Rick Is Painfully Aware That He’s in a TV Show
The Best Rick and Morty Fan Theories
We have seen Rick break the fourth wall on a few occasions. This sort of narrative tactic is far from unusual for comedies and animated series so it’s easy to overlook. It’s even easier to ignore this sort of tactic when the character breaking the fourth wall is screaming random nonsense. In one instance, Rick announces the end of season one by directly addressing the audience, and later, turns to viewers yet again after finding his brand new catchphrase “Wubba lubba dub dub!”. This jargon means initially makes little sense, but it’s later revealed that in Bird Person’s language “Wubba lubba dub dub” is more than just random gibberish: it means “I am in great pain. Please help me.” This seems like an odd phrase for Rick to latch on to. After all, he is a genius who so often easily finds his way out of trouble. One fan has laid out a detailed theory that could give a greater meaning to all of this.
But his empathy for his butter robot may give us a clue as to what is really going on in his mind. After calling on the aid of a small robot whose sole purpose is to pass the butter, Rick has a sobering moment. The robot asks Rick what his purpose is, to which Rick flatly answers “to pass butter.” The robot reacts, “Oh my god,” before dropping its head in sadness. Rick then responds with, “Yeah, welcome to the club, pal.” It’s a reminder that Rick believes that his existence and purpose are trivial and meaningless. To be fair, this could just be a dry, pessimistic outlook on life that’s driven by Rick’s incredible understanding of the universe, but there is one more piece of the puzzle that suggests something bigger is happening. At one point we also see a sketch on Rick’s wall that seems to be a rough drawing of show co-creator Dan Harmon.
