Rick And Morty (S08E06)
“The CurRicksous Case of Bethjamin Button”
As the Smith family heads to a theme park that Rick really enjoys, Beth and Space Beth stay behind to spend some time with each other. When they realize that they're both unhappy with their lives, they try to recall the last time that they were genuinely happy. The answer they come up with: when they were children, of course. So, Space Beth pulls out a de-aging machine, and they both try to recapture that happiness by living out a few hours as their younger selves.
And I think this made for a really solid episode! I mean, the theme park storyline was fine, but the Beth-centric storyline was totally fascinating. Because, as it turns out, Beth was a little menace when she was little. And while we have seen glimpses of that menace in previous episodes, her surprisingly awful behavior is on full display here.
Beth isn't only a bad kid; she's a chaotically evil Kevin McCallister. But she doesn't just build fatal booby traps for her own enjoyment; she flat out tortures her next-door neighbor, Gene. Poor guy. He doesn't even get mad at them for the mean things that they do! He kindly offers them hot cocoa instead! I don’t know what Gene’s financial status is, but given how much trauma the Smith family must have caused him over the years, I would definitely try to move if I were him.
But aside from learning a bit about Gene, we also get to learn a lot about Beth, her past, and the repressed emotions that she has. Most of which comes from the unresolved issues that she has with her father. She’s acting out because she’s mad at her father for abandoning her. Which may not excuse her terrible behavior, but it does offer an interesting explanation for it.
Beth has everything she could ever ask for; a loving family, complete freedom, the ability to be at two places at once. But none of that is enough to make up for the loneliness that she felt as a child. And even though she has Rick back in her adult life, that doesn't take away the years' worth of pent-up anger and sadness that she's been carrying around. But Beth never properly expressed how she felt to her father, so her actions are merely her emotions bubbling up to the surface.
Thankfully, Rick decides to leave the stupid theme park in order to straighten things out with both Beths. He tells them he loves them; he tells them that he’s proud of them; and, even though they technically belong to a different universe than him, he tells them that they are both his daughters. All of which made for an incredibly cathartic and emotionally resonating moment.
So I really loved how character-driven this episode felt. Or should I say, how character-driven half of the episode felt. The subplot involving the world theme park was fine, but it was nowhere near as engaging as the plot involving the two Beths. I absolutely loved learning more about these two characters, especially since it wasn't as gross as the last time they were alone together. Which is something that, funnily enough, doesn't even get acknowledged in this episode
Either way, I still think that it made for a pretty good episode overall. It may not have been my favorite episode of the season, but it was definitely a lot better than the last two episodes. And I hope the rest of the season will only get better from here. But I guess we'll see how the next episode of Rick and Morty will turn out to be once it gets released on Sunday.