Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Rick and Morty season 7, episode 4.
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Summary
The post-credits scene for Rick and Morty season 7, episode 4 confirms that interdimensional travel is a necessary addition to the show’s canon. The absence of interdimensional travel in the first half of season 6 makes it difficult for the show to make sense of its wacky sci-fi plots. The existence of a multiverse in Rick and Morty’s universe allows for random and unpredictable twists, which contribute to the show’s anarchic storytelling style.
While Rick and Morty season 7, episode 4’s post-credits scene might be a surreal vignette, the moment proves that one major season 6 twist was a good call. Rick and Morty occasionally leans into the show’s canon, but the series mostly ignores its continuity during its first few seasons. To maintain the show’s status quo, Rick and Morty often avoids big revelations about the mechanics of the show’s universe. This is why it’s such a surprise when the season 5 finale explains — and then destroys — the Central Finite Curve.
This complicated concept involves the systemic oppression and torture of countless Mortys, but it allows Ricks to travel between whatever dimensions they want, whenever they want. By Rick and Morty season 7, the Central Finite Curve is long gone, but the show’s heroes are still traveling between dimensions at will. This is because Rick and Morty season 6, episode 6, “JuRicksic Mort,” sees hyper-intelligent dinosaurs gifting Rick with an alternative method of interdimensional travel. This effectively reset the show’s canon, allowing the series to return to Rick and Morty’s version of normalcy.
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Rick & Morty Season 7 Episode 4 Shows The Multiverse’s Value
While the entire story of Rick and Morty season 7, episode 4, “That’s Amorte,” relies on the characters being able to travel between planets and galaxies, it is the last moment of the outing that proves Rick and Morty needs interdimensional travel. Like earlier post-credit stingers in Rick and Morty season 7, episode 4’s post-credits scene is utterly absurd. The bizarre scene sees a group of sentient vacuum cleaners recreating the closing scenes of “That’s Amorte” as they discover that vacuum bags are made from dying Tree People. Even in context, the segment is as surreal as it sounds.
However, it is precisely this moment’s absurdity that proves Rick and Morty needs to reinstate its version of the multiverse. The scene recreates a moment from the ending of “That’s Amorte,” but all the human characters are replaced by talking vacuum cleaners and Tree People. It’s a scene that wouldn’t work if, like the first half of season 6, Rick and Morty season 7 had no interdimensional travel. By bouncing to an alternate reality for a moment, the show manages to mock its own storyline and make an already weird episode weirder. Needless to say, this post-credits scene, like Rick and Morty season 7’s first stinger, elevates its episode.
Rick and Morty Always Needed Interdimensional Travel
Before interdimensional travel is reinstated by the dinosaurs midway through season 6, Rick and Morty briefly struggles to make sense of the show’s wacky sci-fi plots without the option of suddenly cutting to another planet. The fact that the show can now jump to a world where, for example, people’s insides turn to spaghetti after they die (as is the case in season 7, episode 4’s opening scene) affords the series more freedom in its storytelling. What makes Rick and Morty’s anarchic plotting work is these random, unpredictable twists, and the existence of a multiverse equivalent in the show’s universe keeps these coming.
Rick and Morty
Release Date: 2013-12-02
Cast: Spencer Grammer, Justin Roiland, Kari Wahlgren, Chris Parnell, Sarah Chalke
Genres: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Seasons: 6
Summary: Rick and Morty is an adventure/Sci-Fi animated series that follows the intergalactic, inter-dimensional adventures of super-genius Rick Sanchez and his less-than-average grandson Morty Smith. Rick’s daughter, Beth, his granddaughter, Summer, and his hated stepson, Jerry, also take center stage more often than not. Hailing from creators Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, the series blends comedy with science fiction as a way of exploring a wide variety of themes aimed at an adult audience.
Story By: Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland, Tom Kauffman
Writers: Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland, Tom Kauffman, Eric Acosta
Network: Cartoon Network
Streaming Sevice: Hulu
Franchise(s): Rick and Morty
Directors: Dan Harmon, Ryan Ridley, Lee Hardcastle
Showrunner: Dan Harmon