So then why aren't you talking why should that matter maybe it's time you stopped asking questions and started having lunch
[Rick looks at his deepest and greatest fears]
What was that all about
Hello Internet
Welcome to film theory the show that unlike Rick and Morty doesn't take a break for Thanksgiving week
Luckily though with that one week hiatus for turkey day behind us this week
Finally brought us another Rick and Morty episode to gobble up it let's just say it's not one to watch with the kids
Definitely not one to watch with your parents either. Maybe you yourself want to take a long shower after watching this line
I just want to be clean. I I feel dirty after everything that's happened
It was a weird episode full of in my opinion wasted potential
No offense creators of Ricky Morty, but I gotta be honest with you cuz I love you
I mean you put Rick in a situation where his science is rendered useless
It's like the first time ever that we really see him helpless, but then one commercial break later
He's basically being unstoppable again. That would have been so cool to explore as a concept
If I'm being honest here was one of my least favorite episodes of all time
or at least the a plot of the episode was luckily for me and luckily for the
Monetization of this video this episode actually gave us something a bit more interesting and a lot more brand safe to talk about
So we're get about that talking mythical beast. I'm far more interested in this
Talking regular animals. I'm a talking cat, but who cares? Why isn't my point in?
This episode's be story focuses on the escapades of Jerry and his newly found talking cat friend namely season one gave us talking dogs
But step aside snowball now, we got ourselves a talking cat voiced by my boy Matthew Broderick
doesn't know he's my boy, but
Love him cuz he's a theatre nerd like I am and us theatre nerds got to stick together
Even though one isn't aware that the other one exists
Sure
Matthew's a talking cat and no we're not supposed to ask any questions about that which
Ironically enough is all we're gonna be doing in today's episode about this new character in this episode
So anyway, Jerry after finding his verbose feline friend, but receiving zero answers as to what's really going on decides
He's okay enough to take a trip to Florida on the cat's request came a wife Florida because they don't ask questions
They play volleyball they party and they have fun
right things get
Considerably less fun for Jerry when the cat decides to use the beach as a litter box and chooses to blame it on
his human companion
poopy
And buried it was like two little kicks and just love to hear like a landline. It was him
things also get considerably less fun for our talking cat Fred when he stops taking his own advice and breaks the number-one rule of
Florida asking too many questions
It's like Fight Club for retirees. I'm asking too many questions, aren't I?
how ironic
After a long day together Jerry and the cats journey comes to an end when Jerry is joined by Rick and the two of them
Decide that it's time to get some answers or specifically one answer. Why does this cat?
Aw, the cat's unwilling to spill the beans. So Rick pulls out his mind scanner. Mine skin.look
You're overthinking it the point of a talking cat is to have fun and what they see
Apparently defies word. Let's see the truth
What?
Whatever it is that they see in that cat's mind scan is enough for Jerry to lose his lunch and
His breakfast through probably yesterday's dinner. We can't see what they're seeing
But one thing's clear that cats got to go
Get out
Both of them seemed deeply disturbed by what they see but luckily rick has a solution for that
Remember the season 3 episode Morty's mind blowers that showed us how rick has a way of wiping out memories that are too traumatizing
We're disturbing to deal with well Rick remembers Jerry isn't quite sure that he wants to take the easy way out though
No, I don't think we should forget but this
Someone has to remember someone will and with that Rick wipes Jerry's memory
But not his own and the two of them head back home, but what a weird plot, right?
I mean out of nowhere. There's just this random
Talking cat and then a trip to Florida and then when we see the second hand reactions of the people who actually learn the truth
Of what's really going on here? It's like the most horrific thing possible
so terrifying that it even rattles the unflappable Rick Sanchez who has
Literally seen it all. So of course on this channel, we're gonna ask the question. What did they see? What were they looking at?
What is really going on with that? Darn cat?
Look, you're overthinking it the point of a talking cat is to have fun the answer. Well, let's look at the evidence
This might be tempting to assume that the cat was responsible for some kind of unspeakably horrifying act
Something's so wretched and evil that Rick and Jerry just couldn't help but be repulsed by how evil it was
But it seems unlikely that that's the case after all Rick and Jerry's reaction is to tell the cat to go away
Rick has no ethical qualms about killing people who deserve it and sometimes even those who don't deserve it
So if the cat were really responsible for some kind of horrifyingly evil act
It seems pretty safe to say that he would have just killed it right on the spot or at the very least made some
Attempt to contain it poor cat taint it
He does after all have a prison in the secret lab under the garage as we saw in the season 2 episode where he was
Keeping Blin blam. The baby-eating murderer chained up
I'm a murderer that eats babies and I came to this planet to eat
babies Rick and Jerry's willingness to let the cat go indicates that it merely bore witness to some kind of evil act or
Maybe it just perpetrated an act that
Well, not evil per se was so horrifying and disgusting that it offended their human Sensibility
This cat might not be a threat to their physical safety
But seeing him around would be a constant reminder of the terrors that nearly drove them to the brink of madness
So the kitty has got to go
so what then could have disgusted them so much the key word here is
disgust because it's one of the most intense emotional responses that humans can have to have given stimulus if you drill into the psychology and
Evolutionary background of disgust there is actually a really good reason for this disgust is meant to serve as a violent physical
Rejection when your body senses something that could be a potential contagion
It's what psychology professor David Pizarro at Cornell University describes as a quote built in poison detective
You can even see it on infants you put a few drops of a bitter substance on their tongue and their tongue
Immediately shoots out of their mouths as their body
Reflexively tries to reject the bitter substance that you're trying to feed that when we eat expired food
Our body wants to throw up
so as to remove the potentially spoiled or
Contaminated food from our system and simply smelling touching or seeing something that disgusts us can trigger that same physical response
Just like we see happen to Jerry
Some things that David Pizarro noticed things that universally elicit disgust in humans our poop vomit blood
Rotting or decaying flesh and what all those things have in common? Well, they're all common ways that disease spreads
So it makes sense that it would be evolutionarily advantageous for our bodies to violently reject or be
disgusted by those things
However, David Pizarro notes that the list of universal elicit errs have discussed include not just those substances
But also a lot of sexual acts which again makes sense
considering that this is just another way for many diseases to spread and would also explain part of why so many cultures
Around the world have taboos around the dirty deed
So that might be on the table as a possible explanation for why Rick and Jerry had a violent reaction to what they saw in
The cat's mind some kind of
ridiculously deviant
Sexual act that could be the kind of thing that would get them to have this intense sense of revulsion. Well also,
Clearly being okay enough that it isn't worth an immediate death sentence at the hands of red. I said this was an episode
where a dragon
Soul bonds with the grandfather and his two grandkids
So it's definitely on feet with the episode and it would have to be pretty darn freaky to offend a brick
But again, this cat was totally down to sole bond with that same dragon in the post-credits scene
So it's very clear that there's plenty of things that are on the table for this little tabby
This isn't the first time in the series that Jerry's had an intense disgust for reaction to certain bedroom activities either
He had a negative reaction albeit. Not quite as strongly way back in the season 1 episode anatomy Park
Jerry's parents come to visit the family for the holidays and Jerry's none, too
Happy to find out that they brought along his mother's new friend
Jacob I watched them sometimes from a chair sometimes from a closet
Almost always dressed as Superman even though both of Jerry's parents seemed very happy and content with the arrangement
Jerry doesn't like it one bit
This might seem like a random thing to bring up here
But Jerry's parents may actually be important to uncovering the mystery of what this cat's up to in the aftermath of the traumatic memory viewing
Jerry says this it wasn't my home
Not he was in my home where my wife and kids are but in my home where I keep photos of my
Parents which seems to point to something involving parents or older adults
Something that he would be ashamed
That his parents learned about so could that relate to the time that he and the cats spent together in?
Florida other online theorists have also pointed to the fact that the last time that we saw cats
Interacting with elderly on Rick and Morty it was on interdimensional
Cable was the dead cat lady parody of weekend at Bernie's that had a bunch of cats puppeteering a long dead woman. Mrs. Sullivan
I please forgive me for being forward but your eyes are so beautiful
Certainly gross. It's also worth noting that it was directed and written by
Gerry from another universe written and directed by Jerry Smith
So it's possible that that universe is Jerry was inspired
consciously or by the remnants of a long erased memory by a certain trip to Florida with a particularly energetic and
Excitable cat but you know what? Maybe we're barking up the wrong tree the whore whatever the cat equivalent of that is
Let's scratching on the wrong post. Anyway, there's something a lot more interesting going on here
And that is the whole meta nature as to what this cat is trying to say to us as the audience
The cat's backstory isn't what matters here
and that's kind of the point that the writers are trying to tell us what the cat is doing in this episode is
Calling us out and by us
I don't mean the general viewership of Rick and Morty I'm saying us the theorists
Watching in the audience Here. I am standing in front of camera right now doing a whole episode dedicated to whoa
There was a cat that could talk in this show. He has some sort of secret messed-up back story
What could it be when in fact the cat's already told us that maybe we're just better off
accepting the fact that there was a talking cat in one episode instead of ruining the fun with all these questions in our
Constant search for answers. Maybe it's time. You stopped asking questions and started having fun. I mean, it's just a cartoon, bro
you're not meant to overanalyze every little thing even though that is kind of the concept of these channels as they exist on YouTube you
Tell I feel personally attacked from this episode. Luckily. I'm in good company though
I don't have to be the one to yell at this cat for
Condescendingly lecturing me about how should or shouldn't be enjoying something because Rick Sanchez is here to do it for me, finally
insinuation that I can't ask questions and have fun condescending you see the cat sets up this dichotomy of
people who ask questions about why things are the way they are and
People who just like to have fun and enjoy things without asking questions, but as Rick points out, this is a false dichotomy
It's possible to ask questions
Have fun and enjoy things. That's why I
Exist here on YouTube. It is just fun to look at these sorts of little mini mysteries
So who is right here the cat who says we shouldn't ask too many questions and just relax and enjoy ourselves or rank
Who insists on finding the answers to those questions? Well, let's start by picking apart
The cat's perspective the plot of this episode reveals that not even the cat himself fully subscribes to his just take it easy
man philosophy sure
He claims that he doesn't like people asking him why he can talk and he wants to travel to the mythical land of, Florida
Where they never ask questions, but once he finally gets his wish in, Florida
He enjoys it just for a brief amount of time before he finally starts getting a little antsy. That's great
I not being asked why I could talk
I'm a talking cat, but who cares? Why isn't my point?
Well nice talking to you for no reason very next scene
The cat himself is the one who starts asking questions
That ruin everyone else's fun and he gets himself chased out of Florida because of it. I'm asking too many questions, aren't I?
how ironic
The cat doesn't want people to ask questions yet in the end
He acknowledges that asking questions is a natural response to being confronted with incomplete information
That we as humans or as talking cats
Naturally crave answer if we're going with this meta
Interpretation and assuming that the cat's message here is the show's way of telling fans not to overthink the show they're watching
Well, it all feels a bit reminiscent of a comment by the creators of Westworld back in 2017. After that first season it aired which
Acknowledged this sort of tension between questioning fans looking for answers and the creators themselves
To quote Jonathan Nolan one of the creators of that show who yes happens to be the brother of Christopher Nolan quote
It's annoying sometimes when people guess the twists and then blog about it
But the engagement is gratifying on one level because if someone guesses your twist
It means you've done an adequate job of structuring the series you can't complain when people are that engaged. It's very gratifying
But stop doing it, please and that is the reason I stopped watching Westworld such a bummer. I hate that quote
It makes me so sad to see that on one hand to stop doing it
Please sounds like the plea that the cat is making in this episode
Stop asking so many questions and just enjoy the show
but even as he says this Jonathan
Acknowledges that it's a good thing when people are talking about your show online and that it's gratifying to see that sort of conversation
Happening it's the cats dichotomy. So does that mean that Rick and by proxy?
Uh theorists are right after all well not exactly
They're either just as the cat wished for a world with no questions and wasn't happy when Florida delivered exactly what he wished for
Rick wished for answers to the question of how the cat could talk and he too wasn't happy when he got what he wished for
you
Looking at how we consume media
Sometimes we as fans ask shows give us answers to our questions
And we end up ultimately being unsatisfied with the answers that we get after star wars the force awakens. We spent two years
Speculating about who Ray's parents could possibly be and then found ourselves
Disappointed when the last Jedi finally gave us an answer that they were nobodies
In fact, we did a whole episode on this channel at the time about how constant theorizing about Star Wars led fans to create
Expectations for themselves about this movie that no one could have possibly delivered on setting us up for an inevitable disappointment
That being said we could have been less disappointed
if you know they'd actually adhered to check all this gun and all which is also a
Part of that whole episode just saying it wasn't all our fault
Now the last Jedi may have been disappointing for other reasons and it set up the question of Rey's parents as the kind of thing
That would be answered before the end of the series so they could just leave us in the dark forever plot
Not all origin stories need to be spelled out explicitly for us
Especially if they're not some big plot point like the Star Wars sequels attempted to do case in point the Star Wars
Prequels was anyone really dying to find out what Anakin was like as a nine-year-old boy?
Would anyone watching have been disappointed if they've just you know left that question on?
Sir, and just started the prequel trilogy with Anakin as a teenager like we did with Luke in the original trilogy
It's the same thing with solo a Star Wars story. No one really cared about Hannes early days
He was just a cool character
We didn't need him overly explained some questions are better left unanswered
Exactly because no answer would be satisfying this episode provides a perfect example
As much as we might like to theorize about what the mind scanner saw in the cat's mind the fact that the episode didn't tell
Us exactly what the scanner saw made things far more interesting
it sends our
imagination spinning into directions that are far more
Entertaining than a single answer could ever be it's like that classic horror movie problem
the monster you can't see is always going to be scarier than the monster that you can see because the limits of your
Imagination are beyond what a practical effects Department could actually show you on screen
likewise the traumatizing
Backstory that you can't see is always going to end up being more interesting
So between the cat and Ric whose side are we supposed to take here?
I mean, this is another one of those places where the show presents us with two conflicting signs
implicitly asking the question of which one is right and
Neither of them is a hundred percent, right the answer of course lies somewhere in the middle
perhaps the best solution is to ask questions and be
Content with not always getting all the answers or when you do get an answer not being dissatisfied because you asked for it
So via mentally there are some things that demand a more than surface level analysis to fully enjoy
in fact
One of the things that we love about Rick and Morty is that it's one of those shows where we get
rewarded for picking apart all the little details
However, it's easy to make the mistake of assuming that because I have questions the show owes me answers
Yes certain things shouldn't be left open
Nobody likes a gaping plot hole, but certain things invite speculation and that's intentional
Answering our questions outright would kill all the fun of it
We can trust that they'll eventually pay off some of the show's bigger mysteries like what's going on with evil Morty and everything that's happening
back at the Citadel well
Excepting that we're not gonna find out exactly what it was that Rick and Jerry saw on that mind scanner
I don't think that this cat is coming back
I don't think that that's a question ever gonna get solved which means that from now
Until the end of time we have to be content with it. Just being a theory a film
theory and
cuts
You