The Major Rick Detail That Has Fans Buzzing In Rick And Morty Season 5 Episode 7

The plot of the seventh episode of "Rick and Morty" Season 5, "Gotron Jerrysis Rickvangelion," kicks off when Rick (voiced by Justin Roiland) notices an abandoned blue ferret robot, which it turns out is one of a total of five different-colored "Gotron" robots that can combine to form a super-mech called Gogotron. Rick quickly gathers the other four giant ferrets and enlists the rest of the Smith family to pilot them. In a show with lesser ambition, the episode might chronicle the misadventures of a family piloting a Voltron or "Power Rangers"-style Megazord robot together. In "Rick and Morty," though, this relatively benign setup becomes the catalyst for a descent into obsession that frequently references "Goodfellas" and other mobster movies, as Rick gradually recruits the Smith families of other dimensions to pilot alternate universe versions of the Gotron robots. Together they combine their Gogotron mechs into an even bigger, more complex mech — it's specifically the desire to make a larger Gogotron out of an increasing number of smaller robots that drives Rick for the balance of the episode.

Not surprisingly, Rick's obsession backfires, when it blinds him to the efforts of the Gotron robots' original, anime-style pilots to sabotage his project. As was revealed when the episode first leaked, the rest of the Smith family must then enlist the so-called "incest baby" from three episodes prior (now named Naruto) to defeat Gogotron under the control of its original pilots.

While this complex mecha plot is ambitious and noteworthy in its own right, it's a minor detail resultant from the episode's introduction of alternate universe Ricks that has a certain subsection of the series' fanbase talking online about the very nature of Season 5, and what it all means.

Midway through "Rick and Morty" Season 5, some viewers began theorizing that some perceived plot and tone differences relative to prior seasons are in fact intentional, and indicative of a change in the show's setting. This theory hinges upon the fact that the Rick and Morty (also voiced by Justin Roiland) introduced in the pilot episode are no longer living in their home universe, called C-137, but have instead taken up residence in a nearly-identical universe in which Rick and Morty died, allowing the show's "original" or "primary" Rick and Morty to take their places.

Some fans online — including the YouTube channel The Film Theorists, who outlined the theory in a video with more than 2 million views — have been periodically floating the idea that Season 5 is the backstory of the Rick and Morty that the original C-137 Rick and Morty replaced. This theory also proposes that the Morty of Season 5 is not the primary Morty of prior seasons but Evil Morty, one of the show's most mysterious and formidable villains.

Don't get too excited about this, though, because "Gotron Jerrysis Rickvangelion" directly contradicts this theory. As pointed out by user COBRAking1999 in a discussion thread about the episode on Reddit, one of the alternate universe versions of Rick introduced in the episode, named Big Fat Rick, calls the main Rick "C-137." This offhanded comment, then, confirms that Season 5 Rick is indeed the Rick from the pilot episode. Season 5, therefore, is almost assuredly a continuation of past seasons rather than the history of the Rick and Morty that preceded the main Rick and Morty in the show's current dimension.

This effectively puts the Evil Morty origin story theory to rest ... at least, for the time being.