Season 7 of Rick and Morty has been one of the best seasons yet. The final episode, “Fear No Mort,” was the cherry on top.
This season of Rick and Morty has gone to some interesting and unhinged places. From the return of Unity to questioning what exactly the spaghetti is made of, it’s been an adventure. The new voices of Rick (Ian Cardoni) and Morty (Harry Belden) stepped perfectly into their roles. With all of the interesting plotlines this season, episode 10 wrapped things up perfectly. There was a lot to unpack in that one episode. Let’s dive in and see what it means for Rick and Morty’s future.
Major spoilers for Rick and Morty season 7, episode 10
In “Fear No Mort,” Rick and Morty go to a scary carnival, but they aren’t scared of anything there. After all the things they’ve seen in their daily adventures, that isn’t too surprising. A man approaches them and tells them about a terrifying place on Earth. He directs them to a Denny’s. I’m glad Rick and Morty get offended by that because Denny’s may not be the best place to eat, but it’s always been there for us in our times of need.
Once they go inside, Rick and Morty realize there is a “fear hole” in the men’s bathroom of the Denny’s. People go into the fear hole to overcome their deepest fears. Morty jumps in and sees some pretty creepy things. Rick goes after him so they can both conquer their fears. When they go home, a younger version of Rick appears with Rick’s deceased wife, Diane, before the young Rick dies. Now Diane is with the family she never got to meet.
Don’t fear the reaper … or the hole
Rick and Morty realize they are still probably in the hole. While Rick starts spending more and more time with Diane, Morty keeps trying to figure out what their deepest fears are so they can leave the hole. We get to learn more about Rick before Diane’s death. He used to be a lightweight drinker and was not very cool. Losing Diane, the one person he could never replace, turned him into the person we’ve known on the show. Rick and Morty both start to look emaciated as the hole keeps feeding off of them and the fears that they can’t figure out. Morty tries to face his fear of not being accepted by humiliating himself on purpose. Seeing Morty dying makes Rick think his biggest fear is letting Diane go, which he does to save Morty.
Only that doesn’t get them out of the hole. They keep thinking they figured it out just to be back in the hole again. One of the best trips into the hole includes an extended montage of Morty growing up; his fear is that he turns into his dad. Finally, Morty figures out his biggest fear is relying too much on Rick. He comes out to see Rick waiting for him, since Rick never went in the hole. Morty tells Rick not to go in there because of the messed up things he saw, like Diane. They walk out, but then Rick runs back into the hole stall like he’s going to jump in. He puts Morty’s picture up on the wall of people who have come out of the hole fearless.
Even though we learned some things about Rick, they may or may not be true, since it was all part of Morty’s experience. This episode explores the growth of both characters. Morty used to be petrified of so many things. Going through the fear hole gives him years of fear exposure therapy in a short time. He’s faced the worst things he could think of and survived. Instead of jumping into the fear hole to prove a point or give in to an impulse, Rick celebrated Morty’s victory. It will be interesting to see how these changes shape season 8 of Rick and Morty.
(featured image: Adult Swim)
