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Rick And Morty's Heist Episode Reveals Everything Wrong With Rick
Rick Sanchez has never exactly been the most altruistic scientist in the galaxy, but the Rick and Morty episode "One Crew Over The Crewcoo's Morty" exemplifies exactly why the character is one of the worst human beings in the multiverse. While the first season was more focused on vignette episodes exploring the multiverse and building the world that the show would inhabit, seasons 2, 3 and 4 seem to be gearing up to redefine the way that each character views Rick. From Jerry, to Beth, to Summer, and of course, Morty, each member of Rick's immediate family have gone through a major crucible that recontextualizes their opinion of Rick.
Rick and Morty is a show that finds increasing enjoyment in lampooning genres in pop culture and entertainment. Whether it be literally fist-fighting the Devil in "Something Ricked This Way Comes" or taking direct aim at the newfound popularity of superheroes and comic books with "Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender," the show has no qualms about attacking the fictional concepts that have embedded themselves in the zeitgeist (all in good fun, of course). Episode 3 of season 4 is no different, setting itself up as a parody of heist films in the vein of Mission: Impossible and the Ocean's Eleven franchise. The episode revolves around Rick and Morty's trip to HeistCon, a massive nerd culture convention themed around heists, where Rick is challenged to a Heist-Off for the Crystal Skull of Horowitz.
However, below the veneer of mocking the tropes of heist media, the heist episode also displays some of Rick's worst tendencies as a character. While Rick and Morty has slowly been keying audiences in on Rick's temperament for seasons now, "One Crew Over The Crewcoo's Morty" is definitive proof that Rick is undefendable.
Rick Belittles Everyone's Niche Interest
Throughout the course of the show, Rick has been the ultimate nihilist, and he has no problems sharing that viewpoint with people. From his mocking insistence that God isn't real to his belief that nothing in the multiverse truly matters because it's infinite, Rick Sanchez is truly an acerbic character, and that attitude also extends to the people around him, whom he constantly humiliates for believing in and participating in behaviors that he feels are worthless.
Nowhere is that more evident than his entire demeanor throughout season four's heist episode. From the moment that he and Morty raid the alien tomb at the beginning of the episode, Rick spends the entire time belittling and berating both fans of the genre as well as the genre as a whole. When he and Morty go to HeistCon to confront Miles Knightley, they're given the opportunity to register as either professionals or fans. Of course, refusing to express interest in anything he deems inferior, Rick refuses to enter the con as a fan, leading to an extended sequence of him putting together a team of heist experts for the sole purpose of registering as a professional, only to dump them once he gets what he wants. Not only does Rick's total lack of investment in anything ruin his own relationships, but he actively weaponizes it to ruin other people's enjoyment of things.
His Arrogance Directly Causes The Episode's Conflict
The traditional mold of Rick and Morty episodes unfolds with Rick instigating a grand adventure with one of his family members, which inevitably goes off the rails when someone deviates from the plan laid out before them. This leads to Rick being forced to save the day, usually begrudgingly. Rarely, however, is there an episode in which the main problem comes from Rick himself and his inflated ego, but that's exactly what happens with the heist episode. In his selfish and mean-spirited desire to show fans of the heist genre that their interest is totally juvenile, Rick invents an AI named Heist-o-Tron, programmed with the tropes of several heist films in order to predict and counteract Miles Knightley's plan. This allows him to steal the Crystal Skull, as well as mind control every inhabitant of HeistCon and force them to steal every square inch of the convention arena. However, his plan totally backfires when Heist-o-Tron gains sentience and turns on Rick, quickly stealing the entire planet in a matter of hours.
Despite his creation of a sentient intelligence being the entire reason for their current predicament in the first place, Rick decides to create another AI, entitled Rand-o-Tron, that gives them a series of totally randomized events that will lead them to Heist-o-Tron's lair. In a twist of irony, however, Heist-o-Tron seemingly has Rick's same level of arrogance and ego, as the two of them spend hours bickering back and forth over hypothetical double crosses until the robot short circuits and explodes. In classic fashion, Rick's inflated sense of intelligence saves the world, but he conveniently disregards the fact that it's what put it in danger in the first place.
Rick Outright Gaslights Morty In The Episode
Throughout the episode, Morty continuously hints at the fact that he's writing a screenplay for a heist movie (a new layer of meta for a show that frequently references other movies). This is why he's so excited by the prospect of the episode's adventure: it brings him closer to an understanding of the genre in order for him to be able to write a successful script. However, the entire time Rick mocks his creativity and continues to remind him that the heist genre is one that's creatively bankrupt and easy to predict.
This is all for the sake of a point, as audiences have come to expect from Rick Sanchez. At the end of the episode, Morty gets the opportunity to pitch his script to Netflix. However, the events of the episode have left him disillusioned with the heist genre, leading to him abandoning his pitch despite the fact that the Netflix executives were interested. It's then revealed that the entire episode was a cheap ploy to burn Morty out on the entire heist sub-genre, so that he would sabotage his own pitch out of a lack of enthusiasm. Rick's motives were simply so that he could keep Morty close to him and keep him going on adventures with him.
This is a textbook example of emotional manipulation and gaslighting, something that Rick has done to several characters throughout the series. Despite the few instances of genuine emotional affection sprinkled throughout the series, Rick is a narcissist emotional abuser who will resort to any methods to get people to cling to him. It remains to be seen what the hidden overarching plot of the show is, but Rick and Morty continues to make a great case as to why Rick just might be the show's greatest villain.
