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Rick & Morty isn’t too concerned with canon, but the show’s usually consistent characterization hit a snag when Rick acted oddly hypocritical in season 4's critically acclaimed “Vat of Acid Episode.” Beginning life as a raunchy spoof of Back to the Future back in 2013, Rick & Morty has since gone on to become a critically-acclaimed anarchic animated sitcom that parodies everything from Game of Thrones and its fans to sci-fi conventions, to television cliches, to vampire movies.

Although the breakneck pace of Rick & Morty means that the series frequently laughs in the face of continuity and canon, the show is nonetheless impressively consistent with its characterization—most of the time. Rick & Morty centers around the titular duo, well-meaning but dim-witted Morty and his cynical super-genius grandfather Rick. Over the show’s 4 seasons, Rick has consistently been portrayed as a typically uncaring but occasionally remorseful nihilist who is happy to kill, maim, and destroy his way through a universe to get his way, whereas Morty has consistently been portrayed as a more caring figure who tries to be thoughtful but often finds himself giving in to selfish impulses.

However, the twist of Rick & Morty’s “The Vat of Acid Episode” centers on Rick lording his moral superiority over a distraught Morty, and it’s a pretty transparently hypocritical stance that Morty could very easily have called him out for. Rick’s initial gleeful reveal of “that’s right you little b*tch, it’s The Prestige!” is a stellar twist, as the horrified Morty is shocked to learn he hasn’t been traveling in time but instead unknowingly killing alternate versions of himself. But Rick’s subsequent claim that “my hands are clean Morty, I gave you a choice” doesn’t add up with Rick’s cavalier attitude to death throughout Rick & Morty, as Rick has not only been responsible for more death and destruction than Morty was an in this lone episode, but he’s been aware of it all along.

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Even in Rick & Morty’s most underrated episodes, Rick has killed countless sentient beings for reasonable self-defense, selfish profit, and just for fun, and if it seems as though killing alternate versions of himself is what makes Morty’s actions so heinous, bear in mind Rick even wiped out an entire council of Ricks. All of this carnage took place before Rick then had the tenacity to act appalled that Morty killed a few versions of himself without even knowing he was doing it, which is a hollow barb coming from someone who has done the same and worse countless times while fully aware of the implications their actions had. Of course, most viewers probably picked up on the fact that Rick likely doesn’t actually care about the many dead Mortys, and is more concerned about getting Morty to admit that his vat of acid gambit is a clever plot.

But even then, despite Morty briefly demanding “is this all because of your vat of acid?” Morty never notes how hypocritical Rick’s season 4 rant is, and how much this Rick & Morty episode’s apparent condemnation of Morty’s hubris falls apart when compared to Rick’s amoral actions throughout the series so far. Even a mere one episode earlier, Rick and Morty destroyed an entire planet, so Rick's penchant for bloodshed isn't exactly concealed at this point in the series. It’s fair to suggest that Morty’s shock explains why he doesn’t immediately call out Rick’s unfair evaluation of events, but it’s nonetheless some jarring hypocrisy from Rick & Morty's typically consistent characters.