Rick and Morty is known for being really dark and edgy, but it balances out that darkness with some heartwarming moments too.
Adult Swim's fan-favorite animated series Rick and Morty finished with its fourth season earlier this year, with the fifth season expected to drop soon. The new season could delve into all sorts of cliffhangers from the previous seasons, such as the talking cat, and President Morty.
The critically acclaimed show balances its dark humor and even darker emotional moments with expertise, making viewers laugh out loud on one scene and feel depressed in the next. Here are 5 times Rick and Morty was heartwarming, and 5 times it broke people's hearts.
In the season 2 finale, "The Weddig Squanchers", after Tammy is revealed to be a double agent working for the Galactic Federation (who are hunting down Rick) the Smith family is on the run. While hiding on another planet, Rick calls up the Federation.
Pretending to be Jerry, he cuts a deal with the Federation to save his family, even though the knows the family will think he has abandoned them. Rick often says how replaceable his family is since there are infinite versions of them, but it's very heartwarming to learn that Rick does love them.
After Rick and Morty accidentally mutate all of humanity, Rick comes up with a plan to travel to another dimension where he has turned them back. However, to Morty's horror, he realizes the Rick and Morty of that universe have just died, and he's simply replacing them.
Rick tells Morty to bury his corpse, and as they replace their now-dead counterparts in the oblivious Smith family, the episode ends with a haunted and traumatized Morty blankly staring off into space.
Rick usually prefers to be alone (except Morty, of course), but he cares a lot for his best friend, Birdperson. And so, in the season 3 finale, he reluctantly agrees to go to his wedding.
He gives a speech about how much he cares for Birdperson, and even though most of it is played for laughs, he's finally able to open up about himself.
Of Rick's many, many catchphrases, the one he says the most is "Wubba-lubba-dub-dub!". In the season 1 finale, Birdperson explains to Morty what the phrase means.
In Birdperson's native language, the phrase stands for "I am in great pain. Please help me.", and it's surprisingly sad to hear just how depressed Rick is.
In the season 4 episode, "The Vat of Acid Episode", Morty asks Rick to create a machine that can reset life when someone dies, like a video game. Morty ends up meeting a girl, falling in love, going on a vacation, and getting stranded on a snowy mountain top.
Morty goes on a harrowing journey and gets them saved, and it was extremely heartwarming to see his emotional journey and watching him overcome many difficulties. Jerry, however, like the idiot he is, accidentally resets the timeline so Morty never meets that girl, and everything is undone.
In season three's anthology-style episode, "The Ricklantis Mixup", cop versions of Rick and Morty (on the Citadel of Ricks) are partnered together to work on a case. They have a good rapport and their relationship is actually pretty great, unlike most Rick and Mortys. Mortys are treated like garbage on the citadel and live in slums.
However, turns out Cop Morty is dirty, taking bribes from a local gangster. Cop Rick is forced to shoot him when Cop Morty threatens another gangster, and when he surrenders himself to the cops who ask what happened, he says "Same old story. Ricks killing Mortys."
After Summer's crush chooses her friend over her, she tries to make her chest larger using Rick's enlarging. However, she accidentally ends up becoming a giant monster. Morty and Beth try to track her down.
In the end, after they are able to reverse this process, Morty emotionlessly turns Ethan into a disfigured creature, saying he "made Summer cry". It's a dark moment, but it is weirdly heartwarming to see Morty loves his sister and is willing to go to such lengths for her despite constantly fighting with her.
In the season 4 finale, "Star Mort: Rickturn of the Jerri", Birdperson (now Phoenixperson) and Tammy return. At the end of the episode, Rick admits he's a terrible father, so he tries to be a good friend instead and attempts to revive Birdperson.
However, Birdperson is apparently no more. His remains aggressively reject Rick, and Rick is left alone and depressed. Viewers were left heartbroken to see Rick at such a new low, hated by his family and having lost his friend all over again.
After Rick accidentally splits their reality into multiple, simultaneous versions, their reality starts getting slowly destroyed. He makes a collar for himself, Summer, and Morty to fix it. However, Morty's collar is not working and it falls down into a void.
Rick attaches his collar on Morty's neck, sacrificing his life to save his grandson's. It's very heartwarming to see Rick is so ready to give up his life for Morty. He says "Be good, Morty. Be better. I'm okay with this.". And although he ends up saving himself as well, his love for Morty was evident.
In "Auto Erotic Assimilation", Rick gets together with Unity, his ex-girlfriend, who breaks up with him again at the end of the episode, saying that Rick cannot change his self-destructive tendencies. The episode's ending gets very dark, as he attempts to kill himself with a death ray.
However, he passes out before the death ray can fully prepare, and he lies on his workstation for the rest of the day. The ending was one of the darkest moments in the entire show, and fans saw Rick at his most emotional and depressed self.
