The Mind Blower Colors From Rick And Morty Explained

Created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, "Rick and Morty" follows the inter-dimensional adventures of genius scientist Rick Sanchez (Justin Roiland) and his awkward but well-meaning grandson Morty Smith (also voiced by Justin Roiland). "Rick and Morty" is so captivating because of its irreverence for reality: instead, the series embraces a world where, thanks to Rick's off-the-charts inventing skills, literally anything is possible. The humor is grounded with kitschy pop-culture references — like the time four different versions of Morty made an homage to "Stand By Me" – but also tasks the audience with considering bizarre worlds beyond our own. 

The series has boasted plenty of standout episodes (looking at you, "The Ricklantis Mixup") and one such episode is Season 3, episode 8, titled "Morty's Mind Blowers." The episode starts with Morty traumatized from one of the pair's recent exploits. He begs Rick to erase the bad memory from his mind and Rick reveals that Morty has made the same request numerous times. Under the Smith family garage lies a chamber full of Morty's previously erased memories, all captured in colorful vials. 

As the episode progresses, it's clear that these vials are color-coded, even though Rick claims otherwise. 

Rick starts off by showing Morty memories from the blue vials. These vials contain instances where Morty made a mistake he wanted to forget. The cutaways are shocking and hilarious, each memory embarrassing Morty beyond belief. However, after looking back at his numerous blunders, Morty questions what kind of memories are in the purple and red vials.

Turns out, Rick has been holding out on him. The purple vials hold unflattering memories of Morty's family, including one where his mother Beth (Sarah Chalke) immediately chose to save his sister Summer (Spencer Grammar) in a life and death situation. These memories demonstrate how the Smith family dynamic is so central to the series, illuminating how the family's interactions affect Morty. The red vials cause an even bigger stir when Morty realizes they contain memories of Rick's mistakes, which he erased from his grandson's mind to avoid ridicule. These cutaways are exceptionally fun, giving viewers an insight into how Rick wants Morty to view him as someone who doesn't succumb to paltry human errors. 

While yellow and green vials are visible on the shelves, with Morty mentioning in passing that Rick keeps pink vials by his liquor cabinet, those mysterious memories don't make the cut. It might be that a future "Morty's Mind Blowers"-esque episode will reveal what's in the yellow, green, and pink vials. In the meantime, their contents point to a few theories.

Over the course of the series, Summer has become more heavily involved with Rick and Morty's misadventures. She's gained Rick's trust and respect along the way, demonstrated in "Morty's Mind Blowers" when she uses specific instructions Rick left her in the event the pair go overboard watching erased memories. It might be the case that Summer's memories are in the yellow or green vials. Since Beth and Jerry (Chris Parnell) often get roped into Rick's shenanigans, the yellow and green vials could house their bad memories, as well. In Jerry's case, it could even be something Rick erased as a joke.  

Since the pink vials are kept near Rick's liquor cabinet, those could contain memories of Beth's mother, or even an experiment that he wants to keep secret. Maybe they're simply fun memories he likes to relive when he's drinking. With Rick and Morty frequently interacting with versions of themselves from other dimensions, it's also possible that the memories in the other vials don't even belong to the duo we see in the episode. If only there was a memory that showed us what Evil Morty is up to!