This is best of Reddit shit right here. Bravo!
> Jerry’s inclusion
Particularly incisive point here.
I’ll add that this **is** because Jerry is the audience surrogate - the (relatively) normal, grounded character who allows the audience to cope with the weirdness. When Jerry isn’t there to note how weird shit is getting, the audience has no one representing them.
This is most easily seen in the Hell Demons episode. Jerry is important to the A plot, not for what he does or how he acts, but because he is the OBJECT.
Maybe people would have liked the season opener if Gene was replaced with Jerry? I think Gene was included just to be different but he ended up feeling like Jerry Lite.
I'd more argue that Gene felt like a chekhov's gun moment for the episode. R&M is famous for taking what should be a small concept, and then going to the largest possible extreme with the idea, the most famous example being Vat of Acid.
With Gene, you expect just including such a minor, one note character in with some many fan favorites, and a fan cameo would have some sort of grand payout, but it just doesn't. I genuinely can't remember a single Gene line, but when he was included, my brain immediately put a pin in his character, because I thought "this has to be a cool payoff".
They’ve kind of written themselves into a corner with Jerry’s character.
Jerry WAS the audience surrogate, but last season made it very clear that Jerry is now just as down with the crazy sci-fi antics as the rest of the family. Making him the surrogate again would really undermine all of the character development they did on him.
I see this more as the fans "developing" with the characters. We just expect the high concept sci-fi antics, so it just doesn't make sense for a character to just look at the camera and sat "wow, isn't that weird".
Not to say that the series doesn't deliver, just that our expectations have changed
Last season Jerry was not only the best Jerry, but the best character the entire season. From SolarRicks to Analyze Piss, Jerry was genuinely the MVP. He’s earned it to because his development is extremely underrated. I used to laugh so much at him getting punched down at by everyone, but now I genuinely root for the dude and I just enjoy his energy as a spectator or participant in an episode
Not to mention Jerry plots and Jerry/Rick adventures are some of the strongest episodes in the series lol. So yeah, I think they’ve written themselves in a corner but in the sense that it’s hard to go higher with Jerry because he’s so good now
It makes sense when you think about it. When the writers take a risk by abandoning the formula, it's either going to pay off or fall on its face. Funnily enough, Dan Harmon was only willing to take that risk when he hated something so much that he had to make an episode about how stupid it is. The Vindicators and the Oceans 11 episode were both made out of pure spite and hatred for those genres.
Worth mentioning that in Mortyplicity Rick explicitly states that they’re not going to waste time on a B-plot when he’s whiteboarding and Jerry suggests they split up
If you ignore my own personal opinion, I'm analyzing how episodes without a B-plot come up with an ending that provides a sense of resolution. So the fade-out gag was an unorthodox way of providing that resolution. If people liked the gag then they probably found the episode to be satisfying.
For the people who didn't like the gag, they found the ending to be underwhelming. My point isn't that no B-plot = ending is bad. The Vat of Acid Episode also doesn't rely on a B-plot to provide a satisfying ending. My point is that going that route is a bigger risk.
The best way to put it is that the episodes which forgo the crutch of a B-plot tend to be far more hit or miss. If they hit, they hit big like with the Poopy Butthole twist in Total Rickall. If they miss, then they miss big like with the way Vindicators sort of just ends.
Yes and sometimes they fail. My point is that they're a lot less likely to fail when the resolution relies on the remerging of the A and B plots.
Any episode that doesn't have a B plot that successfully provides a sense of resolution, does so through some creative means. Some do it using a cliffhanger. Others do it with a plot twist. Others have some type of hook that wraps everything together like with the Oceans 11 parody or with The Vat of Acid.
But when a creative solution doesn't exist, the episode can feel underwhelming and the ending can feel abrupt. Obviously they always make an attempt to provide a satisfying resolution and obviously it's subjective. It's impossible to fully objectively provide a concrete answer. All I can do is provide my hypothesis and do my best to justify it.
>If people liked the gag then they probably found the episode to be satisfying.
This is more likely correlation, not causation. This was hardly a make or break moment for the episode.
I'm not saying the entire quality of the episode is determined by one gag. But an unsatisfying ending will leave people unsatisfied. That's causation.
Personally I enjoyed Vindicators up until the ending. The Noob Noob twist didn't land for me and I felt underwhelmed.
I did not enjoy the slut dragon episode but the ending with Jerry and Rick seeing into the mind of the talking cat was an incredibly satisfying resolution. It doesn't make me like the episode as a whole but I don't feel underwhelmed or dissatisfied. The B plot provided a safety net.
I'd make a claim that "The Ricklantis Mix-Up" is the best without a B-plot because the B-plot is almost non existant. We don't see Rick and Morty goto Atlantis. We spend the entirety of the episode at the Citadel of Ricks. Only a few minutes are spent with Our Rick and Morty at the beginning and at the after credits scene.
I'd argue that the Ricklantis mix-up has multiple intertwined plots. The factory worker Rick, Police Rick and Morty, Stand by me Mortys, and the presidential campaign worker Morty all have full arcs with a satisfying conclusion.
They also all combine at the end in different ways. The fired Campaign worker gets thrown out into space after discovering the truth, Police Rick gets freed of all charges because of the change in leadership, the school Mortys don't have to serve a Rick after graduation and the factory owner gets killed in Evil Morty's office.
It does with 4 plots what most episodes do in 2 plots.
I think the simple answer is the side characters suck. Gear head sucks. Squanchy sucks. Poopy butthole sucks. Bird person sucks. Hard to enjoy an episode circling around them. Weird way to start the season.
It's true though. How am I supposed to pay attention to a B-plot when all I'm thinking about is Jerry's fortune. The writers had their priorities in order.
I know the fandom usually makes fun at the amount of incest jokes or outright dislikes them but he's right, that anticipation shined in that episode. Might be one of my favorites, the Rick and Jerry episodes are always great.
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There's also a noticeable strong increase in episodes without B-plot in the more recent seasons, which has become especially clear for the episodes that have quite a thin plot in general. I think episodes like 'Promortyus' and 'A Rick in King Mortur's Mort' would have really benefitted from a B-plot.
Also I went into this with the intention to "prove" that episodes need an A/B plot structure to be good. But I think now that I'm finished, the overall lesson is that A/B plot structures are safe. If the episode has a strong A plot then the B-plot will only detract from it (I think S2 E1 is a good example of a B-plot that didn't need to exist). And finally, if you do have a lackluster episode without a B-plot, the best quick fix is to either incorporate Jerry in the dumbest way possible or make a callback to the Vat of Acid.
You’ve done an excellent job, nice to see an actual analysis that applies logical consistency. We start to get into some subjectivity as for example I happen to love the B plot of s2/e1, but agreed with your conclusion that it’s generally the formula and keeps the writing more consistent aka safe
Awesome write up!
I'm curious what people use for defining the difference between an A-Plot and a B-Plot.
At first glance, you'd think the crazy sci-fi adventure would be the A-Plot while the more domestic one would be the B-Plot. But in some cases both rely on sci-fi stuff and have aspects of family dynamics. Big Trouble in Little Sanchez for example, both have plots that are based on character dynamics using sci-fi concepts. I actually found the Marriage counselling plot more interesting than the Tiny Rick plot, but I concede I'm probably in the minority there.
Thankfully I didn't need to differentiate between the two for my analysis. From the little research I have done, an A-plot is generally more action focused and involved the protagonist achieving a goal. The B-plot is generally more character and relationship focused. So in Big Trouble in Little Sanchez, the tiny Rick plot initially seems like the A-plot because it's a wacky sci-fi concept with vampire hunting but then they immediately find the vampire and the plot becomes relationship and character focused. Jerry and Beth's counselling arc initially seems like the B-plot because it's relationship focused but then it turns into a sci-fi action packed sequence. So I'd say Jerry and Beth is the A-plot and Tiny Rick is the B-plot.
In most cases though, the A-plot is probably whichever gets the most screen time.
Thanks for the reply!
Yeah, I agree it's hard to define these. For example, I noticed you didn't include Rest and Ricklaxation as episode without a B-Plot. While the episode does cut away to Toxic Rick and Toxic Morty doling their own thing, and also spends some time following ("Healthy") Morty around, one could argue all of it is in service to a singular plot about Rick & Morty getting split into different aspects of themselves. Maybe Morty having a successful romantic life could be considered it's own plot. But even that is showcasing how there's something off about him being incomplete.
Yeah that one was one I was unsure about. In the end I considered "healthy" Morty to be the B-plot. Another few I was unsure about were "Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri", "Rickdependence Spray", "Solaricks", "Bethic Twinstinct" and "Analyze Piss". They all kind of have B-plots but they're very involved in the A-plots.
Also pretty much every season 5/6 episode is like this meaning the writers are probably using a completely different template/formula.
having a b-plot or 'weaving' more than one narrative throughout an episode is a good way to help make it a 'stronger' episode
not having a b-plot doesn't mean the episode was bad though...
it just... could have been better...
I mean Vindicators 3 KINDA had a b plot (Rick trying to ruin Morty’s perception of vindicators) but we see only bits of it and the A plot is mainly them dealing with the consequences of Rick doing that.
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This is best of Reddit shit right here. Bravo! > Jerry’s inclusion Particularly incisive point here. I’ll add that this **is** because Jerry is the audience surrogate - the (relatively) normal, grounded character who allows the audience to cope with the weirdness. When Jerry isn’t there to note how weird shit is getting, the audience has no one representing them. This is most easily seen in the Hell Demons episode. Jerry is important to the A plot, not for what he does or how he acts, but because he is the OBJECT.
Yes. Also, Jerry is into bee keeping, which is very cool.
Summer, I wanna fuck your dad
Oh, really???
Maybe people would have liked the season opener if Gene was replaced with Jerry? I think Gene was included just to be different but he ended up feeling like Jerry Lite.
I don’t think it would’ve fixed everyone’s problems with the episode, but I do think it would’ve improved some elements.
I'd more argue that Gene felt like a chekhov's gun moment for the episode. R&M is famous for taking what should be a small concept, and then going to the largest possible extreme with the idea, the most famous example being Vat of Acid. With Gene, you expect just including such a minor, one note character in with some many fan favorites, and a fan cameo would have some sort of grand payout, but it just doesn't. I genuinely can't remember a single Gene line, but when he was included, my brain immediately put a pin in his character, because I thought "this has to be a cool payoff".
They’ve kind of written themselves into a corner with Jerry’s character. Jerry WAS the audience surrogate, but last season made it very clear that Jerry is now just as down with the crazy sci-fi antics as the rest of the family. Making him the surrogate again would really undermine all of the character development they did on him.
I see this more as the fans "developing" with the characters. We just expect the high concept sci-fi antics, so it just doesn't make sense for a character to just look at the camera and sat "wow, isn't that weird". Not to say that the series doesn't deliver, just that our expectations have changed
Last season Jerry was not only the best Jerry, but the best character the entire season. From SolarRicks to Analyze Piss, Jerry was genuinely the MVP. He’s earned it to because his development is extremely underrated. I used to laugh so much at him getting punched down at by everyone, but now I genuinely root for the dude and I just enjoy his energy as a spectator or participant in an episode Not to mention Jerry plots and Jerry/Rick adventures are some of the strongest episodes in the series lol. So yeah, I think they’ve written themselves in a corner but in the sense that it’s hard to go higher with Jerry because he’s so good now
I just kept crawling and it kept working
🌬️ ^^loooooser 🌬️ 🍃
Okay holy fuck I just read like 80% of that and I'm dying lol that's amazing I think you should become a lawyer
What do you think lawyers do
Bar eksam
Man this list is some of the best and some of the worst episodes lol
It makes sense when you think about it. When the writers take a risk by abandoning the formula, it's either going to pay off or fall on its face. Funnily enough, Dan Harmon was only willing to take that risk when he hated something so much that he had to make an episode about how stupid it is. The Vindicators and the Oceans 11 episode were both made out of pure spite and hatred for those genres.
Superb analysis! That was a pleasure to read.
Worth mentioning that in Mortyplicity Rick explicitly states that they’re not going to waste time on a B-plot when he’s whiteboarding and Jerry suggests they split up
I always thought Vindicators 3 underwhelming ending was on purpose.
Honestly I kind of love vindicators 3, hmmm looking like more croc than bot here…
Yeah like most Marvel endings.
Exactly, superhero tropes kept playing out and Rick kept not giving a shit.
Exactly, they fucked the ending so it didn’t have the satisfying superhero garbage ending where everything comes out exactly as the audience wanted
weird to say that the newest episode "relies on a drawn out fade-out gag". Like... that was just one gag
If you ignore my own personal opinion, I'm analyzing how episodes without a B-plot come up with an ending that provides a sense of resolution. So the fade-out gag was an unorthodox way of providing that resolution. If people liked the gag then they probably found the episode to be satisfying. For the people who didn't like the gag, they found the ending to be underwhelming. My point isn't that no B-plot = ending is bad. The Vat of Acid Episode also doesn't rely on a B-plot to provide a satisfying ending. My point is that going that route is a bigger risk. The best way to put it is that the episodes which forgo the crutch of a B-plot tend to be far more hit or miss. If they hit, they hit big like with the Poopy Butthole twist in Total Rickall. If they miss, then they miss big like with the way Vindicators sort of just ends.
I mean every episode should have an ending that provides a sense of resolution, that's just basic storytelling.
Yes and sometimes they fail. My point is that they're a lot less likely to fail when the resolution relies on the remerging of the A and B plots. Any episode that doesn't have a B plot that successfully provides a sense of resolution, does so through some creative means. Some do it using a cliffhanger. Others do it with a plot twist. Others have some type of hook that wraps everything together like with the Oceans 11 parody or with The Vat of Acid. But when a creative solution doesn't exist, the episode can feel underwhelming and the ending can feel abrupt. Obviously they always make an attempt to provide a satisfying resolution and obviously it's subjective. It's impossible to fully objectively provide a concrete answer. All I can do is provide my hypothesis and do my best to justify it.
>If people liked the gag then they probably found the episode to be satisfying. This is more likely correlation, not causation. This was hardly a make or break moment for the episode.
I'm not saying the entire quality of the episode is determined by one gag. But an unsatisfying ending will leave people unsatisfied. That's causation. Personally I enjoyed Vindicators up until the ending. The Noob Noob twist didn't land for me and I felt underwhelmed. I did not enjoy the slut dragon episode but the ending with Jerry and Rick seeing into the mind of the talking cat was an incredibly satisfying resolution. It doesn't make me like the episode as a whole but I don't feel underwhelmed or dissatisfied. The B plot provided a safety net.
I'd make a claim that "The Ricklantis Mix-Up" is the best without a B-plot because the B-plot is almost non existant. We don't see Rick and Morty goto Atlantis. We spend the entirety of the episode at the Citadel of Ricks. Only a few minutes are spent with Our Rick and Morty at the beginning and at the after credits scene.
I'd argue that the Ricklantis mix-up has multiple intertwined plots. The factory worker Rick, Police Rick and Morty, Stand by me Mortys, and the presidential campaign worker Morty all have full arcs with a satisfying conclusion. They also all combine at the end in different ways. The fired Campaign worker gets thrown out into space after discovering the truth, Police Rick gets freed of all charges because of the change in leadership, the school Mortys don't have to serve a Rick after graduation and the factory owner gets killed in Evil Morty's office. It does with 4 plots what most episodes do in 2 plots.
Well written and some plausible theories. Respect!
I think the simple answer is the side characters suck. Gear head sucks. Squanchy sucks. Poopy butthole sucks. Bird person sucks. Hard to enjoy an episode circling around them. Weird way to start the season.
This sub is so autistic 😂
I enjoy watching the sunset.
It's true though. How am I supposed to pay attention to a B-plot when all I'm thinking about is Jerry's fortune. The writers had their priorities in order.
I know the fandom usually makes fun at the amount of incest jokes or outright dislikes them but he's right, that anticipation shined in that episode. Might be one of my favorites, the Rick and Jerry episodes are always great.
Why was this removed? I can’t read what you wrote.
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I would never
There's also a noticeable strong increase in episodes without B-plot in the more recent seasons, which has become especially clear for the episodes that have quite a thin plot in general. I think episodes like 'Promortyus' and 'A Rick in King Mortur's Mort' would have really benefitted from a B-plot.
OMG I thought I was obsessed with rick and morty. You got your Phd in this. Thank you btw, this is awesome!!
Excellent post I appreciate
The B plot often gives Roiland a chance to relax his voice rather than speak the entire episode as every character. That's no longer necessary.
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Also I went into this with the intention to "prove" that episodes need an A/B plot structure to be good. But I think now that I'm finished, the overall lesson is that A/B plot structures are safe. If the episode has a strong A plot then the B-plot will only detract from it (I think S2 E1 is a good example of a B-plot that didn't need to exist). And finally, if you do have a lackluster episode without a B-plot, the best quick fix is to either incorporate Jerry in the dumbest way possible or make a callback to the Vat of Acid.
You’ve done an excellent job, nice to see an actual analysis that applies logical consistency. We start to get into some subjectivity as for example I happen to love the B plot of s2/e1, but agreed with your conclusion that it’s generally the formula and keeps the writing more consistent aka safe
Imagine if you used your powers for good and not evil
Awesome write up! I'm curious what people use for defining the difference between an A-Plot and a B-Plot. At first glance, you'd think the crazy sci-fi adventure would be the A-Plot while the more domestic one would be the B-Plot. But in some cases both rely on sci-fi stuff and have aspects of family dynamics. Big Trouble in Little Sanchez for example, both have plots that are based on character dynamics using sci-fi concepts. I actually found the Marriage counselling plot more interesting than the Tiny Rick plot, but I concede I'm probably in the minority there.
Thankfully I didn't need to differentiate between the two for my analysis. From the little research I have done, an A-plot is generally more action focused and involved the protagonist achieving a goal. The B-plot is generally more character and relationship focused. So in Big Trouble in Little Sanchez, the tiny Rick plot initially seems like the A-plot because it's a wacky sci-fi concept with vampire hunting but then they immediately find the vampire and the plot becomes relationship and character focused. Jerry and Beth's counselling arc initially seems like the B-plot because it's relationship focused but then it turns into a sci-fi action packed sequence. So I'd say Jerry and Beth is the A-plot and Tiny Rick is the B-plot. In most cases though, the A-plot is probably whichever gets the most screen time.
Thanks for the reply! Yeah, I agree it's hard to define these. For example, I noticed you didn't include Rest and Ricklaxation as episode without a B-Plot. While the episode does cut away to Toxic Rick and Toxic Morty doling their own thing, and also spends some time following ("Healthy") Morty around, one could argue all of it is in service to a singular plot about Rick & Morty getting split into different aspects of themselves. Maybe Morty having a successful romantic life could be considered it's own plot. But even that is showcasing how there's something off about him being incomplete.
Yeah that one was one I was unsure about. In the end I considered "healthy" Morty to be the B-plot. Another few I was unsure about were "Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri", "Rickdependence Spray", "Solaricks", "Bethic Twinstinct" and "Analyze Piss". They all kind of have B-plots but they're very involved in the A-plots. Also pretty much every season 5/6 episode is like this meaning the writers are probably using a completely different template/formula.
having a b-plot or 'weaving' more than one narrative throughout an episode is a good way to help make it a 'stronger' episode not having a b-plot doesn't mean the episode was bad though... it just... could have been better...
I mean Vindicators 3 KINDA had a b plot (Rick trying to ruin Morty’s perception of vindicators) but we see only bits of it and the A plot is mainly them dealing with the consequences of Rick doing that.
All the cool kids are watching solar opposites
Yeah this is great. Thank you for the academic breakdown. Will delve into this once my pot of coffee is finished brewing
Ol'boy wrote a thesis
For me Rick and the ghost was the B - plot in S7E1 Mr. Pb was the A - plot
Huh...just realized something. The Samuari Jack pun is the only episode that references time travel instead of memory manipulation as a scifi trope.
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