In this week’s episode of Rick and Morty, “Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender,” Rick’s insecurities took center stage. When called to action by a group of intergalactic superheroes called The Vindicators, Morty was thrilled. However, his enthusiasm was not matched by Rick who considers The Vindicators to be overrated hacks. He only agreed to accompany Morty to The Vindicator’s council when Morty cashed in his punch card which enabled him to pick one in 10 adventures.
The call to action was to destroy their arch nemesis — Worldender, whose goal is, as you may have guessed, to end worlds.
Viewers saw Rick’s insecurity when in the presence of The Vindicators almost immediately. Surrounded by a group of “good guys,” Rick, who considered good and evil to be nothing more than useless labels, was out of place. Here’s a group of people dedicated to helping others, while Rick is wholly self-serving.
Morty, however, considers The Vindicators heroes. Crocubot, half-human, half-crocodile, Million Ants, a literal human-like blob made up of a million ants, Lance Maximus, a cool, suave standard hero, Supernova, a godlike being with astral powers, Alan Rails who can summon ghost trains and Noob Noob, the janitor who strongly resembles Mr. Poopybutthole, all stuck together to help the weak individuals in the galaxy.
The only Vindicator Rick has any respect for is Noob Noob, simply for the reason that he laughed at Rick’s jokes during the meeting.
Morty’s admiration of The Vindicators clearly rubbed Rick the wrong way. After their initial meeting, Morty learned that The Vindicators met and went on an adventure without them.
He called Rick out for being the reason they weren't invited, and attempted to distance Rick because he wants to be part of The Vindicators and believed Rick was making him look bad.
After telling Rick The Vindicators are his heroes, Rick was disappointed. He pretended he didn’t care about anything, but throughout the season we’ve seen signs that he does care about Morty and how Morty thinks of him.
It’s obvious Rick was upset that Morty admires The Vindicators more than him. Morty’s comment sent Rick on a drinking binge which caused him to awake the next morning covered in his own diarrhea, which unfortunately Noob Noob was left to clean up.
On the mission, Worldender was discovered to already be dead. A screen showing Rick from the night before popped up, in which Rick explained that he’s drunk and going to put everyone through a series of Saw-like tests to prove The Vindicators are not as fantastic as they seem.
The tasks started out as attempts to put The Vindicators down, but got simpler as the Rick in the video gets drunker, one task being a free throw contest.
Throughout the tasks, Rick’s inventions killed off The Vindicators. By the free throw contest, Crocubot and Lance Maximus were both dead. While making free throws, Supernova and Alan Rails got into an argument regarding Million Ants having an affair with her when she and Alan were still married. It resulted in Million Ants murdering Alan Rails.
Despite having no superpower or otherworldly ability, Morty was the only one to successfully navigate the tasks because of his familiarity with drunk Rick. The only task that he couldn’t figure out was the last one, in which the Rick on-screen demands that the group put the only part of The Vindicators that matters to Rick in the center of the room on a panel.
Morty believed no matter what they put on the panel, they would all die since Rick respects nothing about The Vindicators. Present Rick, who remembered nothing of the night before, however, suggested they put Morty on the panel, quickly assuring everyone that Morty means nothing to him. However, he may have gotten emotional when he drank causing Morty to be the final answer.
A smirking Morty stepped on the panel, believing he had finally cracked Rick’s surface. Morty wanted to believe he’s important to Rick. In earlier seasons, he frequently insinuated Rick has emotions and really cares about him and Summer, which Rick is always quick to deny.
The panel accepted Morty and took him under the surface while drunk Rick was on screen saying how much Morty means to him.
That was it. Fans finally saw Rick as an emotional human being. First, with his insecurity about The Vindicators being Morty’s heroes rather than him, then with the elaborate scheme culminating in his drunk confession of compassion. It’s enough to bring tears to your eyes.
Until Rick’s drunken video revealed that the true intended recipient of the video was not Morty. The most important member of The Vindicators, the real reason behind all the tasks, the person who made Rick tear up and become emotional — Noob Noob.
Because Noob Noob laughed at his joke during the meeting of The Vindicators when no one else would.
It was a moment that reminded the audience Rick and Morty isn’t a traditional cartoon. Emotion takes a back seat to science and crazy adventures with self-serving intentions. Rick defeated Worldender and created tasks which resulted in the deaths of almost all The Vindicators all for a janitor that laughed at his jokes.
It was a pure Rick moment. The audience was craving an emotional breakthrough, and Rick denied them this satisfaction. However, the episode was not wholly without breakthrough. We saw Rick’s insecurities about being second place in Morty’s mind. Rick is, although he’ll try his best to deny it, human. He has feelings just like everyone else.
No Jerry again this week. Let’s hope we all see our favorite failed advertising agent again soon.
Rick and Morty airs every Sunday at 11:30 p.m. on Cartoon Network.
