Originally Posted by Fish:
Gotta agree. That was just magic. When he finally sat down in the garage and said "Man, I'm a shitty father" they really swung the emotion the other direction for a second.
And dammit, that fight scene between Rick and Bird Person was a fucking amazing animated spectacle.
Yes, that ending was kind of a gut punch. Paired with the rest of the episode, that's why I felt it was so good.
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
Here's the problem with the 'shitty father' thing - HE DID THE RIGHT THING!!!!
If he tells Beth he wants her to stay with him, knowing full well that she has an urge to go, that's just damn selfish of him. And if he doesn't want her to stay, well that's kinda shitty as well.
So he lets Beth have both. And in the end, he probably DID have a way to combine memories if he wanted to when one or other changed her mind. Meanwhile, in order to ensure that he didn't treat one of them differently than the other, he simply wiped his mind of it anyway. That way he wouldn't have any sort of bearing on who did what.
In the 4 years of examples of him being a shitty father and justifying it, why would THIS be the instance that drove it home? It's arguably one of the most well thought out and altruistic things he's done as a father. Moreover, even if you don't agree with that logic - RICK WOULD. Again, he's justified WAY worse things in the past so why should I believe he wouldn't come up with a similar justification this time? If there was something to flesh out there, they did a poor job of doing it. Especially since he still goes with "well I'm still a good friend..." with a disembodied BP. He's still the same guy.
There have been good emotional moments w/ Rick. The ending of the Unity episode stands out most here. This one is just...a downer for downer's sake. It's a dues ex machina in the form of a 'realization' that just doesn't stand up.
Here's the thing, though - he sees both his daughters, real and artificial, come to the realization that they both understand that neither were wrong for feeling the way they did about him, and in doing so they found that THEY didn't have to earn HIS love and admiration but the other way around. They knew it, they knew HE knew it, but they didn't brow beat him with that newfound realization. They took pity on him by walking away, and THAT is what drove it home for Rick. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
Here's the problem with the 'shitty father' thing - HE DID THE RIGHT THING!!!!
If he tells Beth he wants her to stay with him, knowing full well that she has an urge to go, that's just damn selfish of him. And if he doesn't want her to stay, well that's kinda shitty as well.
So he lets Beth have both. And in the end, he probably DID have a way to combine memories if he wanted to when one or other changed her mind. Meanwhile, in order to ensure that he didn't treat one of them differently than the other, he simply wiped his mind of it anyway. That way he wouldn't have any sort of bearing on who did what.
In the 4 years of examples of him being a shitty father and justifying it, why would THIS be the instance that drove it home? It's arguably one of the most well thought out and altruistic things he's done as a father. Moreover, even if you don't agree with that logic - RICK WOULD. Again, he's justified WAY worse things in the past so why should I believe he wouldn't come up with a similar justification this time? If there was something to flesh out there, they did a poor job of doing it. Especially since he still goes with "well I'm still a good friend..." with a disembodied BP. He's still the same guy.
There have been good emotional moments w/ Rick. The ending of the Unity episode stands out most here. This one is just...a downer for downer's sake. It's a dues ex machina in the form of a 'realization' that just doesn't stand up.
Originally Posted by Bowser:
Yes, that ending was kind of a gut punch. Paired with the rest of the episode, that's why I felt it was so good.
Here's the thing, though - he sees both his daughters, real and artificial, come to the realization that they both understand that neither were wrong for feeling the way they did about him, and in doing so they found that THEY didn't have to earn HIS love and admiration but the other way around. They knew it, they knew HE knew it, but they didn't brow beat him with that newfound realization. They took pity on him by walking away, and THAT is what drove it home for Rick.
You guys either need to smoke more weed, or less. I'm not sure which. :-) [Reply]
Originally Posted by Bowser:
Yes, that ending was kind of a gut punch. Paired with the rest of the episode, that's why I felt it was so good.
Here's the thing, though - he sees both his daughters, real and artificial, come to the realization that they both understand that neither were wrong for feeling the way they did about him, and in doing so they found that THEY didn't have to earn HIS love and admiration but the other way around. They knew it, they knew HE knew it, but they didn't brow beat him with that newfound realization. They took pity on him by walking away, and THAT is what drove it home for Rick.
Then it was a cheap expositionary device.
Ricks reaction had nothing to do with the video or what he did to hide the truth regarding Beth/Clone Beth. At that point he'd be reacting directly to the actions of the two Beth's and the rest of his family. I could see THAT landing.
But the writers also wanted the audience to know what he did and how he did it. So they used the video (at that point a mere plot device) and tried to wrap Rick's realization into it.
So it doesn't land. When you put it the way you did, I understand why Rick's upset (hadn't seen it from that perspective), but the writers did a poor job of establishing it by tying it into the video clip and, IMO, muddied the waters.
I think both perspectives help me figure out why it just didn't work for me. Take that video out altogether and then show it in the post-credits bumper and I think it makes a better episode. [Reply]