Rick and Morty season 5 episode 7 spoilers follow.
‘Gotron Jerrysis Rickvangelion’ starts off with a surprisingly catchy song about Boob World — “It’s a world for you / But it’s actually two / Boob Woooorld” — but by the end of Rick and Morty’s latest episode, it turns out that we were the boobs all along.
For reasons too ridiculous to go into here, what starts out as an innocent trip to Boob World quickly descends into a chaotic anime parody slashGoodfellas homage, because Rick and Morty. But even that’s all pretty tame compared to a surprise bombshell Summer drops towards the end of the episode.
More than once, ‘Gotron Jerrysis Rickvangelion’ mentions the giant incest baby that was shot into space a few episodes earlier, and more than once, we feared that this meant Rick and Morty’s dumbest episode would end up becoming integral to this one too. We were right to worry because it turns out that the baby that came from Summer’s egg and Morty’s sperm is still kicking and screaming.
After the US government shot the embryo into space, they took him to a secret facility on Mars, and with Summer’s help, they hoped to turn this monstrous creation into “the ultimate weapon”. But instead, Summer taught the baby how to escape, and that’s why Giant Incest Space Baby™ shows up at the end to return the favour and defeat all of the super-mecha, Ratatouille style.
Even for a show like Rick and Morty, that might still be one of the weirdest plot summaries ever written, but what’s more surprising is that Giant Incest Space Baby was even brought back at all. Aside from exceptions like President Curtis and Mr Poopybutthole, recurring characters are few and far between on this show. Hell, even regulars like Jessica and the newly introduced Space Beth have barely appeared at all in season five, despite being set up to become major players this time around.
I had so much FUN writing today’s episode of #boldandthebeautiful Getting to write these fun family dynamics and helping introduce a new character was such a joy!! #writerslife pic.twitter.com/s0Z7Ixcwli
— Lawrence SaintVictor (@LSaintVictor) August 2, 2021
As if that wasn’t weird enough, there’s also the fan reaction to consider too. Although this new episode was already completed before ‘Rickdependence Spray’ aired, Giant Incest Space Baby’s initial debut wasn’t particularly well received. Not since the Slut Dragon debacle of season four has an overall episode been slated to this degree, and it’s safe to say that Summer and Morty’s oversized infant played a big role in that.
So out of every character who could possibly return on this show, Giant Incest Space Baby, AKA Naruto Smith, wasn’t exactly the one that fans were clamouring to see. But it looks like that might have actually been the point all along.
Instead of bringing back Space Beth or even giving into fans with the long-awaited return of Evil Morty, the writers instead trolled us with the return of Rick and Morty’s grossest, perhaps least likeable character yet. And not just in a random cameo either. Giant Incest Space Baby actually saves the day in this episode, giving a giant-sized middle finger to everyone who criticised this character in the first place (us included).
This isn’t the first time that Rick and Morty has toyed with its fanbase. Back at the start of season four, the writers took aim at toxic trolls with some trolling of their own, and just a few episodes later, Rick and Morty poked fun at the Reddit obsessives who over-analyse the show (again, us included).
Of course, we could be reading too much into Giant Incest Space Baby’s return as well, obsessing over what this could *actually* mean to an unnecessary degree. However, it is worth noting that season five has mocked this kind of fan expectation before.
As far back as the premiere, Rick told Nimbus, “Don’t establish canonical backstory with me” after Diane, his ex-wife, is mentioned. She too would have been an interesting character to bring back, one that fans have longed to see for quite some time, but the writers know that and aren’t willing to give in, it seems.
Clearly, viewer expectations have been discussed in the writers’ room to at least some degree. It’s not much of a stretch then to imagine that they’re actively subverting those expectations by bringing back someone that fans actually don’t want to see, thereby making boobs of us all.
Rick and Morty airs on Adult Swim in the US.
Source: digitalspy.com