than The Pilot’s
In the pilot’s opening, Rick at least gives up on his plan to destroy all humanity (even if he does leave Morty to disarm a neutron bomb). In contrast, Rick and Morty season 6’s finale features a newly reinvigorated Rick ready to take over Morty’s life and cause untold chaos across the universe to hunt down Rick Prime. A few episodes earlier, during the mid-season finale, Morty notes that his life has been going pretty well since the eponymous pair gave up their inter-dimensional travels. He seems content with the idea of no longer being part of Rick’s operation and wants the freedom of a normal teenage life.
However, Rick and Morty’s season 6 finale makes this impossible. Unlike the pilot’s version of Morty, who can stand up to his grandfather’s ranting, Morty goes along with Rick out of fear in the episode’s closing scene. As such, it seems like there is no one left to keep Rick in check, and the character will only grow more lethally unhinged in Rick and Morty season 7. This is particularly likely to prove true after viewers saw all the effort that Rick put into faking character growth throughout Rick and Morty season 6.
Rick and Morty’s Season 6 Finale Proves The Show Hasn’t Changed
Rick's apparent growth in “A Rick in King Mortur's Mort” made it seem like the series was heading for a more light-hearted, hopeful tone in Rick and Morty season 7, whereas the closing scene of the finale proves that this the opposite is the case. This is further confirmed by the Rick and Morty season 6 finale's stinger, which sees Mr. Poopybutthole return to the series for the first time since the season 5 finale. At first, Mr. Poopybutthole seemed to be doing better, having gotten in shape. However, the Rick and Morty supporting star soon proved he was still dangerously unstable, much like Rick earlier in the finale.