Rick and Morty’s season finales have delivered some of the show’s all-time best episodes, but they haven’t all been great. The finale is arguably the most important episode of a season of television. It has to wrap up all the current story arcs (or at least provide some major developments on them) and top everything that came before it. It has to leave the audience satisfied, because it’s the last they’ll see of the show for a while, but it also has to leave them wanting more, so they’ll tune in when the next season premieres.
Throughout its run, some ofRick and Morty’s most significant, plot-heavy episodeshave been aired in the middle of a season. Rick and Morty had to relocate to a new universe after irreparably destroying their own in season 1, episode 6, “Rick Potion No. 9.” Rick finally got his revenge against Rick Prime (and realized it didn’t fix anything) in season 7, episode 5, “Unmortricken.” But the finale episodes have shocked audiences with their own bombshell twists and jaw-dropping developments. Some of the season finales rank amongRick and Morty’s greatest episodes, while others are just standard installments.
7Star Mort Rickturn Of The Jerri
After Disney acquired Lucasfilm, it seemed as though the onlyStar Warsstory it could tell was the original film’s tale of destroying the Death Star.The Force Awakenshad a Death Star,Rogue Onetold the origin story of the Death Star, andThe Rise of Skywalkerhad an Imperial Star Destroyer with a Death Star cannon mounted on it.Rick and Mortyparodied this trend in season 4, episode 10, “Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri,” as the Smiths set out to destroy the New and Improved Galactic Federation’s own Death Star.
This episode marked the first official appearance of Space Beth, and the mystery ofwhich Beth is a cloneand which is the original became an interesting storyline, but this is still arguably the show’s weakest season finale. By the timeRick and MortyspoofedStar Wars, that joke area was pretty played out. The season 4 finale has one of the show’s most depressing endings, as Rick fails to save Phoenixperson and ends up sad and alone, but at that point, it felt like a retread of all the other episodes that ended with Rick being sad and alone.
6The Rickchurian Mortydate
After the jaw-dropping cliffhanger that ended the season 2 finale, the season 3 finale — season 3, episode 10, “The Rickchurian Mortydate” — felt underwhelming. It doesn’t change the status quo of the series or radically alter the lives of the characters or set up an exciting new storyline for the future like the season 2 finale did; it’s just a standard standalone episode. It introduced Rick’s long-standing feud with the President, as Rick and Morty are annoyed that the President treats them like Ghostbusters, constantly calling on them to deal with monsters and never showing any gratitude.
Rick and Morty’s Presidentwas introduced as a parody of Barack Obama when he first appeared in season 2, episode 5, “Get Schwifty.” But when he reappeared in “The Rickchurian Mortydate,” he was turned into a parody of the new sitting president, Donald Trump. By the time the episode aired in 2017, Trump satire was painfully overdone. BetweenSouth ParkandSaturday Night Live, every single joke that could possibly be made about Trump’s presidency had already been made.Rick and Mortyis usually a biting, incisive comedy, but the political satire in the season 3 finale is extremely mild.
Satirizing Trump’s America should’ve been a great premise forRick and Mortyto tackle. The series has a bleak, nihilistic tone and uses twisted humor and inventive genre storytelling to capture real-world issues. But “The Rickchurian Mortydate” left a lot to be desired. It doesn’t use a clever sci-fi allegory to reflect the polarized U.S. political climate; it just revolves around a President of the United States who does and says whatever he wants without any regard for dignity or diplomacy, which is one-note and gets old quickly.
5Ricktional Mortpoon’s Rickmas Mortcation
After the disappointment of “Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri,”Rick and Mortydelivered its bestStar Warsparodyin season 6, episode 10, “Ricktional Mortpoon’s Rickmas Mortcation.” Rather than broadly spoofingStar Warsiconography, the season 6 finale focuses on a very specific what-if scenario that no one ever pondered before but now seems like a huge hole inStar Warslore. Rick finally caves to one of Morty’s long-standing wishes and gives him a lightsaber for Christmas. He has fun for a few minutes, but he promptly drops it through the floor in a perfectly straight line.
Rick and Morty desperately try to intercept the lightsaber before it reaches the Earth’s core. During this adventure, Morty becomes suspicious that Rick is being much nicer and more supportive than usual. Then, he’s shocked to discover that Rick replaced himself with a robot after their adventure with the Knights of the Sun so he could focus all his time onhunting Rick Prime. “Ricktional Mortpoon’s Rickmas Mortcation” starts off as a great standalone episode, but it ends with a satisfying expansion on one of the series’ most compelling story arcs.
4Rickmurai Jack
Rick and Mortycommitted to the titular duo’s separation in season 5, episode 10, “Rickmurai Jack.” In the penultimate episode of season 5, Rick and Morty ended their partnership. Rick replaced Morty with two crows and took off to enjoy intergalactic adventures with his new sidekicks in a spin-off franchise. However, early on in “Rickmurai Jack,” Rick is disheartened to learn that he’s the crows’ rebound, which leads him back to Morty.
“Rickmurai Jack” answered all the complaints thatRick and Mortywasn’t developing its mythology enough. It fills in the missing pieces of Rick’s backstory in a series of tragic flashbacks, and itbrings back Evil Morty— now President Morty — as the big bad of the show. The Citadel is destroyed, the Central Finite Curve is destroyed, and Rick and Morty are stranded in space — it was an awesome finale for a so-so season.
3Ricksy Business
While Beth and Jerry are away on a Titanic-themed vacation, Rick, Morty, and Summer throw a raging house party in season 1, episode 11, “Ricksy Business.” The bestRick and Mortyepisodes combine a relatable everyday situation. “Ricksy Business” nails that balance by bringing sci-fi guests like Gearhead and Abradolf Lincler to a typical booze-fueled rager.
Rick and Mortystill hadn’t quite found its feet by the end of season 1, but it had established the heartbreaking existential dread that runs beneath the show’s absurdist humor with scenes likeRick and Morty relocating to a new universeand Morty pointing out his own grave to Summer. “Ricksy Business” has a great moment of this when Birdperson reveals that Rick’s seemingly meaningless catchphrase, “Wubba lubba dub-dub,” actually translates to “I am in great pain, please help me.” It introduced the unseen depth to Rick’s character, which would become the dramatic backbone of the series.
2Fear No Mort
Rick and Mortyseason 7 was a mixed bag. Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden, the new voice actors brought in to replacedisgraced creator Justin Roiland, did a great job with the roles, but the actual writing of the episodes was very hit-and-miss. It had some really terrific episodes, like “That’s Amorte” and “Unmortricken,” but it also has some of the show’s worst episodes, like “Air Force Wong” and “Rise of the Numbericons: The Movie.” Fortunately, the season finale — season 7, episode 10, “Fear No Mort” — is a winner that stands among the show’s best.
The episode sees Rick and Morty facing their deepest, darkest fears in a mysterious hole in the men’s room of a Denny’s. The episode is a real head trip full of mind-boggling twists and turns that keep the audience guessing. It’s as terrifying as it is hilarious, and it’s a deep dive into Morty’s psychology and the toxicity and fragility of his relationship with Rick. Most ofRick and Morty’s season finales end on a depressing note, but season 7’s last episode ends on a heartwarming moment that proves Rick really does care about Morty.
1The Wedding Squanchers
The final episode of season 2 — season 2, episode 10, “The Wedding Squanchers” — sees the family attending the wedding of Rick’s friend Birdperson and Summer’s friend Tammy, who met at the Smiths’ house party in the season 1 finale. Although he’s dead against the institution of marriage, Rick is forced to attend the wedding to retrieve Jerry, who accidentally got caught in the invitation delivery system. At the wedding, Tammy reveals she’s really a deep-cover intergalactic agent and the wedding is an elaborate sting operation designed to draw Birdperson’s partners-in-crime (namely Rick) to the same location.
Like all the bestRick and Mortyepisodes, “The Wedding Squanchers” is full of big laughs, but also has an underlying emotional core. The episode has a lot of great jokes at the expense of weddings, but those jokes also have a deeper meaning: Rick uses these anti-marriage one-liners to cover up his deep well of loneliness and despair. As the Smiths flee the wedding, go on the run, and have to find a new planetary home, the season 2 finale also digs into Rick’s strained relationship with Beth, and the psychological damage from his shaky parenting.
With its blend of the everyday mundanity of a wedding and the sci-fi tropes of space cops and interstellar travel, “The Wedding Squanchers” was already one ofRick and Morty’s best episodes. But what makes it the show’s best season finale is its jaw-dropping ending. Like all the best finales, it ends season 2 on a bombshell twist that completely redefines the status quo of the series. The Galactic Federation takes over Earth and Rick turns himself in so his family can go home. Season 3 restored the status quo pretty quickly, but this was a mind-blowing cliffhanger.
Rick and Morty
Cast
Rick and Morty is an animated science fiction series that follows the eccentric scientist Rick Sanchez and his impressionable grandson Morty Smith as they embark on perilous adventures across space and alternate dimensions. The show explores the impact of these exploits on Morty’s tumultuous family life and personal challenges.
